Blue Jays are banking on Stroman’s turnaround

Mark Buehrle is the official den mother of all the younger Toronto Blue Jays pitchers and it is a role that keeps the 35-year-old hopping.

Especially when it comes to Marcus Stroman, the uber-confident pitcher with all the bling and blather that you could ask from somebody with but 26 major-league games under his belt.

Sporting a fancy, new two-tone hairdo, Stroman strides around the Blue Jays clubhouse as if he hasn't a care in the world. He refers to Buehrle, who is heading into his 16th big-league season, as "Dad."

Stroman, an inveterate social-media animal, keeps hounding Buehrle to join the 21st century and get a Twitter account using the handle @PapaBuehrle.

Buehrle, a good old boy who likes to watch hunting shows on television and listen to country music when he is not busy throwing 200 innings a season, tells him not to bother.

"It's not just him," Buehrle was saying the other day when talking about the 23-year-old Stroman. "It's everybody here I try to take under my wing and try to lead them in the right direction. He's a little easier to lead in the right direction because he does so much of the bad stuff that you've got to correct him. Other guys, they seem to get it a little bit more."

Buehrle insists it is all just fan and games, a lot of joking around, especially when it comes to Stroman. But you get the sense that there is seriousness lurking just beneath the surface.

The Blue Jays hopped on the bus from their home base in Dunedin, Fla., on Wednesday morning to make the 75-minute drive south along the coast to engage the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton for the second straight day.

With Stroman making his first Grapefruit League appearance of the spring training campaign, a relatively no-name Toronto lineup handed the Pirates a 4-1 loss at McKechnie Field.

Displaying a nasty sinker that he credits with turning his season around early last year, Stroman looked fine in the 1 2/3 innings he worked.

He said he threw all the six pitches he features in his arsenal and came out of his start hale and hearty, which is all you are wanting at this stage of the calendar.

Big things are expected from Stroman this season after the year he had in 2014. The argument could easily be made he was the Blue Jays' most effective pitcher during the last four months of the campaign.

But it didn't begin well.

Stroman was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to make his major-league debut for the Blue Jays on May 4, but other than that, it was a forgettable 10-day stretch.

Working out of the bullpen, Stroman got clubbed around pretty good, allowing 13 hits and 10 runs working 6 1/3 innings spread out over five appearances.

That amounted to a 12.79 earned-run average, and it was back to Buffalo for more seasoning.

Stroman said it was a kick in the butt he probably needed.

"Everything happens for a reason, I truly believe that," Stroman said. "I wasn't discouraged when I got sent down. In the clubhouse I said, 'See you guys soon.' I went down, got my work in and got back."

Upon his return on May 31, Stroman was a changed man, more comfortable working out of the Toronto rotation. More and more he was relying heavily on a sinker pitch that induces ground balls when thrown effectively.

Over the course of the rest of the season, Stroman went 10-6 with a 3.18 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 124 1/3 innings pitched.

It was a remarkable turnaround and one that the Blue Jays are hoping he can only improve on this season.

"He's going to get knocked on his butt a few times in his career," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "But he's one of those guys you feel good when he's out there, good or bad, because he's prepared, he's a great competitor. But it's not an easy league."

Stroman will be the first to admit he can be a little over the top in his personality and is grateful for somebody such as Buehrle to help keep him grounded.

"He's very, very simple; I'm the complete opposite," Stroman said when asked the difference between he and Buehrle. "You can probably tell by the way I dress. I wear tapered pants, he's just normal. I wear flashy shoes, he just wears normal shoes. He hunts, I go into the city.

"It's completely different."

"He's going to be a pro for a while," Buehrle said. "Just trying to keep his head on straight."