The veteran left-hander took the mound for Single-A Dunedin on Saturday just one day after signing.
Veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, and on Saturday afternoon, he was dominating at Single-A Dunedin.
The southpaw went five innings, giving up no earned runs on four hits. He walked just one and struck out nine. Even though it was at Single-A, the performance should give Blue Jays fans plenty of optimism that he can contribute at the big-level - and soon -- helping to alleviate the stress caused by injuries to Jose Berrios, Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, Bowden Francis and Shane Bieber.
The Blue Jays enter play on Sunday at 4-4 overall and losers of consecutive series to the lowly Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox.
About Corbin
The 36-year-old Syracuse, N.Y. native is a 13-year veteran of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals and Texas Rangers. A two-time All-Star, Corbin is 110-142 lifetime.
Corbin helped the 2019 Nationals win the World Series, going 14-7 with a 3.25 ERA, but his career spiraled after that. He led the National League in losses each year from 2021-2023 and pitched to an ERA of 5.20 or above each season. He had a 5.62 ERA in 32 starts in 2024, but rebounded with Texas last season, going 7-11 with a 4.40 ERA.
Though he's struggled, he's been extremely durable in his career, making 30 starts or more in every season since 2017 (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season).
That durability will certainly help the heavily impacted Jays rotation.
Raising another question
We brought this up on Saturday before Corbin's start, but it's worth raising again here. Beyond the starting rotation, is there another opportunity for Corbin to help this roster?
Perhaps, once the rotation gets healthy, Corbin can be an answer in the bullpen. Both Blue Jays' left-handers have struggled in the early going, with Brendon Little owning an ERA of 24.55 through five appearances.
Speaking on Saturday after a loss to Chicago, manager John Schneider didn't mince words about Little:
Per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com:
John Schneider notices that Brendon Little just isn't getting hitters to chase like he did when he was sharper in 2025: “We’ve got to figure it out. We’re going to try to put the best team out there every single day, so we’ll definitely sit down and talk about it.” #BlueJays
Little does have a minor league option remaining, so perhaps Corbin can be an answer in the bullpen, replacing him and keeping his own ability to start in the organization as well.
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