Blue Jays call up Tanner Andrews after strong Buffalo bullpen stint

Tanner Andrews turned 20 Triple-A innings into a big-league answer. Toronto summoned the right-hander from Buffalo after Dylan Cease went on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain on May 25, and Andrews walked straight into the kind of bullpen need clubs always think they can patch later, then need solved right now.

The Blue Jays did not call up a mystery arm. Andrews arrived with a 1.35 ERA, 22 strikeouts, five saves and a 1.25 WHIP across 20.0 innings for the Buffalo Bisons. He had held hitters to 11 hits in 16 appearances and gave Toronto a fresh right-handed option at a time when the bullpen needed one more dependable inning-eater. That matters because Toronto was not looking for a long-term experiment. It needed a reliever who could get outs immediately, and Andrews had just done that in Buffalo.

He proved it again in his major league debut against the Miami Marlins at Rogers Centre. Andrews, 30, threw a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning and finished the frame with an inning-ending groundout, a clean first impression that matched the shape of his Triple-A numbers. For a bullpen trying to stabilize itself around an injury replacement, that is exactly the kind of first outing that buys trust fast.

Andrews’ path makes the promotion even sharper. The Rochester, Indiana, native was drafted by Miami in the 10th round in 2018, No. 297 overall, after pitching at Purdue from 2015 to 2018. He signed a minor league deal with Toronto in November 2025 after stops in the Marlins, Braves, Giants, Twins and independent Atlantic League systems, and his career was delayed by the canceled 2020 minor league season and Tommy John surgery in May 2021. At Purdue, he went 17-15 with a 3.69 ERA in 60 appearances, including 38 starts, before eventually carving out a late-blooming relief profile.

That profile is why Toronto could use him now. Andrews has not been promoted to cover innings in theory. He has been promoted because he was missing bats in Buffalo, keeping traffic down, and showing enough late-inning stability to fit into a major league relief mix that needed a right-handed strike-thrower. Purdue noted he became the first Boilermaker from the Alexander Field era to reach the majors, and now Toronto gets the practical payoff: a Buffalo reliever who already looks capable of taking a real bullpen turn in the big leagues.