Can Marco Estrada be a 200-inning arm?

The Blue Jays are losing two inning-eaters in Mark Buehrle and David Price, but Marco Estrada’s 2015 gives every indication that he can go 200.0 this summer Average length of start is going to be a key talking point for the Blue Jays in 2015.

12/31 – Blue Jays: Marcus Stroman flashing his off-field talents, too Estrada was at his regular season best from August onwards, so assuming that health is not an issue, arm endurance shouldn’t be either.

After hovering near 80.0 MPH through April, May and June, Estrada’s changeup velocity does dip closer to the ~78.0 MPH range for the remainder of the season.

Keep in mind that Estrada did eventually become more exclusive with Dioner Navarro as his personal catcher, and these velocity adjustments do align with his stronger months.

In terms of Estrada’s mechanics, these velocity adjustments also line up with a consistent change in his vertical release point that we saw throughout the season, leading to Estrada throwing slightly more over-the-top.

After averaging just over 6.0 innings per start in 2015 and with four consecutive seasons of 128.0+ MLB innings now, pegging Estrada as a 200-inning arm isn’t groundbreaking by any means.

But to some degree, the Blue Jays could very well have their Buehrle replacement in Estrada.