Blue Jays' Jake Bloss: Should join rotation later in year

General manager Ross Atkins indicated Tuesday that Bloss will get some "breathing room" at Triple-A Buffalo before being called up and added to the Blue Jays' rotation, Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic reports. "Our ideal outcome is that he's helping us this year and growing and developing here in Toronto," Atkins said. "We're going to get to know him, make sure that he's in the strongest possible spot."

The right-hander was part of the package the Jays received from Houston in the Yusei Kikuchi deal, but Bloss will begin his Toronto tenure in the minors to help him get settled. Assuming he sees game action for Buffalo, the Bisons will be the fifth different affiliate the 23-year-old has pitched for this season -- he began the year with High-A Asheville before stints at Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Sugarland, eventually making his big-league debut with the Astros on June 21. Bloss posted an impressive 1.64 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 63:21 K:BB in 66 innings across his three minor-league stops, but he got tagged for five homers in 11.2 frames for the Astros before the trade.