Know Your Jays #2: Scott Downs

A good ol' boy from Kentucky, Downs was drafted by Atlanta in 1994, but opted to play college ball in his home state instead. In 1997, the Cubs took a chance on him - and this time he turned pro.

In two months of single-A ball after being drafted, Downs impressed mightily - a 1.83 ERA in ten starts. Good enough to earn a promotion to high-A Daytona for 1998, where his numbers were a little closer to average. At the end of 1998, the Cubs sent him to Minnesota for Mike Morgan.

Minnesota tried Downs at AA, and he bombed spectacularly - an 8.69 ERA in six appearances, three starts. Moved down to Fort Myers, he didn't allow an earned run - but still managed an 0-1 record. Sent back to the Cubs in late May with Rick Aguilera.

Did much, much better on familiar turf - 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA in Daytona, 8-1 with an amazing 1.35 ERA in his second kick at AA ball.

Impressed the Cubs enough that he was part of their major league rotation to start 2000, where he went 4-3 with a 5.17 ERA - not great numbers, but good enough by the standards of that year's last-place Cubbies.

At the deadline, the cash-strapped Montreal Expos unloaded outfielder Rondell White's contract on the Cubs, and Downs was headed north of the border. After one start in Montreal - three innings, three earned runs, no control whatsoever - Downs went on the DL.

Downs returned to professional baseball in mid-2002, but was limited to mostly AAA action - thirteen starts for Montreal between 2002 and 2004, with stats that weren't too pretty.

After the 2004 season, the Jays - under the regime of J.P. Ricciardi, well-known for taking a chance on any pitcher who had any level of success at any time - gave Downs a call.

He started the year in Syracuse, where a line of 2-3, 4.81 was enough to get him called up to Toronto to help a badly hurting bullpen. Here, Downs showed flashes of what he would become, but he was also maddeningly inconsistent - over three innings hitless on May 28, two innings hitless on June 25, compare to five earned runs in two innings on June 5, three hits and two runs in four batters faced on June 21.

By late July, the Jays' lack of pitching depth forced Downs into the rotation, where a couple of shaky outings were followed by a very strong run through August and early September - in one five-start run, he complied an ERA of 2.20 - the rest of September was much harsher; Downs never made it past the sixth inning.

Downs started 2006 in the Jays' rotation, but after only two starts, he was moved to the bullpen - where, aside from a few emergency starts now and then, he would remain. In the grand tradition of Kelvim Escobar, Paul Quantrill, Billy Koch, and Kelvim Escobar again, the Jays turned a below-average starter into an above-average reliever - Downs compiled a 2.17 ERA in 2007, 1.78 in 2008, and 3.09 in an injury-marred 2009.

Used primarily against left-handed batters, Scott Downs has become one of the best short relievers in baseball - and if he's not named the Jays' closer early in the season, there's a strong chance he'll be dealt to another team to be their top bullpen dog. At which point we will promptly rename this blog "Blue Jays After Downs".