Blue Jays call up lefty-masher Jordan Luplow, send Nathan Lukes to Triple-A

Earlier this week, the Blue Jays picked up outfielder Jordan Luplow off waivers from the Atlanta Braves, officially moving southpaw Hyun Jin Ryu to the 60-day IL to make room on the roster.

While Luplow was initially sent down to Triple-A, the Jays have called him up to the big-league squad and optioned outfielder Nathan Lukes to Buffalo in a corresponding roster move. The Jays are set to face the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim this weekend for a three-game set before heading back home to open up against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday for their home opener at the newly renovated Rogers Centre.

In Luplow, the Jays are calling up a six-year MLB veteran who owns a .213/.313/.432 slash line with 45 home runs and 120 RBIs to the tune of a .745 OPS with four different organizations. A former third-round pick of the Pirates back in 2014, Luplow has spent the majority of his career split between left and right field, amassing a 4 bDRS between both spots with 21 assists. Throughout his career, Luplow has worked mostly as a bench player and owns a 2.2 bWAR and a 101 OPS+ through 322 games.

Blue Jays Promote Jordan Luplow, Nathan Lukes Sent to Triple-A

For the California product, Luplow has considerably improved stats when facing left-handers, authoring a .841 OPS with 31 home runs through 430 at-bats. While his batting average is still hanging in the .200 – .230 area, similar to his split stats against right-handers, Luplow owns considerably higher slugging stats against left-handers.

Luplow Split Stats

Split	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs RHP	411	53	82	16	3	14	49	45	117	.200	.288	.355	.643
vs LHP	430	68	97	21	3	31	71	69	120	.226	.337	.505	.841

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

The Blue Jays are scheduled to face three left-handers this weekend in Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, and Reid Detmers, so having Luplow off the bench with his improved stats against southpaws is the likely reason for his promotion to the big league squad. Luplow began the season in AAA with the Braves and has three hits through 10 at-bats with three RBIs. Heading to Buffalo is Nathan Lukes, who cracked the Opening Day roster after a strong spring training with the Jays where he authored a .796 OPS while going 12 for 42 with four extra-base hits. Lukes has only been used in pinch-running situations through three games and has not had his first at-bat at the big leagues yet.