The Toronto Blue Jays have signed right-handed reliever Justin Topa to a minor-league contract and immediately assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo after his release by the Minnesota Twins on May 23.
The Toronto Blue Jays moved quickly to add depth to a pitching staff that’s been battered by injuries, signing right-handed reliever Justin Topa to a minor-league contract and immediately assigning him to Triple-A Buffalo.
Topa’s return to the organizational ladder comes after Minnesota released him on May 23. This season, the 35-year-old posted an 8.05 ERA across 23 appearances. He allowed 27 hits and 11 walks while striking out 12 batters in 19.0 innings. His last outing came on May 18, and he topped out at just 1.2 innings in a single appearance this year.
In Major League Baseball, Topa has logged a 4.27 ERA over 172 appearances, including one start, since debuting in 2020 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He later pitched for the Seattle Mariners and the Minnesota Twins before joining Toronto’s system. He also has nine career saves.
For all the struggles this season. there’s a reason the Blue Jays are betting on what he’s shown at his best. Topa’s most productive stretch came in 2023 with Seattle, when he finished with a 2.61 ERA over 69 innings. That year he posted a 21.9% strikeout rate, a 6.5% walk rate, and a 56.7% ground-ball rate.
Even in 2025 with the Twins, he produced respectable underlying numbers: 60 innings, a 3.90 ERA, an 18.3% strikeout rate, a 6.7% walk rate, and a 47.7% ground-ball rate. The stark difference this year has followed a familiar theme for relievers—stuff changes, and hitters adjust.
This season, Topa’s sinker averaged 95.2 mph in 2023 but sat at 93.2 mph in 2026. More concerning for swings-and-misses has been his sweeper. The whiff rate dropped from 33% in 2025 to just 5.9% in 2026, and his usage fell to 16.7%.
His trajectory has also been complicated by injuries. Topa has undergone two Tommy John surgeries, torn a patellar tendon in his left knee, and missed multiple stints with ankle, triceps, and oblique issues.
That matters for Toronto right now because the team’s bullpen and rotation depth have taken hits, with injuries to Max Scherzer, Dylan Cease, Shane Bieber, Yimi Garcia, Joe Mantiply, and Tommy Nance.
The money is the type of low-risk structure teams often turn to when they need answers in a hurry. Minnesota is paying Topa a $1.225MM salary this season, while Toronto will owe only the prorated league minimum when he is on the major league roster.
For the Blue Jays, the timing is the point: Topa is already in the system, already on a track to get innings, and already tasked with proving that the missing piece—command, velocity, and that failing sweeper bite—can be corrected before the injury wave costs them more games.
Toronto Blue Jays Justin Topa minor league contract Triple-A Buffalo Minnesota Twins bullpen depth MLB reliever
So they signed him and he’s just gonna magically be good again? lol.
I don’t get it, his ERA was like 8 something this year right? Blue Jays really said “yeah that’ll work”
The article says sinker mph dropped and his whiff rate is super low, but then it’s like “there’s a reason they’re betting on him”… okay but what reason though? Also 2 Tommy John and a knee tendon tear like that doesn’t just go away.
Maybe this is one of those “minor league contract” things where they don’t really expect him to pitch? I saw May 23 release and I’m thinking Twins probably just got tired of him. Blue Jays bullpen has injuries to everyone it feels like, so I guess they’ll throw anyone in.