​Less than an hour before the Sunday series finale of a three-game set between the Toronto Blue Jays and the San Diego Padres, The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon reported that Toronto had made a roster move. On X, Bannon wrote that the Blue Jays called up CJ Van Eyk to provide some extra length, while Chad Dallas was optioned to Triple-A. Van Eyk, 27, has yet to make his major league debut. A second-round pick by Toronto in the 2020 draft, he enters this moment with a 3.79 ERA, 56 strikeouts, and 25 walks over 78 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season. In his minor-league career, Van Eyk has gone 18-29 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, accumulating 376 strikeouts in 414 innings over 105 outings. His repertoire includes six pitches: a 91-94 mph four-seam fastball, a low-80s changeup, a high-70s to low-80s curveball, a mid-to-high-80s cutter, a low-to-mid-90s sinker, and a low-80s sweeper.
Dallas, 26, has appeared in two major league games this season for Toronto. In those outings, he allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks, recording three strikeouts across 4 2/3 innings. A fourth-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2021 out of the University of Tennessee, Dallas has posted a 3.44 ERA with 48 strikeouts and 18 walks over 49 2/3 innings for Triple-A Buffalo this season. Across four minor-league seasons, the right-hander owns a 4.39 ERA with 338 strikeouts and 142 walks in 327 2/3 innings over 74 appearances (70 of which were starts).
The Blue Jays dropped an 8-7 decision to the Padres at Petco Park on Saturday. Prior to that, Toronto had been trending upward, stringing together three straight wins, including a 5-3 victory in the series opener Friday night. The 2026 season has been a disappointment for Toronto, which came within two outs of winning the World Series last fall but now holds a 45-50 record as the season progresses. Despite the tough results, the Blue Jays aren’t completely out of postseason contention. They dealt right-hander Tommy Nance to the Minnesota Twins for catching prospect Ryan Sprock earlier in the week, a move that signals some roster shakeups, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate a full-blown sell-off ahead of the August 3 trade deadline.
Toronto’s postseason odds remain slim, as they trail the Tampa Bay Rays by 12 games in the American League East. They sit 1 1/2 games back of the Seattle Mariners and the Minnesota Twins for the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League. The playoff picture reflects the overall state of the league: only five teams hold winning records, with Seattle and Minnesota holding the final Wild Card positions at 47-49. For the Blue Jays, the improvement in late-season play remains essential if they hope to salvage a once-promising season, and the addition of Van Eyk provides another option to navigate a challenging schedule and an offense that has been inconsistent at times this year.