Conversations with the Herd: Blue Jays Reliever Braydon Fisher

By: Brian Frank

Braydon Fisher has emerged as a major contributor out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen this season. The 24-year-old Texas native, who Toronto acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization last summer, has been lights out coming out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen during his rookie season.

Fisher’s journey to Rogers Centre began in southeast Texas. After graduating from Clear Falls High School in League City, Texas, the 6’4” right-hander was drafted by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft. He made his professional baseball debut with the Dodgers’ Rookie League team in the Arizona League in 2018, but Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2019 season – and the COVID-19 pandemic took away the 2020 campaign. In 2021, Fisher began climbing through the Dodgers system as a reliever, making stops at Ranch Cucamonga, Great Lakes, Tulsa and Oklahoma City over the next four seasons. In early June 2024, the Dodgers traded Fisher to the Toronto Blue Jays organization for super utility player Cavan Biggio.

Fisher has a 2.86 ERA in the big leagues.

“I was in Double-A in the Dodgers organization in Tulsa,” Fisher said of the moment he learned he’d been traded. “I was told before the game that I was pitching and because I hadn't pitched in a few days – you're pitching today regardless. I’m like, okay. So, the phone rings a couple times, it's not me, and the ninth inning comes, the phone rings, and it's not me again. I'm like, well, come on. So, I go back in the clubhouse. We had walked it off and my manager’s (Scott Hennessey) yelling, looking for me, and he's fired up because we walked it off. So, I think I'm in trouble because the way he's saying it. I'm like, what did I do? He calls me in and tells me that I got traded in the fifth inning, and that's why I didn't pitch. I was like, oh my goodness.  At first it was kind of like I didn't really know what to think. I was just in the dark about everything. I didn't know when I was leaving, where I was going, all that stuff. But at the end of the day, I think it was a good thing for me and gave me a good opportunity.”

Fisher reported to the Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where he had a 2.76 ERA in 14 games before being promoted to Triple-A Buffalo in late July.

“When I came over here, they had me throwing my slider a lot more,” he said of adjustments he made with his new organization. “I threw it a lot in the Dodgers’ organization. But here I kind of just relied on it very heavily. And they kind of helped me with the mindset of be in the zone early, and get out of it late, and then get right back into it if they didn't bite. I think that helped with the walks and the strikeouts. I just tried to carry that over the offseason and into this season. I think those were the two biggest things.”

On the mound for the Herd. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles

He began this season with Triple-A Buffalo and had a 2.38 ERA in nine games, recording 14 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings out of the Bisons’ bullpen. He learned he was being called up to the Blue Jays to make his major-league debut during a Bisons’ road trip in early May.

“I was actually in my hotel room after the game in St, Paul, Minnesota,” he said. “I was lying in bed and about to go to sleep. I'm like, man, I’ve got to use the restroom. You know that restroom call when you're like, god, I’ve got to get out of bed. So, I get out of bed and my phone rings. It's a number I don't have saved, so I just let it go to voicemail. Then I'm looking back at it, and I'm reading, ‘Hey Fish, it's Casey’ – Casey Candaele, the manager. I was like, oh, man, how do I not have his number saved, one – and two, I’ve got to call him back. I think I called him back before he even finished the voicemail, and he told me everything. It was probably 11:30 at night, midnight, so I'm waking all my family up and everything. It was an unbelievable moment.”

Fisher’s major-league debut came against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. He fired a scoreless ninth inning in a Blue Jays’ 9-1 victory, throwing 11 pitches and allowing just one hit.

“I had gotten called up on May 7… and I didn't throw until May 11, so I had a couple days to kind of get used to the environment a little bit, as much as I could,” he remembered. “They call my name going in for the ninth. I'm warming up, my heart's racing, but I feel like I'm doing a good job of controlling it. So, I'm getting a little more confidence – you know, my heart rate's not going to overtake my ability to throw the ball in the zone. So, the inning ends and as soon as I run through the gates, that's out the window – my heart's racing. I'm like, oh my god, it's so loud, and the field just feels so much bigger.”

“I get to the mound, and (Alejandro) Kirk and (Tyler) Heineman were either on base or had just hit,” he continued. “So, I'm warming up to (center fielder) Daulton Varsho. I just (think) I cannot spike this pitch right now to Varsho, because he doesn't have any gear on. He's just got the glove. So, I think that might have helped a little bit to kind of get me to relax and be like, okay, it doesn't matter how hard it is right now, it just needs to not be in the dirt.”

“So, you know, the back stuff looks a little farther away, the mound looks a little farther away, the zone looks a little smaller – but it was great. Ernie (Clement) and Michael Stefanik turned a great double play for me. And, it's the big leagues. So that was my big-league moment.”

Fisher has had an incredible start to his major-league career. He currently has a 2.86 ERA in 28 games, recording 36 strikeouts and allowing only eight walks in 28 1/3 IP. In 25 of the 28 games he’s pitched in, he hasn’t allowed a run.

“I really think just throwing the ball in the zone more,” he said of his keys to success this season. “Just being more in the zone, and letting my stuff do its thing. I think that's number one. I think number two is just not trying to make anything better depending on who's in the box, or the count that we're in, or the situation, just trusting my stuff and trusting my stuff in the zone."

Fisher has been a key piece on the hottest team in baseball. The Blue Jays are currently sitting in first-place in the American League East, have the best record in Major League Baseball since May 7, and recently had an 11-game home winning streak. One of the big reasons for Toronto's surge in the standings is the contributions they’ve been getting throughout their roster

“Everyone's doing their thing,” Fisher said. “The contributions are endless. It feels like it's a different guy in the big moment every single night. It's amazing. It feels great. We're coming in here, we're having a great time after every win, and we're doing a good job of keeping the morale high. Obviously, it's not hard to do when you're winning baseball games, but it's just been a great season, great team, great start to my big-league career.”