I was the oldest of 4 growing up. There was nothing in life my siblings and I were more concerned about than things being fair.  My mom would literally need to divide our snacks up evenly after her grocery runs to ensure there weren’t riots within the house. Despite this demand for all things to be equal my Dad was always a strong component of “Life’s not fair”. The baseball gods have given this same message to Blue Jays Hagen Danner loud and clear. If it could go wrong for him, it has.

Hagen Danner or Hagy D as his team mates fondly call him, was drafted by the Blue Jays as a catcher in the 2nd round way back in 2017. Since then he has gone from receiving balls behind the plate to throwing them off the mound. Hagy transitioned from catcher to pitcher over the Covid cancelled minor league season because to quote him “I sucked at hitting”. Converting to pitcher is no easy feat, however the fact he can ramp his fastball up to 100mph is a pretty good foundation to start with.

Over the next three years Danner went on to developing as a pitcher. In that time he worked his way through the Blue Jays affiliates spending time in Vancouver, New Hampshire and Buffalo. He turned himself into one of the top relief options in the system and last year was added to the Blue Jays 40 man roster.  August 11, 2023 all that hard work finally paid off and Hagy D got the call up to the big leagues. He was added to a strong Blue Jays bullpen that was in the thick of a pennant race.

The next day he made his MLB debut against the Cubs. His family made the trip to take in this life milestone. Danner took the mound only to throw 7 pitches and leave the game with a season ending oblique strain. I spoke with Danner about his debut while in Buffalo “it’s tough, sometimes I look back and it’s like it didn’t even happen. I try to tell myself I did do it, it is something I dreamed of doing my entire life (and accomplished) but there are times when I’m like ‘It didn’t even feel real, I can’t believe that happened.’ but again I try to stay in the moment and I would love to get back there and get my first strike out and contribute to the team.”

Hagy D started 2024 in Buffalo and quickly became the best high leverage reliever in the Bisons pen and on the verge of a call up. Then literally days before Erik Swanson’s demotion, which would have been his opportunity, he once again hit the IL. He made his return to Buffalo just last week and still remains optimistic that he’ll get a genuine shot at a big league spot. “It’s good to be back, it was a tough couple months but it’s what the game is about. It’s about grinding and I’ve grinded all the way back to Buffalo and I’m going to grind till I’m all the way back”. There will undoubtedly be opportunity in this Blue Jays bullpen before the end of the season and beyond.

Life isn’t fair but that hasn’t held Hagen Danner back before, and it won’t in the future. Success isn’t linear and doesn’t come easy in this game but Hagy is sure to be ready when his next chance arises.