Marcus Stroman entered the season as one of MLB's most intriguing young pitchers, ready to lead a talented team to the World Series.
But things haven't gone as planned thus far for the 25-year-old hurler. Stroman, the Blue Jays' ace, is 6-4 with a 5.33 ERA and 1.42 WHIP entering Friday's start against red-hot Cleveland. These are hardly ace numbers.
And the young star is starting to notice all the criticism.
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"I see everything anyone says about me," Stroman said via ESPN . "I read the blogs. I read the tweets. That's fuel. That's motivation. I see people say I should be sent to [Triple-A] Buffalo, that I should be in the bullpen, that I shouldn't be in the majors. Those are the same people who said I shouldn't have played college baseball at Duke. They're the ones who said I'm 5-foot-8 and that I was too short to be a starting pitcher. Now I'm struggling, and I'm hearing it all again.
"Fine. I like to have those doubters in my life."
As a rookie in 2014, Stroman went 11-6 with a solid 3.65 ERA, setting up a much-anticipated sophomore season. Unfortunately, the budding Blue Jays' star suffered a torn ACL but miraculously came back at the end of the season.
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He started four games in 2015 after the injury and went 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA, so it's not like Stroman is all hype with nothing to show for it. He's simply struggling.
"It's impossible to escape the criticism," Stroman said. "I go through those tweets. I have to deal with it. When you're struggling, everything's under a magnifying glass. I'm not going to overthink and make the rest of my life unhappy. People doubt me and say I shouldn't be in the position where I am. I hear the noise.
"What drives me is seeing what Clayton Kershaw is doing, what Jake Arrieta is doing. I want to be there. I want to be the best in the game. I want to be a perennial All-Star."