DUNEDIN, Fla. – As Marco Estrada worked his way through five innings at the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor-league complex Thursday, a crowd of young players gathered to watch the veteran right-hander pitch.

Never mind that flame-throwing first-rounder Nate Pearson was touching triple digits on the adjacent field, these prospects were drawn to Estrada. Sixty-three pitches later, Estrada had mixed in all four of his pitches while striking out nine.

“He looks unhittable,” remarked one minor-leaguer.

For five innings, he basically was, as the Philadelphia Phillies minor-leaguers who made their way over to the Bobby Mattick complex collected just two hits and didn’t score.

“Overall my body feels great,” Estrada said afterwards. “I felt good out there mentally. I’m in a good place. Just got to build up that stamina.”

Estrada felt that he could have pitched another inning but decided against pushing too hard at a time that the results don’t matter. With two starts remaining, he can work his way up to 90 pitches in his next outing before easing up in his final spring tune-up. To this point, at least, his stamina’s building steadily.

“The only way you can do it is being on that mound,” Estrada said. “There’s no running, there’s no lifting weight that compares to being on the mound. The only way to do it is getting out there and actually making pitches. We’re almost there. I’m feeling pretty good. Stamina-wise it’s getting there, it’s not 100 yet. But it’s really close.”

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While many Blue Jays made the bus trip to Fort Myers, Fla., catcher Luke Maile stayed back in Dunedin with Estrada. Based on the feedback Estrada got from Maile, his fastball and change-up were playing off of each other well.

“Guys tell me off the change-up, (the fastball) looks like 95 when it’s really just 88,” Estrada said. “I’ve never faced myself, but I do ask hitters. It means a lot because I don’t throw very hard. I need to trick some people.”

Barring an unexpected twist, Estrada can be ruled out as a candidate to start on opening day. He’d have to start on six days’ rest twice to line up for the opener March 29, which leaves J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez as candidates to open the season against the Yankees.

STROMAN TO START SATURDAY

Marcus Stroman will make his Grapefruit League debut Saturday when he faces the Canadian Junior National Team in Dunedin. Stroman has been sidelined with shoulder inflammation in recent weeks, but emerged from a recent bullpen session feeling ‘great,’ according to manager John Gibbons.

Braden Halladay, the son of Roy Halladay, will pitch for the Canadian Juniors, and the Blue Jays will respond with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Kacy Clemens and Cavan Biggio, all of whom have big-league fathers, and Brandon Grudzielanek, whose uncle Mark played at the MLB level.

At the Letters Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

GRICHUK TAKING CAUTIOUS APPROACH

Randal Grichuk was initially slated to play Thursday, but he stayed back in Dunedin instead of pushing his sore rib cage more than necessary.

“We figured it’d be best to treat it and manage it instead of playing through it,” he said. “Take a few days to be on the safe side.”

Grichuk now expects to keep testing his side day by day to determine when he’ll be ready to return to game action.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “Obviously you don’t want to miss time, and you want to be able to take spring to get ready for the season, but the good thing is, spring’s longer than we need and it’s now and not in the season.”