KISSIMMEE, FLA.—The Blue Jays’ No. 1 starting pitcher, 24-year-old Marcus Stroman, has obviously not reached the point in his career where his manager does him any veteran favours by tweaking the spring schedule to have him avoid the longest bus trips in March. But Stroman is still at the wide-eyed stage of his career where he simply enjoys pitching, anywhere, any time.

“I don’t mind it, man,” Stroman smiled. “It’s whatever to me. It’s not a bad trip. It’s a Sunday. It’s only an hour-and-a-half ride. I’m pretty sure we’ll cruise back, so I don’t mind it.”

That, of course, will change in time once Stroman is able to evolve from his current No. 1 status into an ace. And, trust me, there is a difference between the two designations. No. 1s are respected; aces are feared. Stroman has the potential to be the latter. But he knows it’s a process. He has managed just 24 starts over two major-league seasons and, as such, is constantly trying things out to add to his arsenal.

On Sunday against the Astros, at Osceola Stadium, about 30 minutes from Disney, Stroman pitched three solid innings in a 7-1 loss, with the only blemish a solo homer by former Jays slugger Colby Rasmus. It came on a quick-pitch changeup that wasn’t quick enough and didn’t change enough.

“Just rushed it a little bit,” Stroman said. “Something that I’m working on. Colby put a good swing on it. That’s just something that I’m playing with. It’s not something that I would feature exclusively, it’s something that kind of will be thrown in here and there. I’m just trying to get better.”

Stroman is well aware that baseball is a game of adjustments and the more weapons and options and variations he can feature, the more those watching him from the other side of the field have to think about in any particular at-bat.

“I always try to pick hitters’ brains,” Stroman said. “And the biggest thing, sometimes, hitters say that messes them up is when pitchers change their tempo, change their motion, change their delivery. If it’s something that’s in the back of their heads — a quick pitch — it’s just something to help me out, just something that I can use to help guys get off my pitches, to disrupt timing.”

Manager John Gibbons admitted that declaring Stroman the club’s top-of-the-rotation starter in the absence of David Price is risky business. But he has faith that it will play out successfully.

“I know the kind of individual he is,” Gibbons said. “He’s going to get knocked down. Nobody ever goes through a career without (that happening). We still don’t know how good he’s going to be. He’s been very good from the beginning. But there’s something different about this kid. He thrives and he wants to be the guy. He wants to be pitching that big game. They all don’t do that. Some may tell you that, but they’re all wired different. He’s one guy . . . I think he can handle it.”

Gibbons has always maintained that there are very few true starting aces in baseball. Price is definitely one of those. In terms of experience and success in the major leagues, Stroman has less than the top two of all other 14 American League teams. It’s one of the reasons that Bleacher Report published a ranking of the big-league rotations and rated the Jays 21st overall. The two teams just ahead of them were the A’s and Marlins.

Examining only the AL, Gibbons’ list of aces might look like this: Price with the Red Sox, the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka, Chicago’s Chris Sale, Cleveland’s Corey Kluber, Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, and Cole Hamels in Texas.

More than half the teams, including Toronto, have No. 1 pitchers who aren’t quite aces: Stroman, Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer, Oakland’s Sonny Gray, the Royals’ Edinson Volquez, Phil Hughes of the Twins, Garrett Richards of the Angels, and Chris Tillman or Ubaldo Jimenez of the O’s. The Tigers’ Justin Verlander has been an ace, but has fallen off. He is surrounded by solid rotation talent.

The positive aspect of Bleacher Report’s rotation ranking is that the World Series champions, the Royals, placed 22nd, one spot behind Toronto. The Jays rotation easily has a chance to move up because of the sturdy defence that will be backing it up, plus the fact that all five starters, if Aaron Sanchez gets the nod for the final spot, will be pitching with a chip on their shoulder, with something to prove to their doubters.

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Stroman? Because he’s too small and not considered an ace. Marco Estrada? He didn’t break through until age 32, and won’t be able to repeat his second half. R.A. Dickey? People consider the knuckleball unreliable. J.A. Happ? He’s never posted solid back-to-back seasons. And Sanchez? He’s a leftover in Toronto while his draft mate from the first round in 2007, Noah Syndergaard, has become Thor with the Mets.

The Jays are hoping they all cash those shoulder chips in a defence of the AL East title.

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