DUNEDIN, FLA.—Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker doesn’t want his young pitchers getting caught up in the battle for the lone open spot in Toronto’s rotation.

“I think our message to any of those guys is just, ‘Do your job and come here and get your work in and don’t put too much pressure on yourself to perform out there,’” he said. “It’s really about them just doing what they can do, and then it should play out the way it’s supposed to.”

Left-handers Ryan Borucki and Thomas Pannone and right-handers Sean Reid-Foley, Trent Thornton, Sam Gaviglio and Jacob Waguespack are the top contenders fighting to join Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Clayton Richard and Matt Shoemaker on the Jays starting staff.

The 24-year-old Borucki is the leading candidate for the job after posting a 3.87 ERA in 17 starts for the Jays last year. He and Reid-Foley, 23, were in the group of pitchers who threw bullpen sessions at Toronto’s minor-league complex on Sunday. Both looked great, according to Walker.

Pannone and Gaviglio made a combined eight appearances out of the bullpen in 2018, while Waguespack was converted from a reliever to a starter in 2017, when he was a prospect in the Philadelphia organization.

There are opportunities in Toronto’s bullpen at the moment — Pannone, Gaviglio and Waguespack all have relief experience — but Walker prefers pitchers maintain their routines. He’d rather see his rotation hopefuls start in the minors than pitch in relief in the big leagues.

“Anybody that has the potential to be a major-league starter, you don’t want to stunt their growth,” he said. “You want to make sure they’re getting their work in and ... they’re able to develop the way they need to develop.”

VETERAN VOICE: Walker likes what he sees from Richard, 35, whose professionalism he likens to former Jays lefty J.A. Happ, and Shoemaker, 32, who is effectively using his slider and splitter after missing most of last season following forearm surgery.

“It’s nice having some guys who have been around a little bit,” Walker said. “Obviously we’ve got a young group in there and these two veterans, even though they’ve been through some issues of late healthwise, they seem to be healthy and really excited to be here.”

ROSTER REJIG: The Jays added right-hander Corey Copping and lefty knuckleballer Ryan Feierabend to the spring training roster on Sunday. Copping was acquired when the Jays sent John Axford to the Los Angeles Dodgers at last year’s trade deadline. Feierabend, 33, has big-league experience with Seattle and Texas but spent the past four years pitching in South Korea.