Blue Jays make roster housekeeping move in Buffalo, releasing Josh Fleming and Justin Topa

The Toronto Blue Jays have released left-hander Josh Fleming and right-hander Justin Topa from their minor-league deals, according to the Blue Jays’ minor-league transaction log and reporting tied to the club’s Buffalo roster. Both pitchers had been part of Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, as the organization continued to adjust its pitching depth during the 2026 season.

The releases were recorded as moves by Buffalo on July 4, 2026. In addition to creating room for other players to be added to the Triple-A pitching staff, the change is another sign of how late-season roster management often works: teams keep roster flexibility while they decide which arms should be auditioning for higher-leverage roles, either in Toronto or deeper in the system.

Fleming, a veteran lefty who spent 2025 in the Seattle Mariners organization before signing with the Blue Jays in February, had been a steady performer at Triple-A. In the Triple-A portion of his season, Fleming posted a 3.08 ERA across 13 appearances (12 starts) and logged 64 1/3 innings, per reporting associated with Toronto’s minor-league transactions. The same reporting described his run-prevention profile as more control and ground-ball driven than strikeout driven, including a 4.1% walk rate over that Triple-A sample and a 50.5% ground-ball rate.

Fleming’s release also reflects a career pattern in which MLB teams have treated him as an organizational piece rather than a long-term rotation answer. His most recent big-league action in that reporting came from 2024, when he threw 31 1/3 innings for the Pirates with a 4.02 ERA, 12.3% strikeout rate, and an above-average ground-ball rate of 54.3%. In the current Blue Jays organization, the organization’s decision to move on suggests it viewed his Triple-A success as valuable but not necessarily as a fit for what it wanted next.

Topa, the other pitcher released, had also been working out of Buffalo’s rotation or pitching mix. While his performance at the minor-league level has been described in coverage as modest in volume, the transaction log confirms the team ended his minor-league arrangement on the same date as Fleming’s. Earlier reporting also noted Topa’s broader MLB background across multiple clubs, a factor that often makes these kinds of releases more about timing and organizational fit than about a player “breaking down.”

Together, the moves reduce Toronto’s depth in the Buffalo bullpen or rotation pipeline and can open opportunities for younger arms to see more innings at Triple-A. The immediate next question is where Fleming and Topa will resurface, since pitchers with either strong ground-ball profiles or prior major-league experience frequently draw minor-league interest from other clubs looking to add low-risk options during the final stretch of the season.

For Toronto, the releases also serve as a reminder that even relatively productive Triple-A pitchers can be moved if the organization prefers other developmental priorities. With roster spots at a premium as the postseason picture firms up, the Blue Jays will likely keep evaluating which pitchers should be at Buffalo for the final weeks and which should be positioned for opportunities in the next organizational plan.