Mid Season Markings

 Simon B

The MLB All-Star break has come and gone really quickly and the unofficial second half of the season for the Toronto Blue Jays began last night in Buffalo where they beat the Texas Rangers 10-2. 

It's been a crazy first half for the Jays from injuries every other game to playing in two different home stadiums that aren't even their real home it's fair to say that this is far from a normal first 3 and a half months of baseball. But they are three games over .500 and they are in a race for a wild card spot right now. Hopefully, this will lead to meaningful baseball in September but amidst the circumstances, this has been a decent first half.

I'm going to take a look at how each aspect of the team has performed and give them a mark (from F to A+). I'll also talk about how they can improve at each position if needed.

Starting Pitching: B+

In that the Blue Jays have not had a consistent starting rotation all season, this is actually a pretty good mark for them I think.

The reason I gave this a B and not a C is that there's been an emergence of talent out of players that I didn't expect to perform at this level. Robbie Ray is 7-4 with a 3.13 ERA through 100 innings pitched in the first half of the season and he's undoubtedly the best pitcher on the staff. He's also managed to consistently pitch deep into games (6th or 7th innings) to provide some well-needed rest for the bullpen.

Hyun-Jin Ryu started the season off really well and was pitching like the ace that we know he can be but then when catcher Danny Jansen went on the IL, he struggled with the other catchers (Reese McGuire or Riely Adams). Since Jansen came back, he's been better but still not as good as we've seen him. He needs to get back to that soft-contact pitcher that he was all of last season.

Ross Stripling started this year's campaign off terribly and no one thought he would still be on this team at this point in the season. However, Ross changed up his pitching mechanics a little bit with the help of pitching coach Pete Walker. He's been miles better since he made those changes. He's throwing what he wants to throw as opposed to early this season when he would throw what he had to and he's getting more swing and miss. If he can keep this up, he can easily be a third or fourth man in the rotation.

Steven Matz a lot like Ryu started the season off extremely well. He struggles last year with the Mets where he had an ERA over 9 and didn't record a single win. This year, he's got his ERA just over 4 and has already recorded 7 wins in 15 starts (4 losses and 4 no-decisions too). Then he got Covid and was away for a few weeks. When he came back from his stint with the virus, he wasn't as precise with his pitches and hitters were making harder contact off of him. He still hasn't figured things out yet and has allowed 7 runs in his past two starts. If Matz can get back to his early-season form, the Jays will have a solid number three starter.

The fifth man in the rotation has been something of a disaster for the Jays until they called up Alek Manoah. Manoah is the top pitching prospect in the organization and proved it when he was called up in early June. He's got his ERA under 3 and has thrown absolute heat every single time he is on the mound. He is still young and opposing batters are still figuring him out but he looks to be overpowering every batter that he's facing. He's most likely going to be a lock on this rotation for a very long time.

Bullpen: D

This is the lowest mark I am going to hand out but it's not entirely based on the poor performances that the Jays' bullpen has shown of late. They've been overwhelmed with injuries and overworked throughout much of this season. At the same time, they've been simply terrible of late.

At the beginning of the year, it was the starting pitching that was the issue and the bullpen often had to save the game by coming in in relief but now. the starting pitching has been incredible and they've been giving the 'pen loads of multi-run leads. The relief pitchers have just blown almost every single one of these leads and it's very frustrating for the rest of the team because they're all doing their job really well.

One of the things that all good teams have is a set lineup of pitchers that can do certain things. One or two long pitchers that come in when the starter has an off night to eat up innings. Middle-inning pitchers who can give you 2 innings of work in the 6th and/or 7th inning if needed and finally a set-up pitcher and a closer. A setup man comes in in the 8th to set up the 9th inning for the hard-throwing closer.

The Blue Jays don't have pitchers for all of those situations. Obviously, without injuries, this bullpen would look a lot different. Trent Thornton, Ryan Borucki, and Anthony Kay have converted starters that are pretty decent long-inning guys. Borucki being their best option in that spot. But from there it gets a little fuzzy. They've got a few middle-inning guys like Anthony Castro, and Tyler Chatwood but they've been so up and down all year so it's difficult for manager Charlie Montoyo to trust them in close games either to keep the game close or preserve a slim lead. The 8th and 9th innings get shared between Rafael Dolis and Jordan Romano. Dolis is probably the most boring player in the majors in my opinion. He takes so long between pitches and has the slowest delivery you'll ever see. He's effective when he's at the top of his game which is why I don't mind that the Jays still have this guy on their roster but he's been very inconsistent this whole year and like the mid-inning guys, you don't know what to expect.  Last, there's Jordan Romano who is their best option for an 8th inning pitcher. If the Jays get Julian Merryweather back and he looks like the way he did before he got injured almost 3 months ago, then they'll be set and they can either deal with Dolis or move him to a middle inning position.

Outfield: B

George Springer still hasn't played 20 games for the Jays yet. That being said this is actually pretty good considering that the Jays outfield defence is a weakness. 

The hitting side of the ball is A+ all around for this entire lineup. That's their strength and that's how they win ballgames. The defence in the outfield has been a pleasant surprise for sure. We all knew that Randal Grichuck and Jonathan Davis would provide solid defence in centre field but the corner outfield positions were a big question mark heading into this campaign.

Teoscar Hernandez has been tracking the ball much better this season and has been positioning himself to make the plays he needs to make as easy as he can too. He also has been able to show off a cannon of an arm getting a few greedy runners at home plate or third base. The other guy whose defence was in question was Lourdes Gurriel Jr. But much like Hernandez, he's been reliable in the field and he ranks second in the AL with 8 outfield assists.

 

As for Springer, it's too small of a sample size to rate his season yet.

Infield: A-

Once again, I'm not going to focus on the offence because it's been phenomenal all the way around. Their usual infield has three all-stars on it for goodness sake so I would tend to think that this is their strongest spot and it is. 

Vladimir Guerrro Jr. has come into his own at first base this year making sensational stretches and understanding to position and moving accordingly. I think he's finally happy there and understands that third base isn't for him anymore so now he's solely focused on being the best first-basemen that he can be.

Marcus Semien made the move from short to second this offseason but his defence has remained strong. He's the captain of the infield as he's been helping Vladdy and Bo Bichette understand how to play on a big-league infield as best as they can. Bichette started off with a bit of difficulty in the field but has since adjusted his footwork a bit to stay more balanced as he throws and he's now making confident plays every single night.

The third base is the reason I gave the infield an A- and not an A. Cavan Biggio was the regular third basemen and really struggled at the position. He wasn't used to being at the hot corner and was thrown into the fire a little bit making it difficult for him to adjust to. Santiago Espinal has been a much-needed lifeline for the Jays at third and is making fans a lot more comfortable when the ball gets hit there. With Joe Panik now gone via trade, it's time for Biggio to do like his buddy Vlad over at first and learn about the position to be as effective as he can night in and night out.

The Wrap

I'm thinking of doing another one of this when the Jays season ends (hopefully as late as possible). There will probably be some changes on the roster by then with the deadline approaching and the playoffs following that but I'm hoping everyone's grades go up by the time I write it.

As for the Jays coming home to Toronto, I will write about that later this week.

Shoots Left and Writes is also doing Radio Updates on Dave's Faves, the Saturday afternoon show on CKOL FM in Campbellford. You can check out the latest episodes on their Facebook page!

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Thanks for reading!