Toronto Blue Jays Opinions

Who's up, Who's down: Blue Jays Batters

By Tom Dakers@bluebirdbanter Aug 25, 2015, 12:11pm EDT

The Jays are 8-3 over the last two weeks. Our hitters have a .272/.333/.450 line, with 14 home runs and 73 runs. That's and average of 6.6 runs a game. Not too bad.

Batters
	Russell Martin	Russell started 7 of 11 games. He's not hitting at all, which I guess you all know. He has a .111/.200/.111 line with 2 RBI, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. His defense doesn't seem to be effected by his slump. I thought he was running better in his last start, but getting a few days off wouldn't be a bad thing.
	Edwin Encarnacion	Edwin started 8 of the 11 games, playing DH 9 times and first base twice. He missed 3 games with a sore hand He's been terrific, hitting .433/.444/.867 with 4 doubles, 3 home runs, 10 RBI, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He has a 19 game hitting streak going. A month ago Edwin was hitting .232/.327/.456, now he is at .265/.356/.505. Pretty nice. He'll always be one of my favorites.
	Ryan Goins	Ryan played in 9 games, starting 8. He hit .227/.393/.455 with 2 doubles, 1 home run, 4 RBI, 6 walks and 5 strikeouts. Who figured he could get through two weeks with more walks than strikeouts? Great glove and nice bat now. I'd love to think that the improved eye at the plate is a true change and not just a small sample, but I'll need some more proof.
	Troy Tulowitzki	Played in 10 of 11 games. He's not really hitting the way we'd like, .190/.282/.238 with 2 doubles, 3 RBI, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts. His glove has been pretty great. He had a couple of hits in the last game, I'm hoping he's pulling out of it. His defense is all that it was advertised to be.
	Josh Donaldson	Josh started all 11 games, all at third base. He's been unbelievable. .357/.420/.667 with 4 doubles and 3 home runs, with 17 RBI, 6 walks and 6 strikeouts. I like it if we could DH him occasionally, give him a bit of a break. I wonder how many players have had 100 RBI without ever being intentionally walked? MVP! MVP!
	Kevin Pillar	Kevin played in all 11 games, starting 10. He's been hitting a little better of late, maybe the days off have helped. Over the two weeks he's hitting .275/.310/.325 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI, 0 walks and 2 strikeouts. I'd like him to take the odd walk. It seems like he's been spacing out the highlight reel plays a little more than at the start of the year, but I still like his defense.
	Chris Colabello	Chris has played in 8, starting 5. He's hitting great, .455/.478/.818 with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. I like him a lot better when he's not playing in the outfield.
	Jose Bautista	Jose has played all 11 games in right field. Again, I'd like them to DH him occasionally. He hit .267/.313/.578 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs, 7 RBI, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts. His walk rate is down, I'm not sure why. He seems to be chasing a little more. Still he's been very good.
	Justin Smoak	Justin played in 9 games, starting 7. He isn't hitting. .167/.161/.400 with 1 double, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, 0 walks and 6 strikeouts. Earlier in the season he was showing a good eye at the plate, but that seems to have disappeared. His defense has looked good, but he's got to hit better.
	Dioner Navarro	He played in 4 games, starting 3. He hit .231/.286/.231 with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. I think he'll get more playing time over the next couple of weeks. I hope he makes the most of it. He's showing a much better arm, throwing out 47% of base runners. I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised he is still with the team.
	Ben Revere	Ben has played in all 11 game, starting 1 in CF. His bat has come around, .350/.422/.400, with 2 doubles, 3 RBI, 5 walks and 9 strikeouts.He hasn't stolen a base for us yet, which surprises me, almost as much as the 5 walks. He doesn't take the most graceful routes to fly balls, but he seems to get there. A huge improvement over what we've had in left.
	Cliff Pennington	Cliff or Chad or Clive played in 7 games, starting 4. He hit .143/.235/.214, with 1 double, 2 RBI, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. He's put down a couple pretty nice bunts. And his defense has looked very good. It doesn't seem like there is a much of a drop off from Goins to him, on defense.
	Josh Thole	Josh got called up, made the one start, went 0 for 3. I'm glad they are getting him to catch Dickey. He should get an up arrow for getting the call up.
	Ezequiel Carrera	He's played in 2 games, starting 1, since the call up. 5 at bats, 2 singles, 2 RBI, 3 strikeouts. .400/.400/.400. I like having a real fourth outfielder. I'd like if we could give Bautista a break from the field now and then. He could also be handy to use as a pinch runner. Let's give him an up arrow.