Toronto Blue Jays Analysis

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

By Tom Dakers@bluebirdbanter Jul 4, 2016, 1:26pm EDT

The Jays were 6-6 over the past 12 games. They had some long ones and some weird ones in there. They won a game despite giving up 7 home runs. They played until 1:30 in the morning in Denver. They played a 19 inning game.

The offense was good, scoring 6.1 runs per game.

Bats
	Russell Martin	Martin played in 10 games, starting 9. He did a lot of catching, though he only made it through 14 of the 19 innings on Friday. He hit .279/.357/.432 with 2 home runs, 9 RBI, 4 walks and 14 strikeouts. He's played in 71 of the Jays 84. It is nice to see him hitting after a slow start to the season.
	Edwin Encarnacion	Edwin started all 12 of the games (though he was able to sit out most of our 19 inning game for reasons of umpire stupidity), 8 at first base, 4 at DH. Between some NL rules games and Justin Smoak's sore knee, he's been playing a lot more in the field than normal. He hit .310/.423/.714 with 4 home runs, 15 RBI, 9 walks and 10 strikeouts. He's been great.
	Devon Travis	Devon played in 11 games, starting 10. He hit .300/.340/.440 with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 3 walks and 10 strikeouts. Nice to see him swinging the bat better too. He's looked pretty great on defense too.
	Troy Tulowitzki	Back from the DL, Troy has played in 11 of 12 games. One of the games was at DH. I'm all for him getting occasional games at DH. He hit .333/.392/.689 with 5 home runs, 12 RBI, 5 walks and 5 strikeouts. It is great to see him hitting the way he should. I enjoyed being in Denver to see how the fans there loved him. I'm sure he enjoyed it too. He got a great ovation every time he came to bat. He also spent a lot of time signing autographs.
	Josh Donaldson	Josh played in all 12 games, DHing twice. I like that. He hit .429/.541/.694 with 3 home runs, 1 triple, 1 double, 10 RBI, 1 steal, 10 walks and 7 strikeouts. He's been amazing.He's leading the league in walks and runs scored. What do you think of his chances of him winning back to back MVP awards?
	Kevin Pillar	Kevin started 11 of the 12 games. He hit .234/.250/.298 with 3 doubles, 6 RBI, 1 steal, 1 caught, 1 walk and 11 strikeouts. On the year, he's just a bit down from last year's numbers, but there will be another hot streak somewhere along the line that will even things out. He's walking less than last year. He had 28 walks, this year, just past the halfway point, he has 9.
	Justin Smoak	Justin played in 9 games, starting 4. He's had a bit of a knee problem and there were some NL games in there. And he's not been hitting at all. .100/.100/.400, 2 hits, both home runs. One off a position player. 3 RBI, 0 walks and 8 strikeouts.
	Jose Bautista	I hope he's back soon.
	Michael Saunders	Michael played in all 12 games, starting 11. He's had a bit of a slump, but he seems to be coming out of it. Over the two weeks he hit .224/.304/.347 with 6 doubles, 5 RBI, 4 walks and 19 strikeouts. But he's 6 for 9 over the past 2 games. He was 0 for 7 with 5 strikeouts on Canada Day.
	Ezequiel Carrera	Ezequiel started 10 of the 12 games. He hit .225/.382/.275 with 2 doubles, 3 RBI, 2 steals, 1 caught, 10 walks and 6 strikeouts. He also was hit by pitch once, and had 2 sac bunts. Lousy batting average, no power, but he's getting on base, and isn't that what you'd want from the leadoff man? I wish he would stop diving for balls that are out of reach in the outfield.
	Darwin Barney	Darwin played in 10 games, starting 6. He'd played second, short and third, and pitched (taking a loss). He hit .240/.345/.320 with 2 doubles, 1 RBI, 1 caught stealing, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.
	Ryan Goins	Ryan played in 4 games, starting 1. He was 1 for 6 with 2 strikeouts. He also pitched a scoreless inning. His prize for pitching is 2 weeks on the DL.
	Josh Thole	Josh played in 5 games, starting 3. He was 2 for 11 with 3 walks. That's a .182/.357/.182 line. Let's give him an around arrow for the good OBP. You can't expect much more.
	Junior Lake	Junior played in 6 games, starting 4. He hit .214/.389/.500 with 1 double, 1 home run, 2 RBI, 1 steal, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. He has been very good. He's looked pretty good in the outfield too. You couldn't ask for much more from a fourth outfielder, but he'll likely be sent back to Buffalo when Bautista returns.