Poll Time

Jon Heyman has a list of “30 potential breakout players for 2017” and he has three Blue Jays on the list: Devon Travis, Jose Bautista and Francisco Liriano. Of course, Bautista and Liriano have already had breakout seasons but, still, it is nice to see three Jays on the list.

I figured it was a worthwhile topic to talk about. We’ll have a poll and see who we think is most likely to have a breakout season.

Some possibilities:

Devon Travis: Heyman says “If he can stay healthy, he could be a monster offensive star”. That’s a big if, but I’d love to see what he could do if he could stay healthy. In 163 games, over his first two seasons, he’s hit .301/.342/.469. If he could have that sort of line and play 150 games, I think we would all be happy.

Jose Bautista: He had an injury filled 2016 and a pretty tough off-season, so he has a fair bit of incentive to have a big season, not that he really seems the sort that needs a lot of extra incentive, but he’s having a great spring. I’m hoping the team is careful with him and he stays healthy.

Francisco Liriano: He was having a pretty crappy season, until the Pirates traded him to us, and then he was great. He had a 2.92 ERA in 10 games, 8 starts, as a Jay. I’m not sure what caused the change, but I’m hoping it will continue. He seems to get along with pitching coach Pete Walker and catcher Russell Martin. He has been having a great spring, 1.86 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 9.2 innings this spring.

Marcus Stroman: He didn’t have the season we were expecting last year. But....he pitched a terrific game last night. In fact, minus one rather unlucky inning, he was terrific for the full WBC. It can’t hurt his confidence to have had that success against some terrific competition.

Kevin Pillar: Last year Kevin was fighting a thumb injury, which made batting tough, but he’s healthy this year. He’s having a great spring, hitting .349/.417/.535 with 5 walks (he only had 24 in 146 games last year). I don’t really think he can reinvent himself, but a little better ability to control the strike zone might go a long way.

Troy Tulowitzki: He had a pretty crappy start to his 2016 season, hitting .169 in April and .238 in May. He seemed to become more comfortable with his teammates as the season went on. Maybe that will carry over to this season.