Who’s Up, Who’s Down: Blue Jays Batters

Over the past 12 games, the Jays are 6-6, a huge improvement over how the season started. Considering the number, and quality, of players on the DL, I think we can consider .500 a success. If they can tread water until some of the guys get back, I’ll be happy.

On offense we averaged 4.33 runs per game. Our batters hit .241/.302/.415 with 16 homers, 34 walks and 91 strikeouts.

Let’s see how each batter did over the past two weeks.

UP

Kevin Pillar: Started all 12 games. .320/.382/.480, with 5 doubles, 1 home run, 3 RBI, 2 steals, 1 caught, 5 walks and 7 strikeouts. The 5 walks is the great thing to see. He’s up to a 6.3% walk rate. I’d be happy is he can keep that up. That catch, yesterday, might have been the best catch I’ve ever seen. Add in that it saved runs, maybe saved the game for us. It was great to watch. It’s pretty tough to give him a day off.

Kendrys Morales: Played in all 12 games, starting 11. Hit .289/.319/.578 with 4 doubles, 3 home runs, 9 RBI, 2 walks and 10 strikeouts. He’s starting to hit the way we hoped he would. I liked seeing him talking to Jose in the dugout, after the at bat that Jose had the pitch up and in. Good to see him being a friend. He and Edwin have about the same OPS so far this season. .746 for Edwin, .739 for Kendrys.

Steve Pearce: Played in 9 games, starting 8. Hit .269/.321/.654 with 1 double, 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 1 walk and 6 RBI. He did most of the damage in 2 games. He had all the extra base hits and all the RBI in 2 games against the Yankees. As a personal thing, if you are only going to hit against one team, you couldn’t do better than the Yankees. I’m not a big fan of his defensive stylings.

Darwin Barney: Played in all 12 games, started 8. Hit .296/.321/.481 with 1 home run, 2 RBI, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. He’s been very good. He is killing lefties, hitting .348/.400/.391 against them (SSS). He really is what you’d like in a utility infielder, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want Donaldson and Tulo back as soon as possible.

Ezequiel Carrera: Played in 10 games, starting 5. Hit .280/.308/.400 with 2 RBI, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. Kind of a tiny up arrow. He’s lost a bit of playing time with Pearce hitting a few homers in the last couple of weeks. I’m still a fan of bringing Dwight Smith and giving him a chance.

Chris Coghlan: Played in 9 games, starting 6. Hit .273/.273/.455, with 1 home run, 1 double, 2 RBI, 0 walks and 7 strikeouts. I think that’s about the best we could hope, as far as batting is concerned. His defense hasn’t been good, he’s made 4 errors. Normally, we kind of ignore errors, but when you make an error on 1 out of every 7 chances you get, there is a problem. I’m all for giving Jason Leblebijian a shot at third base, if Josh is going to be out for much longer

Down

Ryan Goins: Played and started 12 games. Hit .132/.209/.289, with 2 home runs, 9 RBI, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. That home run, yesterday, was a thing of beauty. He hit that a mile. He doesn’t hit many home runs, but when he gets one it is memorable. I feel bad about having him in the Down list, but a sub .500 OPS isn’t good. It doesn’t stop Buck and Pat from telling us how great he is hitting though. He does remind me of John McDonald. I love watching his defense so much, and he seems like such a good guy, that I have to be reminded that he doesn’t hit, or I start thinking he should be an every day player. His 3 home runs, is just 2 short of his career high. Zaun saying he should have been walked, yesterday, has to be the worst bit of second guessing ever. If you intentionally walk Goins you really shouldn’t be pitching in the majors.

Devon Travis: Played in 11 games, starting 10. Hit .211/.250/.342 with 5 doubles, 0 RBI, 2 steals, 1 caught, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. Massively better than he was hitting at the start of the season, but not what we expect from Devon. I don’t know what’s going on. He seemed like a guy that could roll out of bed and go 3 for 4, but it hasn’t been that way this year. His defense hasn’t looked great either.

Jose Bautista: Played in all 12 games, starting 11. Hit .214/.333/.333, with 2 doubles, 1 home run, 4 RBI, 1 steal, 7 walks and 15 strikeouts. You could say the batting line is a rather large step up from how he started the season. It’s the 30% strikeout rate that most worrying. I don’t know what’s going on. I keep expecting him to get it together. We don’t really have any choice but to wait and hope.

Justin Smoak: Played in all 12 games, starting 11. Hit .256/.267/.395, with 2 home runs, 8 RBI, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts. For us, this really isn’t a slump, he’s not terrible, but not hitting the way he was earlier. I’m not ready to say he’s a different hitter than in the past. His numbers, over the past two weeks, are pretty close to his career numbers, excepting that his OBP is down. If you want people to like you, start the season strong. It’s time to go on another tear Justin.

Luke Maile: Played in 5 games, starting 4. Hit .077/.200/.077. 2 walks, 1 strikeout. We are going to see a lot of him over the next 10 days, at least. He looks good behind the plate.

On the DL

Russell Martin: Started 7 games before going on the DL. Hit .227/.414/.409, with 1 home run, 5 RBI, 7 walks and 7 strikeouts. Managed to keep a great OBP even though he wasn’t hitting. Hard to swing with a sore shoulder. He’s thrown out 27% of base stealers, which is much better than last year, but a small sample size.

Troy Tulowitzki: Might be back next week.

Josh Donaldson: Won’t be back for at least a couple of weeks.