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Devon Travis has had a very interesting first half of the season. The good news is: He stayed healthy. That’s something the Blue Jays (and us fans) needed to see from him.
Devon started poorly with the bat. April 27th he was hitting .148/.212/.246 and he was sent to the minors. The excuse for the start was the 2 games on, 1 game off pattern the team was using. He couldn’t get into a rhythm.
He came back in late-May, played in 7 games, and hit quite well, .292/.320/.542.
He played 23 games in June and hit ok.257/.295/.419. OPS+ of 97, not bad for a middle infielder.
July has gone very well, .313/.421/.375 in 19 PA.
But he’s kind of lost his fulltime job. The team has brought up Lourdes Gurriel and they intend to get him at bats. They are coming at the expense of Travis and Aledmys Diaz, for the most part.
On the whole, Devon has a 76 wRC+, a .229/.282/.371 batting line.
His defense hasn’t been great. FanGraphs has him at a -11.6 UZR/150, which pretty much matches the eye test. He’s had a positive UZR each season up until now. I’m not sure why his defense has fallen off. Maybe the knee injuries have robbed him of some quickness. His arm doesn’t look as good as it has in the past, he seems to have lost a bit of zip on his throws. I’m hoping his defensive numbers improve as the season goes on.
He dug himself hole offensively with his terrible April. As always, if you are going to have a bad month, don’t make it the first month of the season. Since May 1 he’s hit .272/.320/.439, numbers we could live with. But that’s the thing about arbitrary end points, they don’t give you the full picture.
I think your mark will reflect your opinion on the importance between offense and defense for a second baseman.
Travis has always been a favorite of mine, but I’m starting to wonder about his future with the team. The team is giving Lourdes a fair bit of playing time, Lourdes does have some power, he would have more range at second and seems to have a good arm.
Poll
For the first half I would grade Devon Travis an
This poll is closed
-
0%
A
(6 votes) -
0%
B+
(6 votes) -
4%
B
(32 votes) -
12%
B-
(83 votes) -
20%
C+
(142 votes) -
19%
C
(130 votes) -
22%
C-
(151 votes) -
8%
D+
(56 votes) -
6%
D
(41 votes) -
2%
D-
(16 votes) -
2%
F
(20 votes)