Are we worried about the Blue Jays batters?

At what point do we start worrying about the Blue Jays batters?

We seem to be allergic to taking a base on balls, at least to this point of the season.

I’m ok with the idea of the leadoff man not walking, if, you know, he is hitting a lot. But I do want him to see a bunch of pitches. A leadoff man seeing 2 pitches an at bat just doesn’t do it for me.

Lourdes Gurriel also hasn’t had a walk yet this year, but then he doesn’t tend to walk much at the best of times. Cavan Biggio has 2 walks, a 8.3% rate, walked at a 16.5% rate last year.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who everyone is worried about, for good reason, has 2 walks, a 5.9% rate. But this real problem is the soft contact. And all the ground balls, he has a 72% ground ball rate (which doesn’t lead the league, he’s 5th in the AL, but the league leader is only at 75%). He has a 24% fly ball rate and a 4% line drive rate (which mean I missed his one line drive).

It is as likely as not small sample size, we’ve walked 7.6% of the time so far this year, 8.4% last year, so not a huge drop, and it is only a handle of games, against some top pitchers. Strikeout rate was 24.9% last year, 22.7% this year.

Danny Jansen, on the other hand, has walked 5 times in 25 PA, 20% of the time. He was at 8.1%. Fisher is at 20% too, but that’s just 15 PA. Fisher 20%, but again in 15 PA.

We have played 8 games and scored 26 runs, 3.25 a game. We have been complaining about the pitching and about Charlies’ use of the bullpen, but we are third from the bottom in runs scored per game. The offense isn’t leaving the pitching with any room for error.

I know I shouldn’t think this, but we keep being told what a great addition Dante Bichette is, but it isn’t like the team spent a lot of time interviewing and finding out his philosophy of hitting and deciding he fits with what they are trying to do.