Who’s Hot, Who’s Cold: Blue Jays Batters

Over the past two weeks, the Jays are 8-5. Our batters hit .294/.349/.476 and averaged 5.1 runs per game (a nice jump from the 3.4 the two weeks before).

Hot

Alejandro Kirk: Played 11 games, starting 8. Hit .343/.361/.429 with 1 home run, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.

All the starts were at catcher. He only had the one extra-base hit in the two weeks. But he is making better contact. He’s been playing a lot more since Danny Jansen went on the IL. He’s not been great at throwing out base stealers, just 15% (league average is 21%. Last year he was better than the league average. Good to see him getting the bat going.

Whit Merrifield: Played 13 games, starting 12. Hit .340/.392/.404 with 3 doubles, 3 steals, caught once, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts.

He started 8 games at second base, 4 in left field. He’s come off a poor stretch with the bat, and it is good to see. He had 2 or more hits in 6 of the 12 starts. He’s on base to steal 42 bases, which would be the 12th most in team history.

Bo Bichette: Started all 13 games. Hit .375/.386/.586 with 1 double, 1 triple, 3 home runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts and 2 stolen bases.

Started all 13 games at short. He’s been very consistent this season. I still think giving him a day off, or a DH day, every now and then would be a good thing for him, but it would be tough to take a guy hitting like this out of the lineup.

Daulton Varsho: Started all 13 games. Hit ..275/.315/.471 weight 1 double, 3 home runs, 1 steal, 1 caught, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts.

Started 4 of the games in center, the rest in left. Kind of hot lite, but I’d be very happy if he could hit like this for the rest of the season. He’s on a 9 game-hitting streak at the moment. I’m enjoying watching him on the basepaths. Fangraphs has him 1.1 runs better than the average base runner so far this season. He only has 1 steal, but he runs the bases really well. The ball off his glove and over the wall was unfortunate, but I don’t know that he did anything wrong, it just happened.

Kevin Kiermaier: Played in 10 games, starting 9 games. Hit ..267/.281/.533 with 1 double, 2 triples, 1 home run, 3 steals, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.

He has a 20.2 UZR/150. Another guy who is just so much fun to watch play run. I’d trade a bit of the power he has shown lately, for some on-base average, but that’s me. His ‘hard contact rate’ is 33.1%, the best of his career.

George Springer: Played in 13 games, starting 12. Hit ..294/.346/.510 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts, 2 steals and caught 1 time.

Started 3 games at DH, the rest in right field. Reading about how sick he was, I’d imagine getting healthy again is helping his bat. FanGraphs has him at an 8.9 UZR/150. He looks much better in right than he did in center to me.

Brandon Belt: Started 9 games. Hit .267/.436/.433 with 2 doubles, 1 home run, 9 walks and 13 strikeouts.

Started 3 games at first. Since the start of May he’s hit .329/.469/.513. Pretty good for a guy people wanted DFAed in April. Maybe we’ll grow patience in the future.

Cavan Biggio: Played in 11 games, starting 7. Hit .286/.394/.536 with 1 double, 2 home runs, 1 steal, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts.

Another couple of weeks like that and his batting average will be above .200. Good to see him hitting, finally. Let’s see him continue this for awhile before we think he’s all better.

Cold

Vladimir Guerrero: Started all 13 games. He hit .272/.322/.418 with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts.

Dhed 4 times, first base 9 games. Seems to be coming out of the slump. He has a 5-game-hitting streak going and has a .321/.387/.500 line in his last 7 games. That’s more like what we expect from him. Cold might be unfair, but I’m hoping next time he’ll be in the hot group.

Matt Chapman: Started all 13 games. Hit .213/.302/.404 with 3 doubles, 2 home run, 5 walks and 11 strikeouts.

Played every game at third base. Matt had a 1.152 OPS in April, and .585 in May. June is .753 so far, but that is with a .188 batting average. His UZR/150 is now 7.8. Outs Above Average has him at a +2. Cold might be too mean

Also Played

Nathan Lukes: Played in 6 games, starting 2. in 10 at-bats, he’s had 2 hits, 1 triple, 0 walks and 3 strikeouts.

Yesterday was his first appearance in June.

Tyler Heineman: played in 4 games, starting 3. In 9 PA, he’s had 1 hits, a double, 2 walks with 3 strikeouts.

Ernie Clement: Played in 4 games, 1 start. In 6 PA, he’s had 3 hits, with 1 strikeout.

IL

Danny Jansen: Played in 2 of the game before going on the IL with 3 hits, 2 doubles and a homer in 8 at-bats. Apparently, he was running sprints yesterday, and will likely start a rehab assignment soon. It will be short.

Santiago Espinal: He’s on a rehab assignment. He’s played 4 games at Dunedun, and has a .308/.400/.385 line in those games. He’ll likely be back soon.