The Blue Jays’ offense is still developing based on early returns.
However, the early indications for an offensive that had a terrible season are far from encouraging. Pitcher Ronel Blanco, 30, is a journeyman with the Houston Astros. It was only his sixth start in the major leagues, yet on Monday night he threw a no-hitter against the Blue Jays.
Blanco waited until he was 22 years old to sign outside of the Dominican Republic, where the majority of baseball prospects are discovered by the age of 16 or 17. Before this, he had tried out for other teams and been turned down each time. When he was eventually hired by the Astros in April 2016 for $5,000, he was employed at a car wash. At age 28, he finally made it to the majors. Were it not for the injuries to Jose Urquidy and Justin Verlander, he would not even be on the Astros staff today.
The Blue Jays had a rough night on Monday. Despite all of the talk during spring training about internal enhancements and improved procedures, the Jays were unable to make the required changes during the game.
Blanco’s changeup confused them and kept the Jays off-balance the entire way. Of his 20 swings and misses, his changeup accounted for 10, his slider for 8, and his fastball for two. In all, he threw 36 changeups, 34 sliders, 31 fastballs, and 4 curveballs. The Jays hit very few balls hard, and there was a nice variety of deliveries. For balls put in play, the average exit velocity in major league baseball is roughly 92 mph. On Monday, the Jays’ average speed was 85.4 mph.
It was essentially the same story on Tuesday. Before Davis Schneider hit a spectacular two-run home ball off Josh Hader in the ninth inning, the Blue Jays were shut out without scoring a run until two outs were left. The Jays also took advantage of base running errors made by the Astros to steal the victory.
The Jays offense’s struggles from the previous season were evident in these games. They had an excessive number of ineffective at-bats. They did not modify Blanco’s attack strategy against them in the strike zone. They were left guessing the entire night because they were unable to predict his sequencing or lay off pitches outside of the strike zone. They struck out seven times on changeups.
Bo Bichette’s absence from the starting lineup on Monday left the Jays shorthanded, but it is only one aspect of the larger issue. Bichette is not a player that can hit or play every day. The Jays’ lineup is devoid of at least one strong batter.
On Monday, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference. The Jays were destroyed 10-0 and would have lost regardless, but it’s a fact that must be faced. They will have to make due with what they have because there aren’t any good hitters on the market at the moment.
Once more, Monday consisted of just one game. The Jays only need to score enough points, not a lot of them. But they will need to be more consistent than they have been so far this season if they are to do that.
This year, they have scored zero, one, and two runs in their losses and eight, nine, and two runs in their victories. The timing of when they score matters when the offenses are not very strong. It becomes imperative to win low-scoring games, thus the bullpen must perform. The Jays must maintain their lead when they have it.
Right now, the Jays are cutting.196,.285,.333. They have the ninth-worst OPS in all of baseball (.618). Even with limited resources, they are still superior to this. Things will improve. They will have days when they score a ton of runs and days when they are shut down. Their success will largely depend on their consistency.
The Jays still have a chance to make the playoffs, but their path there is as crowded as it has been for the previous ten years. Their margin of error is narrow. Thus, they must pitch well and maintain close games. They are unable to allow more outs, bases, or baserunners when their own run production is at risk.