The Blue Jays are last in their section. Their fans shouldn’t be alarmed as their tally is still over the .500 mark and they play in the best league in the league. Still, the Jays are disappointing, having lost seven of their last ten games. The following is incorrect:
Poor Manoah
Jay’s pitching ace Alek Manoah has always dominated. It’s not complicated, he must have been a good thrower before he even learned to walk. A first-round pick in 2019, he’s been too strong since breaking into pro baseball.
Nine wins and two losses were his rookie year. Last year he racked up 16 wins, putting him among the world’s best on the hill. His earned run average (2.24) was a testament to his dominance in 2022.
The opponent barely hit .200 against him. This year? It’s 0.276. His allowed point average is 5.15. He allowed 55 hits and 33 walks in 50 innings.
To give you an idea, last year he had 55 points in 196 innings. Those aren’t even acceptable numbers for a fifth starter in the majors, and he should be number one.
He took one win in ten starts. This is the main reason for the Jays’ setbacks. Manoah isn’t the same pitcher anymore and after ten starts that’s more than worrying.
Springer looks good, but that’s it
With the Jays on a six-year, $150 million deal, the smiling George Springer is under the pressure of a superstar.
And he appears to be one who has some spectacular catches and home runs into the stratosphere, but the reality is he’s not getting the job done, George Springer.
He needs to get to the bases and he doesn’t do it often enough.
His base average is .312, which isn’t bad, but he needs to step up to help the other big guns get runs.
Springer swings really hard and has a lot of power, but he’s only got two doubles and six homers, so something about his batting approach isn’t working and it’s about time he was more useful to the Jays, who will regret such a contract sooner rather than later.
Berrios was overrated
It seemed like a steal as the Blue Jays managed to land Jose Berrios in 2021 while he was with the Twins.
By his mid-20s, he had two seasons of 14 wins each and a 3.90 earned run average. It landed him a seven-year, $131 million contract with the Jays.
After a good first half of the season in Toronto in 2021, he’s no longer pitching like a $15 million a year pitcher. Last year he posted an excellent earned run average of 5.23, rising to 4.61 in 2023.
He has won three of his nine starts. For what? His throws fool no one. He allowed 199 hits in 172 innings last year and 54 in 52 this year.
In Toronto we’re beginning to wonder how the team can go far with a starter like Berrios, who should be among the best and has in fact been beaten by all clubs for the last two years.
No nice surprises
Unexpected players have caused surprises and contributed to the team’s success in recent years, such as Santiago Espinal, Alejandro Kirk and Cavan Biggo.
But this year the opposite is the case. Aside from veteran Kevin Kiermaier, who offers a solid performance and .310 average, several other players struggle to help the team when the big ones are sleeping.
Receiver Kirk only has two homers and 12 RBIs.
Cavan Biggio continues to drift away from the majors this year, averaging just .127 in 63 batting efforts.
And Santiago Espinal, who competed in last year’s All-Star Game, is struggling to break the starting lineup with his .205 average.
In the meantime, the team relies on Guerrero, Bichette and Chapman to continue to deliver, but it will soon take other heroes to bring the team back to the top.