TORONTO – In three games against the Chicago White Sox this week, Michael Saunders had four hits, including a double against Chris Sale and a home run. It was a productive series by any standard, and especially noteworthy for a player who just returned from a minor hamstring injury.
“Sale isn’t the most fun of at bats for left on left, but I’m just feeling comfortable in the box as of late,” Saunders says.
The production against the White Sox was really a continuation of what’s been a strong opening month for Saunders, who’s hitting .318 with a .375 on-base percentage, a .530 slugging percentage, eight doubles and two home runs. He has already surpassed his games played total from 2015, when he missed nearly the entire year with knee injuries.
“Shoot, he’d been swinging good for weeks before he got hurt,” manager John Gibbons says. “He’s swinging it.”
The Blue Jays are welcoming the production, and cautiously optimistic that it can continue with daily treatment and occasional days off.
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Saunders says he’s still learning how to play through the hamstring issue that initially developed in the Blue Jays’ opening series. The soreness returned when the Blue Jays faced the Oakland Athletics last Friday, so he took a couple days off over the weekend, and Ezequiel Carrera stepped in with some stellar production off the bench. Now that Saunders is feeling better he’s learning how to play through lingering soreness.
“You still have to play smart,” Saunders says. “I had to learn how to play through it: learn my limitations and not be stupid so to speak.”
That means exercising caution, especially when it comes to the first step he takes in the field or while running the bases. His goal: accelerate gradually instead of trying to go from zero to 100 instantaneously.
“I can build up — I’m not going to say full speed, but as long as I build up, I can get going pretty well,” he says. “It’s that first step out of the box. I’ve just got to be conscious of it.”
The same logic applies in left field, where he tries to watch pitches closely to get the best jumps he possibly can.
“Defence feels pretty good,” Saunders says. “When the balls get in the (strike) zone I get moving a little. I’m hoping to make up for that first step, just be on the go a little bit already. Again, once I get going, I feel pretty good.”
Saunders set a career high with 139 games played in 2012 and he played 132 games in 2013 before playing just 78 games in 2014, his final season with the Seattle Mariners. With five months of baseball ahead and Carrera available on the bench, Gibbons expects that the Blue Jays “might have to” give Saunders days off at times as a way to ensure he stays on the field as much as possible.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if those days off occur at home, where the Blue Jays play on one of MLB’s two artificial surfaces. While the turf at Rogers Centre’s considered softer than the surface at Tropicana Field, where the Blue Jays play this weekend, it’s still not as forgiving as natural grass.
To counteract the wear and tear on Saunders’ body, Blue Jays trainer George Poulis provides regular treatment.
“Day in and day out,” Poulis says. “This is a full-team approach from the strength staff, the nutrition staff, the medical staff. We’re all attacking him each day, doing constant treatments each day to keep his range of motion good, his strength good, making sure he’s not over-extending himself.”
So far it’s been working, giving the Blue Jays a glimpse of what they missed in 2015.
