TORONTO – A vastly improved starting rotation gets much of the credit for the Blue Jays’ stellar run prevention, and rightfully so. With J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez and Marco Estrada leading the way, Blue Jays starters have combined for a 3.69 ERA that leads the American League by a wide margin.
But Blue Jays pitchers have also had some help this year — a whole lot more than they had even a few years ago.
“They’re much better in centre field, at shortstop, at second base, third base,” Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter noted Wednesday. “(Russell) Martin’s a really good catcher. They really defend so much better than they did three years ago. To me, as much as you talk about all of the other things, that’s where they’ve made the biggest leap.”
The numbers back up Showalter’s observation. As a team, the Blue Jays are converting 71.7 percent of batted balls into outs entering play Wednesday. That leads the AL and ranks second in all of baseball behind the defensively gifted Chicago Cubs, who convert nearly three quarters of batted balls into outs.
A few years ago, the Blue Jays didn’t support their pitching staff with nearly as much defence. In 2013, when their up-the-middle defence consisted of J.P. Arencibia, Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio and Colby Rasmus, the Blue Jays ranked 15th among the 30 MLB teams at converting batted balls into outs.
These days, Kevin Pillar, Troy Tulowitzki and Martin all provide above-average defence up the middle. On the infield corners the Blue Jays have Josh Donaldson, an excellent fielder, across from Justin Smoak and Edwin Encarnacion, who both provide steady defence. Toronto has below-average corner outfield defence in the view of numerous talent evaluators, but Pillar’s range makes up some of that difference.
The combined work of those fielders is a big reason the Blue Jays have allowed fewer runs than any AL team.
“It’s been one of the biggest changes for them and it’s made their pitching staff better, too,” Showalter said.