TORONTO – Let’s start by stating something that you probably already know – Mike Trout is insanely good at baseball. Still, as a way to fully appreciate just how insanely good at baseball he is, take a look at the two home runs he hit off Aaron Sanchez on Wednesday in the Los Angeles Angels’ 11-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Above are the two pitches Trout hammered a cumulative 854 feet – a 93.8 m.p.h. four-seamer middle up that went for a two-run shot in the second; and a 91.7 m.p.h. sinker down and in that became a grand slam in the fourth.
For background, Sanchez got Trout to pop out to short on a four-seamer up and away in the first inning. He tried to go back to the well in the second, might have left the pitch a little more middle than he might have liked, and watched a high-arching shot fly out at 111.3 m.p.h.
"In a count where you’re predictable, you’re 3-2, he probably knows you’re going to throw a heater," said Sanchez. "He knew in his first at-bat I went to that spot and he took me deep."
In a bind the next time Trout came to the plate – Jonathan Lucroy and Luis Rengifo went single/double to open the inning before Danny Jansen was called for catcher’s interference to load the bases – Sanchez changed his approach and still got burned.
"It could be a lot different if I don’t get the catcher’s interference, maybe I don’t attack him in the same way," said Sanchez. "But great player, one of the greatest in the game, and he did what he’s supposed to do."
Trout is a good low-ball hitter, but he’s also a good any-ball hitter. That’s what makes him such a terror for pitchers, and what makes him one of the game’s all-time greatest hitters.
"The first home run, Sanchie wanted to challenge him and I was all for it. Challenge him away and, best player in the game," said catcher Danny Jansen. "The grand slam, the batter before, catcher’s interference, if that doesn’t happen and we get the (out) at first base, we can pitch differently. That’s on me. Sinker down and in that Sanchie threw right to my glove. He executed that. He’s the best player in the game for a reason."
SANCHEZ STRUGGLES
Sure, Mike Trout was responsible for knocking in six of the seven runs charged to Aaron Sanchez, but the Blue Jays right-hander had his share of problems elsewhere in the Angels lineup, too.
He allowed nine hits and two walks over 3.2 innings, a second straight short outing after allowing a season-high eight runs on six hits and three walks in three frames Friday in Houston. He hasn’t been particularly sharp since leaving a May 27 outing at Tampa Bay with a right middle fingernail avulsion, although he did manage to get through six frames against Colorado (four runs) and Arizona (five runs) in the starts right after that.
Some minor tweaks to his delivery made during that stretch haven’t taken for Sanchez, who’s still working toward consistency after two lost years in which he often altered his mechanics to try and stay on the field.
"We kind of panicked early (during the current stretch), started doing things that wasn’t me, I stopped moving my hands for a while back there. I felt (moving the hands before starting the windup as a way to build some momentum) kept me athletic, kept me loose, kept me going down in the zone," said Sanchez. "Kind of got away from the gameplan halfway through there. It’s just about getting back to what I’m good at doing and getting out there and attacking."
That could help explain why Wednesday his velocity averages of 93.3 on his four-seamer and 92.4 on his sinker were down from his season averages of 94.0 and 94.1. His pitch usage has changed dramatically from his dominant 2016, when he threw his sinker 55.9 per cent of the time and his four-seamer just 19.1 per cent. Now he’s using his four-seamer 29.6 per cent of the time, one per cent more than the sinker that was once his bread and butter.
It’s another example of how, in some ways, his 2019 is about finding himself again as a pitcher.
"The good thing is I’m healthy and I’m taking the ball every five days," said Sanchez. "At this point that’s the only thing that matters to me with how much time I’ve missed the last two years. No one said this is going to be easy. It is what it is and I’ll just continue to keep putting in the work. It’ll change. I’m not worried."
GRINDING IT OUT
There are some interesting numbers in Danny Jansen’s peripherals but before we get to those let’s discuss the 3.98 pitches per plate appearance he’s seeing this year.
What does that matter, you ask? Well, consider his plate appearance in the second inning Wednesday, when he took three balls from Andrew Heaney, looked at a called strike, fouled off straight pitches and then watched ball four to put men at first and second.
That’s a nine-pitch grind for Heaney, who proceeded to fall behind 2-1 to Rowdy Tellez before serving up a middle-in sinker that Tellez pummelled to straight away centre for a three-run homer that tied the game 3-3.
"That’s what I strive for, a competitive at-bat and anytime you can draw a lot of pitches out of a pitcher in one at-bat, it helps the team in some way," said Jansen. "I was happy to get the walk and then Rowdy hit the homer, so I was glad to pass the torch."
The wider point is that while Jansen’s production isn’t there, the underlying performance at the plate isn’t indicative of a .500 OPS. His hard contact rate, per Fangraphs, is up to 43 per cent this year from 20 per cent last season. His plate discipline is nearly unchanged as his swing percentage.
The one glaring difference is that his groundball rate is to 44.2 per cent from 32.3 per cent. That could simply be a by-product of how he’s been pitched, he’s been pounded inside a fair bit, and there may be an adjustment he needs to make as a result of that. But there’s certainly reason to think his numbers should be better than they actually are.
"I think I’ve seen the ball pretty well the last month and a half or so," said Jansen, who picked up another walk later in the game and scored then, as well. "A plate appearance like the (nine-pitch walk) is just me being on time, me being able to recognize, being ready to hit, being aggressive, swinging at pitches in the zone. The only way to do that is me being on time."
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SHORT HOPS
The Blue Jays, in need of a starter Saturday to cover for Edwin Jackson, are as of now planning to go with a bullpen game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Depending on usage before then, they could start Derek Law and then follow with Sam Gaviglio, or start someone else and follow with Law. … Lefty Thomas Pannone, who spent most of the season in the Blue Jays bullpen, made his first start at triple-A Buffalo, striking out eight in four innings of one-run ball Wednesday as the Bisons beat Indianapolis 6-3. He threw 66 pitches. … Ken Giles threw roughly 20 pitches in a live batting practice Wednesday that was described as awesome by pitching coach Pete Walker. Charlie Montoyo said the closer is on track for activation Thursday or Friday. … Once he does return, space will need to be made. Justin Shafer, just recalled Tuesday, threw 2.1 innings of one-hit relief, striking out a pair. Canadian Jordan Romano came into a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and induced an inning-ending double play. He returned for the eighth, striking out Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani and after a Justin Upton solo shot, got Kole Calhoun swinging, too. "He showed me that he can pitch later in games, that he’s not going to be nervous against whoever," Montoyo said of Romano. … Along with his three-run shot in the second, Rowdy Tellez also went deep in the eighth, a solo shot that gave him his second career multi-homer game.
QUOTABLE
"Not really. I think I did in low-A and I learned my lesson. That’s just noise. It is what it is. Can’t control it. No reason to sit here and try to predict what’s going to happen. It’s not in your hands. You try to just let it be noise and go out there and do your thing." – Aaron Sanchez on whether he’s impacted by trade speculation.
