Randal Grichuk didn’t begin his Toronto Blue Jays career the way he, or anybody, could’ve expected, batting a measley .106/.208/.227 with just two home runs in his first 77 plate appearances in 21 games played, more than tripling the amount of times he was striking out (24) to the amount of walks he had drawn (7).
And then he was forced out of the lineup with a knee injury, missing the entire month of May, and has since returned almost an entirely new player with a batting line of .255/.303/.510 along with 15 home runs and 37 RBI in 264 plate appearances over 65 games played.
The 27-year-old is still striking out too much (58 strikouts since he returned from the disabled list) and not drawing enough walks (13 in that span), but it’s clear something really clicked for Grichuk since his return – especially in June when he boasted an OPS of .988 – and if you ask him what may have been the cause, his answer may surprise you.
In strange twist of fate, Grichuk says getting hurt may have been the best thing for him and his off swing.
“I think earlier in the year, coming out of spring training, I was really down in my legs, really crouched down. And once I got hurt, once I was on the DL, I was able to go down to Florida and work on something and try to get consistent,” Grichuk said on Baseball Central Tuesday. “It’s tough to be able make adjustments to your swing or your setup or anything, for that matter, when you know you’ve got four at-bats in a big-league ballgame that night. …
“So it’s unfortunate that I got hurt, but very good timing to be able to go down there and kind of take a step back and breathe and be able to make those adjustments to my swing, mechanically and not have to get those four at-bats that night.”
For the season, Grichuk is batting .224/.282/.450. Not world-beating numbers by any stretch of the imagination, but still a great improvement over the embarrassing .435 OPS he was struggling through at the beginning of the year, and proof that you can make the best out of a bad situation like getting hurt.
You can listen to Grichuck’s entire appearance on Baseball Central, where he also discusses playing in the Little League World Series and nearly facing off against current Blue Jays teammate Devon Travis, in the audio player below.
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