TORONTO – Manager John Gibbons didn’t have much to say about the decision to part ways with Jarrod Saltalamacchia Friday afternoon.
Moments earlier, the switch-hitting catcher had finished packing his bags, and his replacement, Luke Maile, had started getting his bearings in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse. It was a significant shake-up for the 6-16 Toronto Blue Jays, but given the way Saltalamacchia was struggling at the plate and in the field, no lengthy explanation was required.
“Love everything about him,” Gibbons said. “Showed up to play, played to win. It just didn’t work out.”
Was it the 16 strikeouts in 26 plate appearances that prompted the Blue Jays to designate Saltalamacchia for assignment? His inability to throw out any of the nine runners who attempted stolen bases against him?
“I’ll just leave it at that,” Gibbons said.
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Signed to a minor-league deal this off-season Saltalamacchia simply didn’t produce, with just one hit and one walk in 26 trips to the plate. So on Thursday night the Blue Jays interrupted Luke Maile’s dinner in Durham, N.C., and told him to make his way to Toronto.
Maile joins the Blue Jays with a reputation as a strong defensive catcher, a “known defender” in Gibbons’ words. Maile, who was named the top defensive catcher in the Midwest League by Baseball America in 2013, has prevented 31 per cent of stolen base attempts at the MLB level and an impressive 40 per cent in the minors.
Though Maile doesn’t want to be labeled as a defence-only catcher, he’s well aware of his reputation.
“I feel like I’m young enough, and I feel like I’ve improved enough in the last couple of years to maybe change that and become more all-around,” he said. “Certainly the defence comes first, the pitching staff comes first, but I’m not going to be shy about trying to drive some runs in and help us out offensively, too.”
A right-handed hitter, Maile has a .214/.234/.338 batting line in 161 big-league plate appearances, all of which came with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2015 and 2016. He does have three home runs and 10 doubles in 57 big-league games, and has fared better at the plate at lower levels, with a .255/.333/.362 batting line in parts of six minor-league seasons. Either way, the Blue Jays aren’t counting on Maile to transform their lineup. As Gibbons said, “we’ll take what we can get offensively.”
The Blue Jays didn’t hesitate to mix Maile into the lineup, starting him Friday with Marcus Stroman on the mound to provide Russell Martin with a day off. As luck would have it, the Blue Jays were facing Maile’s former team.
“Seems to be how baseball works,” he said. “A lot of irony with that, but I’m excited about it. It’s definitely bittersweet, but I couldn’t be more excited to be in this dugout.”
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Unlike Saltalamacchia, who had the benefit of an entire spring to learn the tendencies and preferences of the Blue Jays pitchers, Maile will be adjusting on the fly. Because the Blue Jays claimed him on April 6, after the season began, he’ll have to start by listening to the pitchers themselves as much as possible.
“It all starts with communication,” he said. “You establish the fact that you care. That goes a long way for sure.”
Before the signing of Derek Norris made him expendable in Tampa Bay, Maile worked closely with the Rays pitching staff. In that respect, he impressed his manager, former MLB catcher Kevin Cash.
“He does a nice job defensively,” Cash said. “You can give him a game plan and he’ll give you everything he can to execute it and lead the pitcher or allow the pitcher to lead him. He’ll buy in real quick to what’s trying to be accomplished. Very savvy.”
Maybe it’ll take Maile a couple of weeks to learn the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. In the meantime, he’ll defer to their experience.
“They’re all here for a reason,” he said. “They’ve all had a lot of success. I certainly don’t want to get in the way of that.”
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