BRADENTON, Fla. – By and large, spring training lineups don’t mean very much, often based more on who needs at-bats than who ends up hitting where. But Saturday afternoon, in their penultimate Grapefruit League game, the Toronto Blue Jays rolled out a familiar configuration versus Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates with a little more significance behind it.
George Springer at leadoff with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the three-hole, as he prefers. Nathan Lukes in between them at two with fellow lefty Addison Barger at four, followed by Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho, Kazuma Okamoto, Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez.
“It’s a pretty good idea of how I'm thinking about it, how we're thinking about it,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said ahead of an 8-3 loss. “Happens to be a really good starter for them in Paul, and how we can best combat that. We're not looking at results, but at how the lineup flows. And how we start may not be how we finish. There's still a little bit of, I don't want to say unknown with Kaz, but I don't want to pigeonhole him in the seven-hole by any means. I don't want to pigeonhole Ernie anywhere. A lot will depend on the starter. But I feel good about the top six, and depending on who's in there, there could be a little movement between two and six, something like that. Just seeing how this rolls out.”
The Blue Jays didn’t manage much against Skenes, who allowed one hit and three walks with five strikeouts over four shutout innings, but they did build a couple of innings against the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., for instance, narrowly missed a three-run homer in the third when he launched a 2-2 changeup out at 108.3 m.p.h. just foul, before he struck out on an elevated 96.4 m.p.h. heater on the next pitch.
Regardless, the reps against a pitcher of that calibre are what matter most with opening day less than a week away and hitters trying to lock down their timing as much as possible.
“Absolutely,” said Ernie Clement, who went 0-for-3 in his second game since returning from the World Baseball Classic. “Those are the guys we're going to be facing during the season, so as good as the competition can be, that's welcomed.”
Worth remembering is that the Blue Jays’ lineup will be far from static throughout the season, as last year they used 146 different orders, maxing out at three games for four separate alignments. They also frequently adjusted in-game, taking more of their plate appearances with platoon advantage for the first time since 2019, although what they also layered in last year was matching up batter and pitcher profiles more, as well.
For context, the Cleveland Guardians led the majors in taking 78.6 per cent of their plate appearances with platoon advantage last year, while the Houston Astros were last at 35.2. Second-last were the two-time World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at 38.3 per cent.
"Going back a couple years, we learned that, for the most part, it's pretty advantageous to get the handedness advantage and then, within that, last year we dove into more swing/pitch specifics and how we can combat whatever is on the mound,” said Schneider. “We talked about cohesion a lot last year, not just with the players in the clubhouse, but the staff to the players, (the hitting coaches) identifying certain things to look for in certain pitchers and then what our guys can or can't do in those situations. …
“There's also the human element that goes into it, too. If a guy is working on something and getting better at something and obviously having success, that's where it's on me to trust my eyes and see what's going on and take that route, as well.”
That’s the needle the Blue Jays will try to thread once again this season as they try to replicate the offensive approach and production that carried them to the World Series.
“You saw it at the end of last year with how it was one through nine,” said Clement. “How at the bottom we're going to be really, really pesky and tough at-bats, move runners over and do all the little things. Obviously, George and Vladdy and Lukey and all those guys at the top, they'll do their thing. And, everybody's very unselfish in our lineup. So, that helps things flow. We're going to try to push as many runs across in as many different ways as possible.”
Roster moves: Two more candidates for the final spot in the Blue Jays bullpen fell out of the race when Connor Seabold, in camp on a minor-league deal, was granted his release and Lazaro Estrada was optioned to triple-A Buffalo.
Believed to still be in play are:
• Optionable 40-man roster candidates Chase Lee, who threw 1.2 innings Friday; and Adam Macko, who allowed three runs in an inning in a 5-4 Spring Breakout loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday but showed well for Canada in two World Baseball Classic outings.
• Off-the-roster Yariel Rodriguez, who is capable of giving the Blue Jays the type of multi-inning protection and durability they’re seeking, and is essentially optionable if added because of the amount of money he’s owed.
• And promising but raw Rule 5 candidates Spencer Miles, who must be carried all season long for the Blue Jays to retain his rights, and Angel Bastardo, who allowed two runs on a hit and two walks with two strikeouts Saturday and only needs 90 days of active service time after spending all of last season on the 60-day injured list.
Gausman gets going: Kevin Gausman headed into last season weighing around 220 pounds, heavier at the end of spring than in recent years, and finished the longest season of his career in the 185-pound range. That’s why this spring, he’s reported for daily duty and crushed breakfast, most recently overnight oats with “some nice fruit to go with it.”
“I switched it up,” he said. “I was kind of vegging out there for a couple of weeks, so tried to kind of tone it down a little bit.”
The bulking has been worth it, as he feels that he’s in a similar spot at the beginning of this season as he was at the start of last year. He capped off his spring with five-plus innings and 78 pitches against the Pirates, allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
More importantly, he sat 94 m.p.h. with his fastball, got up to 97.2 when needed and got 10 whiffs, four on his heater, five on the split, plus one on the slider. Holding his velocity tells him that “my arm is with me and I have a stable foundation for what's to come.”
“I feel good,” he said. “To be honest, I thought I'd feel a lot worse than I do, so it's always nice when you surprise yourself when you're 35. More than anything now, it's about getting used to sitting down and getting back up and doing it six, seven, eight times every five days.”
Quotable: “LSU, Go Tigers. I appreciate the national championship that he brought to LSU. I know Paul a little bit. He's about as pro as it gets. He really embodies that military persona of being as prepared as you possibly can for every situation. Really beyond his years and has really only been pitching for a handful of years. The sky's the limit with him, hopefully he can just stay healthy and keep doing what he's been doing.” – Kevin Gausman, on what he appreciates about fellow LSU alum Paul Skenes
