Blue Jays veterans embracing challenge of early road trips

LAKELAND, Fla. – When the Blue Jays team bus left for Lakeland, Fla. Monday morning, most of their regular position players were on it, ready to play behind starter Jose Berrios. Among the starters who made the hour-and-a-half trip east to face the Tigers: Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander, George Springer, Andres Gimenez, Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement.

That’s certainly not necessary at this point in spring training, when established players are almost always granted the leeway to prepare behind the scenes without riding buses for hours at a time. No one would blink an eye if Berrios preferred to throw on a backfield somewhere, or if the Blue Jays’ established hitters decided to take some swings against a Trajekt hitting machine replicating Tarik Skubal’s pitches instead of the defending Cy Young winner himself.

Yet after a disappointing 2024 season in which the Blue Jays finished in last place with a 74-88 record, some of the team's veteran players are leading a push toward in-game reps in the hopes that a little more discomfort now may help in a few weeks when the games start to count.

"It's easy to (skip) a trip to Lakeland, and you see who's on the mound, too, but it shows a lot of where the regular guys are," manager John Schneider said from the visitors' dugout at Joker Marchant Stadium on Monday morning. "I love that they're all here." 

“It's special,” Berrios said after pitching 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. “I feel proud of that. We kind of had the opening starting lineup, and it's fun. When we go out there all together and compete, it’s fun. That’s one sign of what we’re going to bring this season.”

It was Springer who helped lead the push to face Skubal in Lakeland, but he hasn’t been alone in pushing for some challenging at-bats. Santander chose to make the trip to Tampa on Friday night instead of playing earlier at home in Dunedin. His reward, if you can call it that: facing Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, a pitcher who has traditionally dominated him, with only three singles and a double in 30 career at-bats.

“It’s something we talked about as a group to hit the ground running March 27, and pitchers have been the same way,” Schneider said. “The veteran guys, it’s easy to say ‘hey we’re going to take it easy and be careful with you guys,’ but they’re kind of saying the opposite. They want to feel like they’re really ready to roll.”

Granted, there’s also downside to the unpredictability of these games, as evidenced by the pitch Clement took to the face Monday. He exited the field under his own power and sustained a lip laceration and contusion, but appeared to have avoided more serious injuries.

On the pitching staff, newcomer Max Scherzer has helped set the team’s tone, with in-depth conversations behind the scenes. If he's preparing with such purpose at 40 years old, and after winning two World Series and three Cy Young Awards, then why couldn’t everyone? 

“With Max, there is zero B.S.,” Schneider said. “He understands these are practice games. He has a very, very deliberate plan with every pitch he’s throwing, even against teams he’s going to face during the season. He’s savvy. I really think a week ago, seeing him on the mound started a little friendly competition with the guys. He’s definitely pushing the envelope. It’s been cool.”

Scherzer certainly cares about the details and appears locked in mentally, but as he begins his 18th big-league season he knows he can’t overdo it physically in early March.

“I’m not full intensity,” Scherzer said following his start Sunday. “I’m not concerned about the results. This will just manifest itself throughout the team and all our personalities as the season goes on. We’re off to a good start as a team, but it’ll really come together later.”

Now granted, as Scherzer’s exchange with Trea Turner showed Sunday, these games are nowhere close to regular-season intensity. Turner trolled Scherzer by challenging the first pitch of the game, an obvious strike.

“I can’t take those at-bats seriously,” Scherzer acknowledged with a laugh afterwards.

With that in mind, there’s definitely a balancing act between finding the best opportunities for preparation and ramping up the intensity at the right time. Hustle for its own sake won’t change anything in the standings, of course. But if this preparation can give the Blue Jays even one more win, it will all have been worth it.

NOTES: The Blue Jays have yet to decide on an opening-day starter, but Berrios is prominently in the mix for the assignment, according to Schneider… Because he’s already on the 40-man roster, Tyler Heineman may have a slight edge on Christian Bethancourt and Ali Sanchez for the backup catching job… Even though left-hander Ryan Yarbrough’s competing for a bullpen job, the Blue Jays will continue stretching him out as spring progresses.