John Schneider says Blue Jays’ batting order ‘an open book’
Among the decisions the Toronto Blue Jays must make this spring is how to structure their batting order, and that goes beyond whether George Springer remains the leadoff hitter or where new slugger Anthony Santander best fits.
DUNEDIN, Fla. – Among the decisions the Toronto Blue Jays must make this spring is how to structure their batting order, and that goes beyond whether George Springer remains the leadoff hitter or where new slugger Anthony Santander best fits.
“I’ve talked to George a little bit and I’ll talk to him more when he gets in, but one through nine is kind of an open book right now, really,” manager John Schneider said. “Not just with George, with everyone – Bo (Bichette), Vlad (Guerrero Jr.), Anthony, (Alejandro) Kirk – just to see where it all kind of flows correctly.
“The focus first and foremost is to get at-bats in spring and once we get into it a little bit, we’ll start figuring out who goes where,” Schneider continued. “I like having Anthony and Vlad close to one another. That works. And Bo looks like Bo, which is really, really refreshing. You talk about adding a bat and we operated without one of our best bats last year in Bo. Having him back is going to be big. Just haven’t really figured out exactly who’s going to go where.”
How much experimenting the Blue Jays plan to do with their lineup remains to be seen, but Schneider’s refusal to commit to Springer in the leadoff spot is notable.
Since he joined the Blue Jays in 2021, he’s taken 1,848 of his 2,222 plate appearances out of the leadoff spot, although last season after a slow beginning he started 37 games batting fifth, sixth or seventh before eventually moving back atop the lineup.
Guerrero was mostly locked into the three-hole, batting third in 122 of his 158 starts, hitting second 35 times plus one leadoff appearance in the final game of the season as he chased his 200th hit. Bichette, meanwhile, batted third or fourth in 59 of his 81 starts, but also hit first nine times, second four times, fifth six times and sixth three times in a down season.
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That, of course, meant flux all around during a trying season, something Schneider wants to avoid this year.
“You want to be as consistent as you can, but looking at what we’ve done in the past, there are adjustments that I think need to be made, one-through-nine, just trying to maximize who we have every single night,” he said. “So it will be a work in progress for everyone, really, to see who fits best, where.”
POWER DUO: One new dynamic for the Blue Jays lineup will be the pairing of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Santander, the type of complementary power threat they’ve lacked since trading Teoscar Hernandez after the 2023 season.
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“It’s nice, right?” Schneider said of adding the free-agent outfielder coming off a career-best, 44-homer season with the Baltimore Orioles. “We didn’t really have that per se every day last year and Vlad still did what he did. It makes pitchers think a little bit differently when you are approaching Vlad or Anthony. Hitters like that, they like to feel confident with taking a walk and letting the next guy do the job. It’s a different dynamic than the one we’ve had in last couple of years. He’s a really smart hitter getting to know him. You can see why he had the results he had in Baltimore.”
PROSPECT TALK: Asked about prospects that he’s particularly excited about as camp begins, GM Ross Atkins, somewhat atypically for him, pointed to outfielder Alan Roden.
The 25-year-old has made a lot of progress over the past couple of seasons, batting a combined .293/.391/.475 in 125 games between double-A New Hampshire and triple-A Buffalo. Of note is that once he joined the Bisons, he slugged .510 in 71 games, and the way he got to that power is why Atkins said, “I’ll single out and put some pressure on” him.
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“He’s just done so much to put himself in a position to move through the system quickly,” said Atkins. “The way he goes about his job, the contact rates the shape of his offence, the fact that it’s both sides of the ball and base-running, stealing bases, plays defence at a solid level. Very physical, with upside to power. He’s an exciting piece. And, hopefully I haven’t put too much pressure on him because there are certainly a lot of other a lot of others.”
Roden is still likely to begin the season at Buffalo, but he’s among the players that should be pushing upwards. Another is Orelvis Martinez, the power-hitting infielder suspended 80 games after testing positive for a banned substance last season.
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Schneider suggested Martinez could see some reps at third base, a position de-emphasized for him last year, although his workload will still be “second and third, probably split like that.”
“You don’t want to put a guy in a new spot every year, which I feel like we’ve done with him,” said Schneider. “So just split his workload accordingly, see how he responds at third. Obviously his bat is what we’re looking at, too. If he can feel comfortable at third, that’d be a big plus.”
