<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Toronto &#187; Brendan Panikkar</title>
	<atom:link href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/brendanpanikkar/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com</link>
	<description>Comprehensive coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 03:35:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1</generator>
	<item>
		<title>Dwight Smith Jr. Has a Place on the Blue Jays in 2019</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/22/dwight-smith-jr-has-a-place-on-the-blue-jays-in-2019/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/22/dwight-smith-jr-has-a-place-on-the-blue-jays-in-2019/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jun 2018 10:32:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Brendan Panikkar]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dwight Smith Jr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16142</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Toronto Blue Jays outfield situation is going to look a heck of a lot better in 2019 compared to what it is right now. That&#8217;s not to say the current outfield is bad. But there are going to be some outfield spots opening up for 2019, and maybe even a trade or two this offseason. [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Toronto Blue Jays outfield situation is going to look a heck of a lot better in 2019 compared to what it is right now. That&#8217;s not to say the current outfield is bad. But there are going to be some outfield spots opening up for 2019, and maybe even a trade or two this offseason.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays currently have the following outfielders on their 40-man roster:</p>
<ul>
<li>Anthony Alford</li>
<li>Curtis Granderson</li>
<li>Randal Grichuk</li>
<li>Teoscar Hernandez</li>
<li>Steve Pearce</li>
<li>Kevin Pillar</li>
<li>Dalton Pompey</li>
<li>Dwight Smith Jr.</li>
</ul>
<p>We&#8217;ve seen all eight of these outfielders for at least some duration during the 2018 season. Beyond this year, you can all but guarantee Granderson and Pearce are gone: The platoon got off to a great start, but it all kind of fell apart when Pearce injured his oblique. Dalton Pompey may remain in the organization for depth purposes, but his future with the Blue Jays is very much in doubt, especially following his most recent stint with the big club and eventual injury. Unfortunately for the Mississauga native, it&#8217;s unlikely he&#8217;ll factor into the Blue Jays&#8217; plans for much longer.</p>
<p>That leaves Alford, Grichuk, Hernandez, Pillar, and Smith Jr. as the Jays&#8217; outfielders heading into the offseason, barring any trades this deadline. If anyone is moved this deadline or offseason, it would likely be Pillar. Grichuk&#8217;s recent string of post-disabled list success has made Blue Jays fans realize that he is actually a good and useful outfielder. In an ideal world, Hernandez will get at-bats at designated hitter a few times a week given his poor defense, with some time spent in the outfield. Anthony Alford is the most blue-chip and exciting out of all the names listed above, and he will certainly get his shot. Given that Pillar will be arbitration eligible and will likely command a raise, one would hope the Blue Jays consider trading him this 0ff-season to open up a full-time spot for Alford.</p>
<p>But while there are many scenarios that may play out with the Jays&#8217; outfield situation over the remainder of 2018 and through the offseason, one thing is certain in my mind: Dwight Smith Jr. has shown enough in his very brief MLB career to have a spot on the 2019 Blue Jays roster, even if it&#8217;s in the role of the fourth outfielder.</p>
<p>Smith Jr. is a left-handed bat, something only Granderson and switch-hitter Pompey offer in the current crop of outfielders. He&#8217;s hit at every level the Blue Jays have placed him at, and since 2013 has never posted a wRC+ of less than 108. In 164 plate appearances with the Buffalo Bisons, Smith Jr. has a walk rate of 14.6 percent and a strikeout rate of only 15.2 percent. He has almost walked as much as he&#8217;s struck out in 2018, and that good eye has translated decently well to the major leagues with 8.8 percent walk rate in 34 MLB plate appearances.</p>
<p>There isn&#8217;t a whole lot of major league data to go off of for Smith Jr., as he&#8217;s only amassed 63 plate appearances, but the small sample size returns are great, with a line of .333/.397/.533. In 42 batted balls for his MLB career, Smith Jr. has a hard hit percentage of 25.6 percent. With Smith Jr.&#8217;s ability to see pitches quite well, not strike out a lot, and put the ball in play, he should at minimum make a good fourth outfielder in 2019.</p>
<p>Smith Jr. offers the Blue Jays versatility, too, as he could play all over the outfield, hits left-handed, and can run very well. None of the other outfield options heading into 2019 would be able to offer that combination. The one thing to be worried about in the small sample size is the completely unsustainable .429 BABIP. Still, given Smith Jr.&#8217;s performance in his brief time in the majors, and all the minor league data we have available to us, he should definitely figure into the Jays&#8217; outfield plans for 2019. Whether as a fourth outfielder or in a regular role, Dwight Smith Jr. can be a useful player for the Blue Jays moving forward into next season and beyond.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/22/dwight-smith-jr-has-a-place-on-the-blue-jays-in-2019/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Yangervis Solarte&#8217;s Power Increase Sustainable?</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/30/is-yangervis-solartes-power-increase-sustainable/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/30/is-yangervis-solartes-power-increase-sustainable/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 May 2018 10:30:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Brendan Panikkar]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=15873</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Yangervis Solarte from the San Diego Padres this past offseason for Edward Oliveras and Jared Carkuff, it was expected that he would get a lot of playing time as the primary backup infielder for the likes of Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson, with his ability to play some shortstop [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Yangervis Solarte from the San Diego Padres this past offseason for Edward Oliveras and Jared Carkuff, it was expected that he would get a lot of playing time as the primary backup infielder for the likes of Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson, with his ability to play some shortstop and first base as well adding to his expected value.</p>
<p>From a versatility standpoint, Solarte has been everything the Blue Jays could have hoped for and more, especially considering Devon Travis&#8217; poor start to the season and eventual demotion to Triple A. From an offensive standpoint, though, Solarte has been nothing short of a huge upgrade over the players who manned his positions just a season ago. Offensively, Solarte came to the Blue Jays as a guy who did nearly everything well, but nothing exceptionally. Nothing that he brought to Toronto as a part of his offensive game stood out as a &#8220;wow&#8221; type tool. But to this point in the season, Solarte has &#8220;wowed&#8221; just about everyone with the amount of power he&#8217;s brought to the table, leading the team with 11 home runs and 33 RBIs. He&#8217;s also posted a 117 wRC+ and .485 slugging percentage, both well above his career averages 106 and .423.</p>
<p>The power definitely has been a lovely surprise to the Blue Jays offense, even more so with Josh Donaldson missing time on the disabled list and Justin Smoak not hitting for nearly as much power as he did a season ago. With Solarte on pace to far surpass his career high of 18 home runs and set a career high in ISO, the question must be raised: Is this newfound power sustainable?</p>
<p>To answer this, let&#8217;s take a look at some Statcast data.</p>
<p><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/chart2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15985" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/chart2.png" alt="chart2" width="547" height="111" /></a></p>
<p>The first thing that jumps out at you among these numbers is that Solarte is well on his way to setting a career high in barrels. He&#8217;s already at 11 for the season in just 154 batted balls, good for a 6.5 percent barrel rate early on in 2018. His launch angle is also near an all-time high, which suggests he is putting emphasis on getting the ball in the air — he&#8217;s had a higher launch angle each season he&#8217;s been in the big leagues, and each season he puts up new career highs in home runs — which is now accompanied by a return to his previous exit velocity. That&#8217;s why you see the large increase in barrel rates. It also appears that he is purposely trying to hit for more power this season, being at a much more hitter-friendly park. Take a look at the numbers in the chart below, breaking things down by pitch type.</p>
<p><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/chart-2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15977" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/chart-2.png" alt="chart 2" width="606" height="88" /></a></p>
<p>Solarte&#8217;s slugging percentage against the fastball is at a career high, and it definitely seems as though this development directly correlates with his high launch angle. It also looks like Solarte, over the past two seasons, has tried to hit for power against breaking balls as well. Solarte&#8217;s average launch angles and strikeout rates on breaking balls in 2017 and 2018 have been respectively higher and lower than they were in 2016 and 2015. As a final indication that Solarte&#8217;s increased launch angles have correlated with his increased power, he finished April with an overall average launch angle of 14.6 degrees and six home runs. With one game left in May, wherein he has had an overall average launch angle of 11.5 degrees, he has hit four home runs.</p>
<p>The evidence suggesting that Solarte is purposely trying to hit for more power is strengthened by looking at his fly-ball tendencies this season. While his fly-ball percentage is not much above the previous three seasons at 24.2 percent, his groundball percentage is at a career low, while his popup rate is at a high of 13.1 percent. Solarte really seems to be trying to elevate the baseball, and it has worked thus far in 2018, especially against the fastball. This is an approach that looks like it is here to stay.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s even more good news as a result of this uptick in power: There&#8217;s still room for improvement. With the amount of barrels Solarte has hit so far in 2018, his xBA is .286, 33 points higher than his batting average. There is also room for some more power as well: His xSLG of .489 is nine points higher than his .480 SLG. Solarte&#8217;s xBA of .250 and xSLG of .404 against breaking balls, compared to his actual batting average and slugging percentage of .216 and .375, suggest he might start hitting them for more power.</p>
<p>Yangervis Solarte has been a lovely addition to the Blue Jays. His energy and versatility have been great additions to this team, especially when compared to the team a year ago. It&#8217;s been a nice surprise seeing Solarte hit for as much power as he has, and with other key players not hitting for as much power as one would expect, Solarte&#8217;s power numbers are definitely a welcome sight. The best news of all is that it looks as if this power uptick is sustainable, and Solarte&#8217;s bat can play as a middle of the order hitter for the rest of 2018.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/30/is-yangervis-solartes-power-increase-sustainable/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Jays&#8217; Left Field Platoon is Good and Should Stay That Way</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/09/the-left-field-platoon-has-been-good-and-should-stay-that-way/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/09/the-left-field-platoon-has-been-good-and-should-stay-that-way/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2018 10:46:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Brendan Panikkar]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=15726</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Toronto Blue Jays brought Steve Pearce into the fold in the 2016-2017 off-season with a two-year, $12.5 million deal. Following a 348 plate-appearance season that saw Pearce put up 0.1 wins&#8217; worth of value, Curtis Granderson was brought in on a one-year, $5 million deal to be platoon-mates with Pearce. The Granderson-Pearce platoon has combined for 0.9 [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Toronto Blue Jays brought Steve Pearce into the fold in the 2016-2017 off-season with a two-year, $12.5 million deal. Following a 348 plate-appearance season that saw Pearce put up 0.1 wins&#8217; worth of value, Curtis Granderson was brought in on a one-year, $5 million deal to be platoon-mates with Pearce.</p>
<p>The Granderson-Pearce platoon has combined for 0.9 fWAR to this point in the season, and with the potential to stay quite valuable at only $11.25 million between the two of them, should warrant a thank-you from Blue Jays fans to Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins. Thank them, because this platoon is no showing signs of slowing down.</p>
<p>To date, Granderson has been used strictly when a right-hander is on the mound, with just five plate appearances againts left-handers compared to 69 against right-handers. Pearce has seen time at first base and DH in 2018, which has contributed to some more even splits in plate appearances against both right- and left-handed pitchers. Pearce is primarily put in left field, however, when a left-hander is on the mound. That has led to the following splits so far this year:</p>
<ul>
<li>Curtis Granderson vs. RHP: .303/.452/.530/.983, 171 wRC+</li>
<li>Steve Pearce vs. LHP: .293/.341/.537/.877, 136 wRC+</li>
<li>Combined: .298/.396/.533/.930, 153 wRC+</li>
</ul>
<p>The left field situation angered lots of fans after the Granderson signing, as it all but solidified the platoon between him and Pearce. But they&#8217;re sure quieting the doubters so far, and there is some optimism for the platoon to continue this level of play.</p>
<p>Through the season&#8217;s first month, Pearce and Granderson have some interesting trends developing that could be contributing to their strong starts to the season. On 53 batted balls, Pearce has an average launch angle of 11.3 degrees. That&#8217;s the lowest of his career during the Statcast era. At the same time, he&#8217;s posted the second-highest average exit velocity and highest barrel percentage of his career, and a hard-hit percentage of 45.3.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s possible Pearce doesn&#8217;t need to have a high launch angle to scorch the ball and hit for power. Given how hard Pearce has hit the ball, he&#8217;s posted an xBA of .361. All of these trends are contributing to a strong start for Pearce, and as the Statcast data suggests, there&#8217;s room for growth in his actual numbers.</p>
<p>The Statcast numbers don&#8217;t suggest as much room for growth and improvement for Granderson, but there are some encouraging trends to his start. Granderson&#8217;s average launch angle is the lowest of his career thus far in the Statcast era, but his 40.9 percent hard-hit rate and average exit velocity of 89.1 mph are above or near his career highs. The xBA isn&#8217;t as favourable for Granderson as it is for Pearce at .250m but his ability to take walks have been contributing to a good wOBA 0f .405.</p>
<p>As suggested above, Pearce and Granderson are hitting well, but they&#8217;re also seeing the ball well. Both Pearce and Granderson are chasing balls at the lowest rates of their careers. Further evidence that they&#8217;re seeing the ball well: When they&#8217;re thrown meatballs, they&#8217;ve been swinging at them at rates near or above their career highs, which seems to be leading to the rise in hard contact.</p>
<p>Pearce and Granderson are both being attacked quite similarly by opposing pitchers, and they&#8217;re having similar rates of success with the way they&#8217;re being attacked. The table below highlights how they&#8217;ve been attacked:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/chart.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15825" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/chart.png" alt="chart" width="533" height="226" /></a></p>
<p>Neither Pearce nor Granderson have been missing fastballs when they get them, and they have identical batting averages against breaking balls at .316. It&#8217;s interesting to note how much they both struggle against offspeed stuff. It appears that opposing pitchers may be starting to change how they attack Pearce, as 22.3 percent of the pitches he saw in April were offspend. The sample sizes of March and May are both extremely small to this point, but the percentage of offspeed pitches seen by Pearce in both months falls in the 7 to 8 percent range. Granderson, meanwhile, is seeing fewer fastballs and more breaking balls as the season goes along, but it&#8217;s encouraging to see both him and Pearce hitting the fastball as well as the breaking stuff. Pearce and Granderson both struggled mightily against breaking and offspeed pitches in 2017. We&#8217;re seeing a marked improvement thus far in 2018.</p>
<p>Another reason why this platoon is working out so well: They almost always have the platoon advantage against the opposing pitchers. This advantage is making traditional breaking balls less effective, and forcing pitchers to attack Pearce and Granderson with offspeed pitches like changeups and splitters to get them out instead. If they can raise their batting averages closer to their expected batting averages, they&#8217;ll become even more dangerous.</p>
<p>There is room for Steve Pearce to grow, and Curtis Granderson may come back down to earth a bit with his batting average, but his ability to get on-base at a great rate should keep his wOBA high. The Pearce-Granderson platoon has been everything the Jays could have wanted through the first month of the season, and there&#8217;s reason to expect this platoon to continue the success it has had. It really is a match made in heaven.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/09/the-left-field-platoon-has-been-good-and-should-stay-that-way/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The One Sign of Optimism for Randal Grichuk</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/04/27/the-one-sign-of-optimism-for-randal-grichuk/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/04/27/the-one-sign-of-optimism-for-randal-grichuk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2018 10:19:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Brendan Panikkar]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Draft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=15708</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Toronto Blue Jays brought in Randal Grichuk from the St. Louis Cardinals this past offseason in exchange for pitchers Dominic Leone and Conner Greene. This was the second time the Blue Jays and Cardinals hooked up for a trade this winter, also acquiring Aledmys Diaz, who, in the absence of Troy Tulowitzki, is now their primary [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Toronto Blue Jays brought in Randal Grichuk from the St. Louis Cardinals this past offseason in exchange for pitchers Dominic Leone and Conner Greene. This was the second time the Blue Jays and Cardinals hooked up for a trade this winter, also acquiring Aledmys Diaz, who, in the absence of Troy Tulowitzki, is now their primary shortstop. Grichuk was thought to solidify the defense right field, and to represent a vast improvement over last season&#8217;s incarnation of Jose Bautista. It’s been a nightmare start for Grichuk offensively, however, and with kids like Teoscar Hernandez opening eyes, Grichuk is quickly becoming unplayable.</p>
<p>Grichuk is slashing .085/.203/.220 with a wRC+ of 20. He has hit only two home runs and driven in only seven runners (two of whom were himself). As to be expected with Grichuk, there has been a ton of swing and miss: His strikeout rate of 34.8 percent ranks 20th in baseball. Despite this, through Grichuk&#8217;s 69 plate appearances he’s shown a significant improvement in his other greatest weakness: taking walks. With a 10.1 percent walk rate, he&#8217;s actually been walking more than the league average hitter. We&#8217;ll see if that continues, but he definitely needs to start getting more hits as well.</p>
<p>Opposing pitchers may have picked up on a way to pitch to Grichuk to prevent him from getting his arms extended and tapping into that raw power. Here is the breakdown of pitches thrown against Grichuk when he is behind in counts:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/pitches.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15709" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/pitches.png" alt="pitches" width="628" height="385" /></a></p>
<p>The fact that there is almost no difference in pitch selection with two strikes shows that pitchers are trying to exploit holes in Grichuk&#8217;s swing as soon as they get ahead in the count. This follows when looking at Grichuk&#8217;s past issues. Last year, Grichuk saw 247 fastballs from righties in the upper third of the zone or higher. He swung at 141 of them, and only put 13 of them in play &#8212; the rest were either whiffs or fouls, almost perfectly evenly distributed. As you can see, righties are continuing to exploit that. It certainly seems that with Grichuk’s crouched stance, it’s easy for right handers to get him up and in with a fastball.</p>
<p>Lefties, in contrast, typically throw more off-speed to Grichuk. Against 340 sliders thrown in 2017, Grichuk hit a measly .177. He didn&#8217;t fare much better against the changeup, with a .214 average against 131 pitches thrown. He struggles mightily against off-speed pitches, and hits hard stuff well when he connects. With a smaller margin for error to get a fastball up and in (the natural movement takes it away from the hitter), lefties are choosing to put Grichuk away with off-speed stuff.</p>
<p>All of that said, and amidst all Grichuk&#8217;s problems this year, there is one reason for optimism: He hits the ball really hard when he connects. In fact, his barrels per plate appearance is ninth in all of baseball at 13.0 percent. That’s right behind some heavy hitters in J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts, Joey Gallo, Xander Bogaerts, and Javy Baez. He’s also hanging around some of the best power hitters in baseball in exit velocity, average distance, and hard-hit percentage. When he’s connecting, he’s hitting the ball hard.</p>
<p>Grichuk has also been at the wrong end of rotten luck on some of those well-struck balls. Here’s a few examples with the hit probabilities listed at the end:</p>
<p>March 29th vs. Luis Severino &#8211; 103.6 MPH, 373 feet, 41.5 percent<br />
March 30th vs. Masahiro Tanaka &#8211; 99.7 MPH, 353 feet, 27.5 percent<br />
April 3rd. Vs. Gregory Infante &#8211; 107.1 MPH, 368 feet, 45.0 percent<br />
April 6th vs. Jesse Chavez &#8211; 105.9 MPH, 396 feet, 81.8 percent<br />
April 7th vs. Mike Minor &#8211; 103.4 MPH, 373 feet, 59.5 percent<br />
April 8th vs. Cole Hamels &#8211; 106.8 MPH, 353 feet, 49.7 percent<br />
April 17th vs. Eric Skoglund &#8211; 104.9 MPH, 391 feet, 88.1 percent</p>
<p>All of those balls were extremely well hit and went for long fly balls to the warning track. As you can see, with those hit probabilities, Grichuk has run into some poor fortune on balls in play. A few feet more on a lot of those, or even just a bit more pull towards left field, and there are a lot more than just two home runs for Grichuk in 2018.</p>
<p>Eventually those will start to fall, which will make Grichuk&#8217;s numbers look a lot better. But Grichuk can also help himself by getting into more favourable counts, where he will see some hard stuff out over the plate. In particular, laying off of off-speed pitches outside the strike zone would go a long way towards reaching that goal. While that has plagued him for his whole career, he is chasing only 31.7 percent of the time this year, an improvement on his career rate of 38.2 percent. That should mean more pitches to hit. And then once the timing comes for Grichuk, we should see a rise in extra base hits.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that timing is looking harder to come by. It has not been a pretty start for Grichuk, and with the Blue Jays&#8217; current roster jam, he has left John Gibbons no choice other than having him ride the pine more often than not while others are performing. Given his struggles, it’s a real shame that Grichuk has no more options left to be able to go down to the Buffalo Bisons without having to be exposed to waivers. He’d get claimed in a heartbeat as he’s only 26 and there is a ton of talent there.</p>
<p>Given the bad luck and increased patience, though, there is stillreason for optimism amidst all of Grichuk&#8217;s struggles, and that should be enough to let him try and hit out of his funk. If a few of those balls start to fall, that may be all Randal Grichuk needs to show us all why the team wanted him in the first place.</p>
<p>Lead Photo © Gerry Angus-USA TODAY Sports</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/04/27/the-one-sign-of-optimism-for-randal-grichuk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
