Article: Joe Panik Set Fire In The Rain

[Mac]

The Toronto Blue Jays played a stretch of bad-weather games in 2021, and when the skies opened up, they unleashed Joe Panik.

In his second season with Toronto, Joe Panik had just rejoined the team on a road trip following a short stint on the injured list. Upon his return, he made two starts at third base, but that night, manager Charlie Montoyo had Panik start at his defensive home, second base. On a very Cleveland night, Panik had the best game of his final major league season, going 4-for-4 at the plate in an 11-2 Toronto rout, highlighted by mashing this Eli Morgan meatball in his second at-bat:

Returning to their temporary home in Buffalo the following week, the Blue Jays trailed Miami 5-3 in the ninth inning on another miserable night. The rain intensified as the game pushed to the finish, one Toronto prolonged by rallying off of future Jay and then-Marlins reliever Yimi Garcia. After back-to-back base hits opened the inning, Bo Bichette tied the game with a triple. Panik again came through four batters later, this time hitting a walk-off sacrifice fly that Sterling Marte never caught.

Come for the walkoff hit, stay for Manoah, and still go for the water bottle celebration.

Panik’s time with Toronto would be over by the end of the month when he was sent to the Marlins in what turned out to be a very good trade for Adam Cimber and Corey Dickerson. Panik played only 12 more games for Toronto following his walk-off heroics, leaving the veteran a pair of highlights to denote his Blue Jays’ career with, right Ross Stripling?

Not that it was Joe Panik's preference to be at third base that evening, drawing wrath from his starting pitcher after another defensive whoops. Second base is where Panik had broken into the league with San Francisco in 2014 and where he would solidify his reputation. The Giants would go on to win the World Series in his rookie season, and Panik started every game during the postseason run. He started more games at second base than any other Giant in the 2010s, picking up an all-star nod in 2015 and a Gold Glove in 2016.

Panik struggled with injuries throughout his time with the Giants, and his offensive numbers worsened. San Francisco traded for two second basemen at the 2019 trade deadline and made room by designating the struggling Panik for assignment, crushing Bruce Bochy. Catching on with the Mets, Panik turned his season around in the final months while filling in for an injured Robinson Cano. Toronto brought him in the following spring with an opportunity to make the Blue Jays' Opening Day roster.

Panik played some shortstop in spring training as Toronto tried to stretch his versatility off the bench. He was solid at the plate and was set to make the team until the pandemic halted everything. Panik started slowly when the abbreviated season began, but a Bo Bichette injury opened the door for playing time. His defence struggled off second base but at the plate, Panik heated up. He hit fifth in the lineup in a September 9 game against the Yankees, entering on a 14-for-34 tear, an eleven-game stretch that included five doubles, and Buck Martinez showering him with professional hitting platitudes the way only Buck can.

A 0-for-4 night hitting up in the order bled into a 6-for-34 slump over the season’s final two and a half weeks. The Blue Jays made the bloated postseason but were promptly swept by Tampa Bay. Panik played in both playoff games and was at the plate to make the final out of Toronto’s season. Panik survived final cuts again the following season. Still, with Toronto bringing in Marcus Semien to play second and unwilling to play him at short any longer, Panik’s path to playing time tumbled down the defensive spectrum to third base.

Panik continued to struggle away from his primary position. He was charged with two errors at third in the season’s first month, including a game in Tampa where only Yandy Diaz’s kin could score this double (while you’re here, the ensuing error, too). Also off to a slow start in 2021 was Ross Stripling. A couple of shaky starts in May left Stripling with a tenuous grip on his rotation spot, but pitching better of late, he took the ball against the Yankees on June 16. Up 1-2 on the leadoff hitter, Stripling got DJ LeMahieu to roll over on a pitch, sending the ball towards Panik at third base.

The inning spiraled when the Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out. LeMahieu scored on a Giancarlo Stanton sacrifice fly, but Stripling got the next two outs to escape the inning. A Semien leadoff jack quickly squared the game back up, and Stripling locked in. He struck out the side in order in the second inning and would not allow another baserunner until a two-out walk in the fifth.

Stripling started the sixth with a 2-1 lead by getting Aaron Judge to swing through an outer-half change-up for strike three. After the next batter popped up, Stripling toed the rubber to face Stanton for a third time on the night. Working ahead, Stripling threw a looping curve, and the slugger hit the third out weakly towards Panik, who had not fielded a ball since his chance in the first inning.

Stripling struck out Gio Urshela to end the inning, but a two-run blast by Gary Sánchez off the Toronto starter in the seventh finalized New York’s 3-2 win. Afterward, everyone wanted to talk about Stripling’s raw reaction to the second error, one that you can be assured Ben Verlander tsk tsk’d him for. Stripling owned it, saying he was embarrassed and apologetic toward Panik, whom he called an “awesome veteran and person.”

Panik played in just a few more games for the Blue Jays, but before he was traded, Charlie Montoyo put Panik in the lineup at third base one final time. With Stripling again on the mound starting for Toronto, Panik committed his final miscue as a Blue Jay. He was just not doing great with the routine groundball.

Stripling and Panik would cross paths again in 2023, and this time, Panik may have been the one reacting in frustration to the performance on the field. Stripling signed a two-year, $25 million contract with the Giants, and a short time later, the now-retired Panik returned to the Giants to work in the front office. Stripling was 0-5 with a 5.36 ERA with the Giants and was traded after pitching just 22 games in one season. For Panik, he was back in the place where he is remembered as a World Series-winning second baseman. Defensive issues marked his time in Toronto off his position, but for a week, Joe Panik shined in the rain.

View full article

[Mike LeSage]

Absolutely love these articles!

[Orgfiller]

I remember the collective frustrations for a lot of us on the old board, lamenting every time Charlie Montoyo would give Joe Panik another opportunity at 3B. The fact that Ross Atkins managed to get anything of value for Panik - a guy literally on his last few months as a professional - at the deadline, let alone two real contributors in half a season of Dickerson and two legit good seasons of Adam Cimber, remains nothing short of spectacular.

Panik never did anything wrong in his tenure as a Jay, aside from overperforming in ST and being such a "professional baseball player" to get him enamored by Charlie Montoyo and the Blue Jays broadcasting crew that we saw him play way more than he had any right to.

[paulnotskenes]

0 for 8 guessing the next featured blue jay so far… one of these days. Next week I’m guessing Brian Talent (tallet).

Love the articles, keep em coming!