Your 2026 Jays Starting Lineup/Batting Order

[John_Havok]

Yesavage isnt being stashed in AAA though...

[Brownie19]

9 hours ago, John_Havok said:

Yesavage isnt being stashed in AAA though...

Has this been confirmed?  I haven't seen it confirmed one way or the other...

[Laika]

 

 

[hanton]

gas, cease, ponce, luaer, max

still pretty good - but not great since we're not sure what to expect from Ponce - he's looked decent but not dominant so far.  Can't afford anyone else going down

2025 Ponce in the KBO 12.6 K/9

so far this spring 7.9 - much better in his final start of the spring though

[sliderguy35]

29 minutes ago, hanton said:

gas, cease, ponce, luaer, max

still pretty good - but not great since we're not sure what to expect from Ponce - he's looked decent but not dominant so far.  Can't afford anyone else going down

2025 Ponce in the KBO 12.6 K/9

so far this spring 7.9 - much better in his final start of the spring though

his K% in the spring is 24% which is above average for a starter (league average last year for starters was just below 22%) and his overall swinging strike rate is 13.6% which is about 2% higher than the league average starter last year. 

K/9 is a pretty flawed stat & isn't a great measure of performance. since you're taking strikeouts as a % of outs instead of a % of batters faced, it ignores any hits or walks that are given up.

that leads to weird situations like cristopher sanchez & charlie morton having identical K/9s last year, despite the fact that sanchez had a K% that was 4% higher. there isn't really a reason to use K/9 over K% unless you're specifically trying to figure out what % of outs made were strikeouts.

[Brownie19]

21 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

his K% in the spring is 24% which is above average for a starter (league average last year for starters was just below 22%) and his overall swinging strike rate is 13.6% which is about 2% higher than the league average starter last year. 

K/9 is a pretty flawed stat & isn't a great measure of performance. since you're taking strikeouts as a % of outs instead of a % of batters faced, it ignores any hits or walks that are given up.

that leads to weird situations like cristopher sanchez & charlie morton having identical K/9s last year, despite the fact that sanchez had a K% that was 4% higher. there isn't really a reason to use K/9 over K% unless you're specifically trying to figure out what % of outs made were strikeouts.

I think we all use K/9 because that's one of the prominent stats shown on Fangraphs.  But you make a good point - thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[hanton]

25 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

his K% in the spring is 24% which is above average for a starter (league average last year for starters was just below 22%) and his overall swinging strike rate is 13.6% which is about 2% higher than the league average starter last year. 

K/9 is a pretty flawed stat & isn't a great measure of performance. since you're taking strikeouts as a % of outs instead of a % of batters faced, it ignores any hits or walks that are given up.

that leads to weird situations like cristopher sanchez & charlie morton having identical K/9s last year, despite the fact that sanchez had a K% that was 4% higher. there isn't really a reason to use K/9 over K% unless you're specifically trying to figure out what % of outs made were strikeouts.

yea that's fine I'm sure there are better stats to measure performance, k/9 just gives me a quick snapshot of a pitchers potential to miss bats.  

[Joltin Joe]

Vlad will win MVP this season. Given his WBC and playoff performance 

[BTS]

On 3/20/2026 at 12:51 PM, Brownie19 said:

I think we all use K/9 because that's one of the prominent stats shown on Fangraphs.  But you make a good point - thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Funny how that works. We all know that K% is better than K/9, but mostly use K/9 because its more prominently displayed on the Fangrapsh player page 

[Stangstag]

On 3/20/2026 at 12:37 AM, John_Havok said:

Yesavage isnt being stashed in AAA though...

Sorry, that’s not what i meant. Just was bringing up the fact that there was some discussion about whether he should be held down for service time reasons. 

Ultimately, that would be the best business decision for the team but a terrible personnel/relations move. And seems they did the “good” thing with putting him on the IL where he accrues service time

[Stangstag]

On 3/20/2026 at 10:39 AM, Laika said:

 

 

If the injury ends up being worse than they thought, this could backfire spectacularly. Hopefully they all know its just something minor

[jaysblue]

6 hours ago, Joltin Joe said:

Vlad will win MVP this season. Given his WBC and playoff performance 

Yeah I'm going to bet like $40-50 on him for MVP at 15 to 1. 

[Spanky__99]

5 hours ago, Stangstag said:

If the injury ends up being worse than they thought, this could backfire spectacularly. Hopefully they all know its just something minor

It's minor, he's pain free and ramping up, it's by design but the pinch set that back a week, we'll see him end of April or first week of May I'd imagine.

[Jays24]

1 hour ago, jaysblue said:

Yeah I'm going to bet like $40-50 on him for MVP at 15 to 1. 

Raleigh couldnt win MVP with the year he just had.  Judge is on another level from every other hitter in baseball man.  Still amazing how no one wanted to even go to 400M for the guy.  

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, Spanky__99 said:

It's minor, he's pain free and ramping up, it's by design but the pinch set that back a week, we'll see him end of April or first week of May I'd imagine.

Thanks for the insider info Spanky. Good to hear

[Stangstag]

53 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Raleigh couldnt win MVP with the year he just had.  Judge is on another level from every other hitter in baseball man.  Still amazing how no one wanted to even go to 400M for the guy.  

Age was a concern, hard to fathom he would repeat his free agent year numbers too.

A good parallel is Harper

[jaysblue]

6 hours ago, Jays24 said:

Raleigh couldnt win MVP with the year he just had.  Judge is on another level from every other hitter in baseball man.  Still amazing how no one wanted to even go to 400M for the guy.  

Raleigh, though, is mostly just power - his other offensive numbers (BA, OBP) are pretty underwhelming. Vladdy, on the other hand, has the potential to hit 50+ home runs while batting over .300 with an OPS north of 1.000.

Need some regression or missed time from Judge for Vladdy to enter the conversation however. 

[Sasky05]

On 3/19/2026 at 7:25 AM, Brownie19 said:

Anyone know if Schneider has logged any innings at 2nd this spring?  With Clement and Gimenez at the WBC - you'd think it would have been a great time to get him some reps.

I did see him there a few times, he handles routine plays just fine. He's no Clement, but if they need him in for match-ups, he would seem to be passable.

[Spanky__99]

3 hours ago, Sasky05 said:

I did see him there a few times, he handles routine plays just fine. He's no Clement, but if they need him in for match-ups, he would seem to be passable.

Yeah, he is. Likely depends on our pitcher that night as well. Well, that's if he makes the team.

[mphenhef]

On 3/23/2026 at 7:48 AM, jaysblue said:

Raleigh, though, is mostly just power - his other offensive numbers (BA, OBP) are pretty underwhelming. Vladdy, on the other hand, has the potential to hit 50+ home runs while batting over .300 with an OPS north of 1.000.

Need some regression or missed time from Judge for Vladdy to enter the conversation however. 

Raleigh also appeared to regress on defense last year as well which I would bet had some impact.