Mike LeSage

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 7/7 through Sun, 7/13 *** Record Last Week: 3-3 (Overall: 55-41) Run Differential Last Week: +5 (Overall: +17) Standings: First Place in AL East (+2.0 games up), Third in AL (WC occupied by: NYY, BOS(!) and SEA) Last Week’s Results Game 91 TOR 8 - CWS 4 Berríos: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 2 BB Barger: 1 for 4, HR (12) Lukes: 1 for 3, HR (5) Loperfido: 2 for 4, HR (1) Game 92 TOR 6 - CWS 1 (7 innings) Bassitt: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 K, 1 BB (CG) Schneider: 1 for 4, HR (5) Springer: 2 for 2 with 2 BB Game 93 CWS 2 - TOR 1 Lauer: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 BB Bichette: 3 for 3 Wagner: 2 for 4 Game 94 TOR 7 - ATH 6 Scherzer: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 8 K, 1 BB Hoffman: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 BB Wagner: 2 for 3 Game 95 ATH 4 - TOR 3 Gausman: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 2 BB Jiménez: 1 for 4, HR (1) Game 96 ATH 6 - TOR 3 Berríos: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 K, 2 BB Barger: 1 for 3, HR (13) D. Schneider: 1 for 3, HR (5) Rest of Team: 2 for 24 J. Schneider: 0 for one challenging calls, ejection (2) Highlights: The Jays had a 5-run inning against Chicago that included a 414’ homer from Addison Barger and a Nathan Lukes squeeze-play bunt to score Ernie Clement. All of that coming after Lukes and Joey Loperfido had already homered in the game. Another 5-run inning the next day helped propel Toronto to that 10th straight win. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored on a Barger double, marking one of his team-leading five runs on the week. He threw in a pair of stolen bases over the six games as well, which was the most on the roster, and earned his 1000th career hit - a big week for the All-Star! Max Scherzer picked up his first win as a Blue Jay, mixing 8 Ks over six innings, including one that came as a pitch clock violation in his favour to end the 3rd inning. Nathan Lukes turning a sliding catch into a double play is my defensive highlight of the week, showing that Barger’s cannon in RF isn’t the only thing to be feared from that corner. Lastly, Davis Schneider hit two home runs in the same at-bat, sandwiched around his manager’s ejection because the first homer wasn’t recognized, was the perfect way to say goodbye to Sacramento. Lowlights: Tyler Heineman had a game he’d just as soon forget on Saturday. The backup catcher has been having a great season, but 3 errors (two on catcher interference) in one game are never going to be justifiable. Jeff Hoffman only saw one inning of work this week, and while he walked off the field with a Blue Jays win, thanks mainly to the 4-run cushion he entered with. He gave up 3 runs and a lot of loud contact. “Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same” - maybe the Thanos-inspired bobblehead will bring the balance we crave. Streak Wrapups: The win streaks were a highlight, and they vaulted the Jays to the top of the division, so it feels wrong to label their end as a lowlight. Having them end against the two worst teams in the AL certainly isn’t great, though, so I’m making a special section here just to mark them off. First, we have the 10-game win streak that ended against the White Sox and fell one game short of tying the franchise record. Next, in the bottom of the 5th inning Saturday, the Athletics scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead and marked the first time since the 4th inning on July 1st that the Jays trailed by more than one run. A 91-inning streak spread over 11 games. Lastly, with the second loss to the Athletics, the Jays' streak of 5 consecutive series won came to an end. It really feels like the break is coming at precisely the right time. News, Notes, and Not Playing: Justin Bruihl recalled from Triple-A Tommy Nance selected from Triple-A JoJo Parker was selected from the MLB Draft Jake Cook was selected from the MLB Draft 10-day IL: Daulton Varsho, Andrés Giménez Varsho has increased baserunning and is expected to begin a rehab assignment this week. Giménez was reported as “week to week” by manager John Schneider. 15-day IL: Yimi García, Nick Sandlin, Bowden Francis, Paxton Schultz García has thrown a pair of bullpen sessions and could return without a rehab assignment shortly after the ASG break. Sandlin was shut down from throwing mid-week and will begin ramping back up after a few days off Francis threw a bullpen session on the weekend, but there has been no timeline set on his rehab or return Schultz started throwing this week and is being monitored. 60-day IL: Alek Manoah, Ryan Burr, Anthony Santander Manoah is scheduled to start his full rehab schedule this week. He is expected to ramp up over at least five starts before a potential return to the big club. Burr will have multiple assessments of his MRI performed before the following steps are determined. Trending Storylines: With the division lead, we’re into “just win” territory. The Yankees won’t be going away, and the Red Sox just rattled off a 10-game win streak of their own to get into the wildcard spots. We’ve got the trade deadline on the horizon, and while it’s premature to start ‘planning the parade,’ it’s the first time Toronto has had the division lead at the ASG break since 1993. Could this team hit the heights of that ‘93 crew? Looking Ahead: Most of the team will be getting a well-deserved 4-day break for the All-Star Game and its surrounding festivities. Alejandro Kirk and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be in Atlanta representing the squad. After the break, San Francisco will be in Toronto for a 3-game set at the Rogers Centre. The Giants head into the break a half-game out of the last NL wildcard position and will be looking right there, led by former Jays Matt Chapman and Robbie Ray (currently the top two Giants by bWAR). View full article

The Blue Jays pitching staff, as a whole, has been hesitant to give up the ball. Statcast measures "pitch tempo" as the median time between pitches in an individual at-bat. The 2025 Blue Jays have the slowest tempo of any team with the bases empty since the introduction of the pitch clock (2023). They were also the slowest in that situation in 2024 and second-slowest in 2023. Is this an organizational philosophy? A result of a veteran staff? Or is there something more sinister at play? Let’s dive into the numbers and see what we can shake loose. The pitch clock was implemented in 2023 as a way to speed up baseball games. Gone were the days of a leisurely afternoon at the ballpark, replaced with a high-speed, adrenaline-fueled flurry that Abner Doubleday would never recognize. Or, more accurately, the clock shaved about 24 minutes off the average game length. Broken down a little further, that’s roughly one minute and 20 seconds per half-inning. Not an insignificant amount of time, so we’ll have to account for that. First, let's define a couple of terms I will be referencing throughout this article. Tempo, as I've noted, is the time from when a pitcher has released a ball to a batter until the next time that same pitcher releases a pitch to the same batter. It is only measured on takes (i.e., non-swings) within an individual plate appearance. Statcast further breaks down tempo to deem a pitch thrown within 15 seconds to be "fast" and any pitch thrown after more than 30 seconds to be "slow". When the pitch timer was introduced in 2023, it was set at 15 seconds between pitches with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on base. The on-base timer was dropped to 18 seconds in 2024 and has remained that way this season. (It is key to keep in mind that tempo measures the time between one pitch's release to the next, while the pitch clock only starts once the pitcher receives the ball and it stops when he begins his motion.) For the most part, pitchers throw the majority of their pitches with the bases empty, so unless I specify that I am referring to a stat with runners on, I will be leaning mainly on the "bases empty" stats of each pitcher. This season, the MLB average tempo with the bases empty is 15.7 seconds. Chad Green is the only qualified Blue Jays pitcher below that mark. Every other pitcher on staff takes longer than average to throw their pitches. If we adjust that to include non-qualified pitchers, it allows Josh Walker, Dillon Tate and the ultimate fast pitcher, Michael Stefanic (four total pitches with an average tempo of 8.6 seconds), to join the quick pitcher list, but 20 other Jays pitchers are left in the above-average section. I decided to include the 11 qualified Jays pitchers currently on the roster and look back at their tempos before and after the introduction of the pitch clock, and before and after they came to Toronto. Of those 11 qualified pitchers, Paxton Schultz and Mason Fluharty have only pitched for the Jays with a pitch clock in place, so we won’t go too deep on them. Similarly, Brendon Little has only thrown 13 pitches outside of the organization (in 2022 with the Cubs) and none of those came with runners on base, so he’s off the list. Likewise, Yariel Rodríguez, who debuted in 2024, should be eliminated from this discussion. This leaves us with starters Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Bowden Francis; relievers Jeff Hoffman and Green; and the mixed-use Eric Lauer. Let’s start with the tweener, Lauer. There isn’t any pitch tempo data for Lauer’s 2024; he spent last season with two separate Triple-A affiliates (PIT and HOU) and the Kia Tigers of the KBO. One look at his tempo from 2018-2023 (with SD and MIL), and it’s clear we’re dealing with a different guy. Perhaps he’s mellowed with age, or maybe it’s a Toronto philosophy, but Lauer’s 2023 saw a tempo of 13.7 and a fast rate of 64.3% – the fastest and highest of his career with the bases empty. So far in 2025 with the Jays, Lauer has added over three seconds of tempo for a career-slowest 16.8, and his 16.6% fast pitch percentage is his lowest ever by more than 20%. Even looking at his pre-pitch clock numbers, he is slower to the plate now than he was with all of the (theoretical) time in the world. With runners on base, Lauer’s contrasts aren’t as stark (he’s also only thrown 60 pitches in such situations), but he’s still a second and a half slower to the plate than in ‘23, and his 0% fast pitch rate in this situation is (obviously) a career low. Moving on to the starters, we can take a second to appreciate the stability that Toronto has had in its rotation over the last few seasons. The four qualified starters were all with the Jays when the pitch clock was introduced. Of the four, only Francis has increased his fast rate from last season in both scenarios. Prior to hitting the IL, Francis was averaging 15.9 seconds with the bases empty and 19.3 with runners on – both the fastest marks within the rotation. His bases empty fast percentage of 31.6% is more than double that of the next closest starter (Berríos at 14.2%). As he ramps up and rehabs from his right shoulder injury, it will be interesting to see if slowing his tempo is one of the changes that gets his season back on track. At the other end of the spectrum is Gausman, who is the slowest on the staff between pitches with the bases empty at 18.1 seconds. He’s been adding time back since the introduction of the pitch clock. In 2023, he was a ‘speedy’ 16.7 seconds (league average was 15.3) and added a half-second more in 2024 to come to 17.2. Now, he is almost a full second slower again this season. Gausman’s last season in San Francisco (2021) was when he took the most time between pitches. Unencumbered by the pitch clock, he averaged a leisurely 20.7 seconds between pitches and was only slightly faster (20.3) tempo-wise the next year in his first season with the Jays. That 2022 season in Toronto marked the lowest fast rate of Gausman’s career with a single team at just 1.6%. His relatively slow pitching with the Giants stands in stark contrast to where their staff has been the past few seasons. San Fran has had the fastest team tempo every season since the pitch clock was introduced, bottoming out at 14.1 seconds in 2023. They were also the second-fastest team in 2022, the last season without the pitch clock and Gausman’s first season away from the club. Performance-wise, Gausman’s best season in Toronto was the one where he had his fastest tempo (though he was still slower than league average), but I’m not sure I’d ask him to speed up at this point. Berríos’ first full season with the Jays was the year before the pitch clock came into use. Despite that, he has still added time each season he’s been with Toronto, starting out at 15.4 seconds in 2022 and moving up to 16.8 this season. In his full seasons with Minnesota (2016-2020), Berríos was at his quickest in 2018 (coinciding with his first All-Star selection) with a bases-empty tempo of 14.9 seconds. He added a full second in each of the next two seasons before his trade to Toronto and is only one-tenth of a second off of his career slowest this season. The last of the starters we’re looking at is Bassitt, who is as much of an enigma with his tempo as his eight-pitch repertoire might suggest. With the Jays this season, he’s averaging 17.8 seconds, down slightly from the 18.0 he posted last season but up from the 17.0 mark he had in the first pitch clock season. Bassitt has always mixed tempo like he does pitches. He has the highest career average tempo of the Jays starters we’ve looked at, but he’s done that while still posting fast pitch rates between 12.8% and 25.2% (in 2025 and 2023, respectively). With runners on base, he’s been incredibly consistent at just over 20 seconds with the Jays and right around 24 seconds pre-clock/pre-Toronto. The qualifying pitchers from the bullpen are a tale of two different tempos. There are only two seconds between them, but they sit on either side of the league average (15.7 seconds) with Green’s 15.1 outpacing Hoffman’s 17.1. In the case of Hoffman, he’s been very consistent throughout his career (dating back to 2016), never straying more than one second from where he is this season – with one outlier. In 2022 with Cincinnati, Hoffman slowed way down to 21.1 seconds. It marked the only time in his career that he didn’t throw a single fast pitch in any situation. He was also appearing mainly as a middle-relief low-leverage guy at that point, but it’s an outlier nonetheless. Green, meanwhile, has gone through a couple of speed cycles. Starting out in 2016 with a 16.3-second tempo and a fast rate of 36.4%, he gradually increased his time and lowered his fast rate into 2021, when he sat at 20.2 seconds and 0.3%. Green threw fewer than 100 pitches in each of 2022 and 2023 as his Tommy John surgery and subsequent recovery ate into most of those seasons. His next full season in ‘24 saw Green throwing with the fastest tempo of his career at 14.8 seconds and throwing fast more than half the time (54%). He’s mellowed ever so slightly this season, adding three-tenths of a second to his tempo and dropping that fast rate to 47.1% (both marks are the second fastest of his career). That covers the qualified 2025 Blue Jays pitchers that I said we’d look at. If you’re still with me 1500-something words later, I’m hoping you’ll indulge me a look at a couple more pitchers that are interesting. The first is former Jay, Yusei Kikuchi, who started in 2019 with Seattle. He was with Toronto for the two full seasons on either side of the pitch clock introduction, which also represented his slowest and fastest tempo seasons, respectively (19.9 and 4.6% in 2022 vs. 16.0 and 30.4% in 2023). He added some time back in 2023, when he split his season between Toronto and Houston, but has been shaving more time off this season with the Angels and is approaching his 2022 numbers. The other pitcher is Alek Manoah. His 2022 breakout season saw him with a 20.7-second tempo and a slow rate mark of 8.2% - that slow rate mark is the highest of any season of all of the other pitchers we’ve looked at (70+ individual seasons worth), with the exception of Bassitt’s 8.3% with Oakland in 2021 (Bassitt had a 19.2 tempo that year). Hoffman’s 2022 in Cincinnati (that we already covered) is the only pitcher season with a slower tempo than Manoah’s ‘22. All of that to say, Manoah was at his best when he took his time. The next season, the pitch clock came in and Manoah’s tempo sped up to 17.8 seconds, which, while more than two seconds faster, was still the slowest tempo of any pitcher’s 2023 that we’ve looked at. My pet theory was always that the increased tempo imposed by the pitch clock led to the struggles that Manoah faced and potentially led to the injuries that hampered his two seasons after the implementation of the clock. I asked a few questions at the beginning of this piece, and as we wrap it up here, I’m afraid I haven’t come to any definitive conclusions. While the Jays are without a doubt on the slow end of the tempo scale, I’m not sure that it’s an organizational philosophy so much as it is a reflection of the pitchers they’ve assembled. At the very least, this gives us something to track as the season goes on and revisit when we have a few more pitchers and a few more data points to analyze. Until then, like Lizzo said: I need tempo. Stats in article cover games through the end of June. View full article

On Sunday, MLB announced the full rosters for the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta. Among those selected were Toronto representatives Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk. Vladdy will be the starting first baseman, and Kirk was selected as a reserve catcher. Guerrero and Kirk were All-Star teammates in 2022 as well. That season, the Jays sent six players to the ASG (George Springer, Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano and Santiago Espinal being the others), the second-most in franchise history. The seven sent in 1993 stands as the team record, plus, as a bonus, Cito Gaston was the manager that year (ask Mike Mussina if he remembers this one). While there is still time for Springer, Ernie Clement or Addison Barger to find their way in as injury replacements, for now, it is just Kirk and Vladdy. Their All-Star selections aren’t the only thing these two have in common. Both are 26 years old, and both signed with Toronto as amateur free agents (Guerrero in 2015, Kirk in 2016). The two have both seen their share of rumours and debate about their respective futures with the club. For Kirk, it was in 2022, when the organization seemed to have a logjam at catcher (ultimately resulting in the trade that brought Daulton Varsho to town). For Guerrero, it was through spring training this year while his contract status was in flux. Both players, of course, went on to sign extensions this year: a five-year deal for Kirk and a 14-year contract for Guerrero. Those extensions have positioned both Kirk and Guerrero to climb the Jays' all-time All-Star appearance list too. This is Guerrero’s fifth time making the All-Star team, putting him in a tie with two other five-time position players, Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter, and only one behind the franchise leader, José Bautista, who was selected six times. As a two-timer, Kirk is tied with six former Jays and one current player (Bo Bichette), with Edwin Encarnación and Vernon Wells (three times each) within reach as soon as next season. Not wanting to completely exclude the pitchers, Roy Halladay is tied with Bautista at six All-Star appearances, and Dave Stieb is the franchise leader at seven. Guerrero also ties Bautista and Alomar with his fourth start in the ASG. Given Guerrero’s popularity, not just with the Toronto fanbase, but globally, he’s well-positioned to make future starts too. Under the current system, MLB breaks All-Star voting into phases, where the top two fan-voted players at each position go head-to-head in a second phase of voting. Guerrero came out on top over New York Yankee Paul Goldschmidt to earn the starting position. Interestingly, Tampa Bay first baseman Jonathan Aranda received the most votes from fellow players and might be a statistically more deserving choice (he finished third in fan voting in Phase 1). That’s not to take anything away from Vladdy, who leads all AL first basemen in FanGraphs WAR, but simply to illustrate how Vladdy’s popularity could lead to future starts even when other options may be available. Kirk, of course, never really had a chance to start this year; Cal Raleigh led both fan and player votes amidst his otherworldly campaign. However, Kirk and his team-leading fWAR were second on both ballots, and he is certainly a deserving reserve. His bat caught fire and caught up with his elite defense, and was our Hitter of the Month in June. Regardless of who else in the league is having a big season, Kirk forced the All-Star selection, and people have noticed. It is still to be seen if there will be any other Jays making their way to Atlanta next week, but without worry about the snubs, we can feel secure knowing that Toronto is sending two of its best. View full article

Eighteen different Blue Jays pitchers made appearances last month, including Tyler Heineman (1.0 IP, 1 ER). Ten of those who pitched picked up wins, leading to Toronto’s 16-10 record in June. Let’s look at the best of the best. Honourable Mentions Max Scherzer only made two starts in June, with the first coming after almost three months of working through his thumb injury and the compounding ailments that came from it. He went five innings in each start, and while he isn’t back to looking like the Mad Max of old, his seven strikeouts in the series opener against the Yankees were nice to see. The thumb will continue to need maintenance, and that could mean some missed or short starts, but as Scherzer ramps back up, he has the potential to make this list in future months. Brendon Little made 11 appearances, striking out 17 batters and extending his homer-less streak to 35.2 IP and 148 batters faced (dating back to April 2). He got tagged for a few earned runs this past month, but his 17 Ks and 2.51 FIP were both second-best out of the 'pen in June (of pitchers with at least 3.0 IP), while his 0.60 WPA was the very best. Jeff Hoffman notched six saves in June and picked up a pair of wins as a bonus. After a May in which he was as far away from making the Pitcher of the Month leaderboard as possible, he turned it around in June with 12 appearances totalling 10 innings and only giving up a pair of runs (both runs were in games where he picked up the save). #3 - Eric Lauer: 25.1 IP, 2.49 ERA, 25 K, 3.60 FIP, 0.4 fWAR Lauer went from being used as part of the regularly occurring ‘bullpen day’ to locking down a spot in the rotation when Bowden Francis hit the IL. In June, he picked up the most wins of any Blue Jays pitcher (3), gave up the fewest barrels of any regular starter (2) and gave the Jays a different look as the only lefty in the rotation. He made six appearances (four starts) and gave up one run in two of them and zero in another pair. The last rotation spot is about limiting damage and putting your team in a position to win, and Lauer has done just that. Last week, Owen Hill asked the question: Has Eric Lauer Saved the Blue Jays Season? and it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t. #2 - Braydon Fisher: 13.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 19 K, 0.91 FIP, 0.5 fWAR Six hits (only one for extra bases) and three walks scattered across 13 appearances were the only blemishes on Fisher’s June. He otherwise retired 40 of the 49 batters he faced and didn’t give up a run to anyone (including inherited runners). Simon Li looked at Fisher's performance in depth and noted how valuable he’s been to the Jays. By fWAR, he was the best the bullpen had to offer in June and was only bested by the starter occupying the #1 spot. Of the Jays' pitchers to throw at least three innings, only Lauer had a lower barrel rate (2.8% for Lauer vs. Fisher’s 3.7%). Relying on a low-80s curve and a high-80s slider (with a mid-90s fastball to keep hitters honest), Fisher kept batters off balance, earning 13 of his Ks swinging (including all three of the outs he recorded against the Yankees on Monday) compared to the six called-third-strike outs he manufactured this month. #1 - José Berríos: 32 IP, 1.97 ERA, 24 K, 3.34 FIP, 0.7 fWAR, 0.87 WPA José Berríos made quality starts in four of his five outings in June. We’ve talked a lot about how the Jays have had to manage the back end of the rotation without calling on the bullpen too often, and of the three top-of-the-rotation starters, Berríos threw the most innings in June. He made it look easy in starts against St. Louis and Boston on the road, and one against the White Sox in Toronto. He pitched into the seventh or eighth inning in all three of those games and didn’t give up any earned runs. A solitary earned run over six innings was the only blemish on his home start against Philadelphia at the beginning of the month too. In terms of Win Probability Added, Berríos's 6.2 innings of shutout ball in St. Louis were his best of the month – a lot of weak contact with just the one strikeout, but all told, it was a very well-managed game. His 8 Ks over seven innings in Boston certainly produced a more fun highlight reel and showcased another way Berríos can dominate on any given night. View full article

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 6/23 through Sun, 6/29 *** Record Last Week: 4-2 (Overall: 45-38) Run Differential Last Week: +6 (Overall: -4) Standings: Third Place in AL East (3.0 GB), Fifth in AL (Currently in second Wild Card spot, 1.5 games back of TBR and 2.0 games up on SEA) Last Week’s Results Game 78 TOR 10 - CLE 6 Lauer: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 3 BB (Lauer's most pitches (86) and innings this season) Chad Green: Barf City Springer: Grand Slam Game 79 CLE 5 - TOR 4 (10 innings) Scherzer: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 K, 3 BB (83 pitches) Guerrero Jr.: 1-for-3, HR (11) Game 80 TOR 6 - CLE 0 Gausman: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 6 K, 1 BB (104 pitches) Kirk: Pinch-hit 2-RBI insurance Game 81 TOR 9 - BOS 0 Berríos: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 8 K, 1 BB Springer: 3 for 5 with a pair of runs and RBIs Clement: 2-for-2 with 3 walks Game 82 BOS 15 - TOR 1 Bassitt: 2 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 3 K, 4 BB Team: 0-for-7 with RISP Game 83 TOR 5 - BOS 3 Lauer: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 4 K, 0 BB Barger: 1-for-4, HR (9) Guerrero Jr.: 1-for-4, HR (12) Highlights Andrés Giménez returned to Cleveland for the first time since the Jays acquired him this season. He wasted no time reminding those in attendance why he’s the reigning Gold Glover with a diving play that took him partway into left-centre before turning to fire the ball to Vladdy at first for the out. In Boston, it was Ernie Clement’s turn to make a case for his own Gold Glove, extending himself over the fence to make a catch in foul territory at Fenway. With the exception of one start (which we’ll cover in the next section), the starting pitching this week was lights out. From Kevin Gausman and José Berríos throwing eight and seven innings of shutout ball, respectively, to Eric Lauer getting it done over a pair of starts, the Jays got what they needed from the rotation. I should make a special mention of the return of Max Scherzer. His five innings of sporadic control weren't vintage Mad Max, but the first step was always going to be putting in the innings and recovering well enough to make his next scheduled start… and it’s a big one. Lowlights Following his start against the Red Sox, Chris Bassitt had this to say: Given how poorly the Red Sox have performed recently, and the fact that the Jays won the other two games of the series, it’s probably not prudent to assume nefarious actions from Boston, but this team is a division rival, so I’ll say it: They’re cheats! Regardless of the reason, two innings and eight earned runs from Bassitt was a lowlight. The Jays also had a pair of runners thrown out at first base after reaching safely. Giménez and Tyler Heineman (the latter with two outs and the bases loaded) were both picked off first base. You never want to make outs on the basepaths, and given the Jays' commitment to improved baserunning this season, these two outs were rather glaring. News, Notes and Not Playing Robinson Piña acquired from Marlins in exchange for Colby Martin Spencer Turnbull designated for assignment Will Wagner recalled from Triple-A Buffalo Alan Roden optioned to Triple-A Buffalo Justin Bruihl recalled from Triple-A Buffalo 10-day IL: Anthony Santander, Daulton Varsho Early in the week, Varsho felt some hamstring tightness while running the bases. He’s ramping back up and showing progress, but there isn’t a return date targeted yet. Santander has not yet started swinging a bat, so his timeline is even less clear. 15-day IL: Paxton Schultz, Yimi García, Bowden Francis García pitched in the Complex League on Monday, Dunedin on Thursday, and Buffalo yesterday. As long as there are no setbacks, he should be back with the big club shortly. Francis had a cortisone shot and has been playing catch with a ramp-up anticipated. Schultz was just placed on the IL Saturday with middle finger inflammation (the finger he most likely wanted to show the Boston fans after his last appearance). 60-day IL: Alek Manoah, Ryan Burr During the Jays broadcast on Tuesday, it was reported that Manoah had thrown 25 pitches of BP and touched 95 with the fastball. He’s scheduled to throw two more sessions of BP on Canada Day and will be evaluated again following that. Burr pitched in Triple A this week and could see himself back with the Jays in the coming weeks without a setback. Trending Storylines Bassitt’s start aside, the Jays' pitching had a pretty stellar week. If they can string a few more weeks like that together, especially if Scherzer can keep making a positive impact every fifth day, they’ll really be cooking. The next week brings seven games at the Rogers Centre, so they have a slight reprieve until we worry about the team's home/road batting splits. Looking Ahead A four-game set in Toronto against the Yankees starts tonight. It doesn’t get much bigger than that at this point in the season. Is three out of four too much to hope for? Is the sweep in play? Scherzer gets the start in game one of the series, and we’ll all be looking to see how he builds on his last outing. Following the Yankees series, we’ll be seeing the resurgent Angels. Since they took two of three from the Jays in early May, they’ve gone 26-21 and find themselves knocking on the door of the last wild card spot. It won’t be an easy week, but the Jays can grind out some wins. View full article

Naturally, Francis' next potential start would've been against CWS - he was due to turn it around there ;)

Weekly Snapshot: Monday, June 9 through Sunday, June 15 *** Record Last Week: 3-3 (Overall: 38-33) Run Differential Last Week: -11 (Overall: -12) Standings: Third place in AL East (4.5 GB), Fifth in AL (currently in 2nd Wildcard spot, 1.5 games up on SEA in 3rd) Last Week’s Results Game 66: TOR 5 - STL 4 (10 innings) Berríos: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K Kirk: 4 for 5, HR (4) Clase: 2 for 4, HR (1) Game 67: TOR 10 - STL 9 Bassitt: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Bichette: 3 for 5, 3 runs Kirk: 3 for 5, HR (5) Giménez: 2 for 5, HR (4) and 4 RBI Game 68: TOR 5 - STL 2 Lauer: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K Clement: 3 for 4, HR (4) Game 69: PHI 8 - TOR 0 Gausman: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K Kirk: 2 for 4 Rest of team: 3 for 28 Game 70: PHI 3 - TOR 2 Francis: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K Guerrero Jr. and Clement: 2 for 4 each Rest of team: 1 for 24 Game 71: PHI 11 - TOR 4 Berríos: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Clement: 3 for 4, 2 runs Robertson: 1 for 4, first major league hit and RBI Highlights: Alejandro Kirk has been hot. So hot that Leo Morgenstern noted he’s catching fire. This week, he led the team in hits (11) and had the highest wRC+ at 217. He also had the highest Win Probability Added and was the only Jay to go yard more than once. All of that on top of his elite work behind the plate. Catcher is a deep position in the league this season, but Kirk is making a case for All-Star inclusion. Another player refusing to be ignored from All-Star consideration is Ernie Clement. In another great read from Mr. Morgenstern, he highlighted how great Clement has been with the glove, despite not having a true position. This week he brought his bat too. Tied with Kirk for most hits (11), in a week when no other Jay got more than six, it was nice to feel like not every bat had left town early. Alan Roden didn’t see a tonne of action this week, but when he did, he left his mark. With just nine plate appearances on the week, his wRC+ of 144 was behind only Kirk and Clement. Three singles and a pair of RBI isn’t usually going to get you into the Highlight section - but when we talk about the mark left by Roden this week, we’re going to be talking about the mark his eyeblack left on the outfield wall in Philadelphia (not to mention the face imprint) going all out to take an almost sure hit away from Nick Castellanos. Lowlights: Bowden Francis has been in the lowlights section a few times now, and this might be the most unfair of them all. Through the first three innings in Philadelphia, he looked, if not sharp, then at least the best we’ve seen him in a while. A single to Brandon Marsh, the Phillies' #9 hitter, was the only blemish through 3 frames. The fourth started promisingly, with Francis getting the first two outs. The next five batters would combine to load the bases and score twice on three walks and two HBP, and that ended Francis’ day. If/when the Scherzer spot in the rotation solidifies, we might see Francis moving into it, but with the next projected start coming against the White Sox, he has a clear chance to make it into next week’s highlights section. News, Notes, and Not Playing: Will Robertson contract selected from Triple-A. 7-day IL: Nathan Lukes Lukes is said to be progressing from his concussion protocol and could see a return to action this week. 10-day IL: Daulton Varsho, Anthony Santander Varsho is continuing to recover and is lightly throwing and hitting, but has not yet begun running activities. The hope is that a clearer timeline for his rehab and return will be announced this week. Santander has begun light baseball activity and is not expected back ahead of Varsho (Schneider via Matheson) 15-day IL: Yimi García, Nick Sandlin It was reported that García’s bullpen session this week went well, and his rehab is continuing. Sandlin threw 16 pitches in a rehab outing and will be re-evaluated. 60-day IL: Ryan Burr, Max Scherzer Burr threw live BP on Saturday and will be evaluated for how he feels following that session. Scherzer threw 56 pitches on Friday (was scheduled to throw 60-65) and felt good afterwards. He is scheduled to make another rehab start on Wednesday with a target of 70-75 pitches as he builds back up. Trending Storyline: The Jays were rolling, having won 12 of 14 games and five series in a row (including a win over Philly in Toronto) at the end of their set in St. Louis. Then they rolled into the city of Brotherly Love and got outscored 22-6 over the weekend. As bad as the Philly games were, we’re only one series removed from watching this team play its best baseball of the season, and there’s reason to believe that with the series coming on the horizon, this might just be a blip. Looking Ahead: The Jays get a much-needed off day on Monday before welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks, with former Jays: Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Randal Grichuk, and Gabriel Moreno for a 3-game set. The Diamondbacks are similar to the Jays in that they’re hovering around .500, but doing it in a tough division (minus the Rockies), so we could see some close games. Then it's the AL-worst Chicago White Sox in for the weekend. These are a couple of prime series to shake the Philly-stink off of the Jays and get the bats swinging again. View full article

Love this breakdown. Bassitt's arsenal is so varied and changing that this kind of analysis really helps bring an understanding to the methods behind his 'madness'.

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 5/26 through Sun, 6/1 *** Record Last Week: 6-1 (Overall: 31-28) Run Differential Last Week: +21 (Overall: -5) Standings: Second Place in AL East (5.5 GB), Seventh in AL (0.5 GB of Third Wild Card as of 6/1) Last Week’s Results Game 53: TOR 2 - TEX 1 Gausman: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K Varsho: 3-5, HR (8) Hoffman: 1.0 IP, 3 up/3 down, SV (11) Game 54: TEX 2 - TOR 0 Francis: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K 11 runners left on base, 0-for-10 with RISP Game 55: TOR 2 - TEX 0 Schultz and Lauer: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K Bichette: PH HR Game 56: TOR 12 - A’s 0 Berrios: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K HRs: Clement (2), Guerrero Jr. (8), Bichette (6), Springer (6) Kirk: 3-for-3 and flirting with .300 Game 57: TOR 11 - A’s 7 Bassitt: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K HRs: Clement (3), Barger (3) Game 58: TOR 8 - A’s 7 Lucas: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (Fisher opened) HRs: Barger (4), Bichette (7), Springer (7 and 8) Game 59: TOR 8 - A’s 4 Gausman: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Barger: HR (5) 5-for-10 with RISP Highlights Kevin Gausman followed up his best start of the season in the Jays' 14-0 win over San Diego with an even better performance against Texas despite a much smaller margin for error, going eight innings and willing the team to a 2-1 win. Leo Morgenstern flagged him as the ace most likely to step up for the Jays and I just named him Jays Centre Pitcher of the Month in part because of performances like this. The whole offense against the Athletics was a highlight. In a four-game sweep of the nomadic A’s, the Jays scored 38 runs (almost erasing their negative run differential on the season) on 56 hits, including 11 that left the yard. Leading the charge was former Athletic Ernie Clement, who recorded 11 of those hits and an absurd wRC+ of 418 in the series. In a week when the bats came to life, it was Addison Barger who really took notice. His 254 wRC+ on the week led the team, as did his 0.53 WPA. For the Statcast fans, he was neck and neck with Vladdy and Alejandro Kirk on the EV and distance leaderboards all week too. Lowlights Daulton Varsho was a triple short of the cycle in the opener against Texas, but then it was during his pursuit of a triple against the A’s that he pulled up in a great deal of pain and landed himself on the IL. There was nothing about his play this week that would have put Varsho in the lowlights section, but when the team is going to be without the best defensive outfielder in the league for any length of time, there’s going to be some worry. Anthony Santander was the only Jays batter to go without a hit this week. He’s been battling a number of ailments and finally (mercifully?) ended the week by going on the IL. Jeff Hoffman picked up three saves this week, and two of them were pretty routine. Entering the game against the A’s with a three-run lead to walk away with a one-run save is always a scary proposition. While there is always an element of bend-not-break from some reliever appearances, this one had the opportunity to get ugly if not for Ernie Clement flashing the glove to end the game. Random Stats of the Week Jacob deGrom faced 23 Blue Jays batters on Monday and didn’t strike anyone out. It was the first time in his 229 career starts that he left without a K. Bo Bichette’s pinch-hit home run was the first of his career. Ernie Clement’s five RBI in one inning tied Edwin Encarnacion’s team record. News, Notes and Not Playing Ali Sanchez recalled from Triple A Josh Walker traded to Phillies for cash considerations Alan Roden recalled from Triple A Easton Lucas recalled from Triple A (and then optioned back) José Ureña designated for assignment Erik Swanson reinstated from the IL Davis Schneider recalled from Triple A 7-day IL: Tyler Heineman Caught on the weekend and is expected to be activated for this week's series against Philly. 10-day IL: Andrés Giménez, Daulton Varsho Giménez played on the weekend at Single A and is expected to be activated for the series against Philly. Varsho was diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain and will be evaluated weekly. 15-day IL: Nick Sandlin, Yimi García Sandlin is currently throwing BP to hitters and expected to ramp up over the coming weeks. García had a cortisone shot and is not scheduled to throw in the coming days. 60-day IL: Max Scherzer, Ryan Burr Like García, Burr also had a cortisone shot and was shut down from throwing for a couple of days. Scherzer threw live BP on May 30, and if all feels well, he is expected to continue throwing this week. Trending Storylines After a quiet series in Texas, the bats got loud at home against the A’s, reminding us how much fun dingers can be when it’s your team hitting them. With Clement and Barger leading the charge, the question of what the Jays will do when Andrés Giménez returns will be a real story to watch. Jesse Burrill gave us a nice breakdown of what could happen, but the decisions are always tougher when the bats are hot. Looking Ahead The Jays have an off day Monday after their 13 in a row. They’ll welcome Philly for a three-game set at Rogers Centre before hitting the road for a weekend series in Minnesota. View full article

In my pre-season milestone watch, I tagged Bo Bichette’s 100th home run as “likely to happen.” His four home runs in 2024 were a career low, but after the injuries he battled through last season, his power coming back (and especially the power outburst we’re seeing right now) wasn’t a guarantee. If you'll allow me a moment for navel-gazing, I do have to note that before the season, I wrote, “The homestand against the Athletics at the end of May is where I would look for [Bichette's 100th home run] to happen.” That said, it took until the 33rd game of the season for Bo to hit his first home run of the campaign, so all seven of the homers he needed to reach 100 coming in the last 25 games was a bit of a surprise. Let’s take a second to appreciate #100, before looking back at some of the homers that got us here: Bichette's first home run came in his third game with the Jays after a late-July call-up to the big league club in 2019. Leading off the eighth inning in Kansas City, he took the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center. He would go on to hit 10 more that season over his final 43 games. That first homer coming on the first pitch of an at-bat isn’t much of a surprise in hindsight. Bichette has always been a first-pitch-swinging guy. In fact, 24% of his homers (that’s 24 out of 100 for the math crew) have come on the first pitch of an at-bat. That’s more than any of the other home run leaders on the current Jays team: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (20%), Daulton Varsho (21%), George Springer (17%), and Anthony Santander (14%). Bichette’s most prolific home run season came in 2021 – the season he set the franchise record for bWAR from a shortstop. That year also included the longest homer of his career, a 468-foot blast that left Fenway Park in a hurry. For contrast, his softest-hit homer (as measured by exit velocity) was this dinger in Baltimore in 2022 that just caught the top of the wall. It was his second home run of the game, and based on the way he walked out of the batter’s box, he might’ve been the only one who knew it was gone off the bat. That was the sixth time in his career that he had a two-homer game. He hasn’t had a two-homer game since then, but that wasn’t his last multi-homer game. That’s because on September 5 of that same season, Bichette went deep three times: Three homers, all to different parts of the park. It's a spray chart hat trick! Bichette is one of 19 Jays to have a three-homer game (Carlos Delgado is the only one to add a fourth) and the most recent to do it. Camden Yards is the place where Bo has hit the most of his homers away from home (9), followed by Fenway Park (6) and temporary Jays homes Sahlen Field and TD Ballpark (5 each). In fact, in another first, he was the first Blue Jay to hit a regular season MLB home run in Buffalo when the Jays were forced to play there during the pandemic: Bichette has hit homers in all nine innings of regular play, but his only one to come in extras was a 12th-inning walk-off against the Yankees in his rookie season. Similarly, he has 99 home runs as a starter, and his only home run as a sub came earlier this week when he hit a pinch-hit go-ahead homer against Texas. Bo’s homers have some in all shapes and sizes, and today we celebrate them all. View full article

Last month we celebrated Yimi García, Jeff Hoffman and Chris Bassitt. This month those two relievers combined to blow five saves and Bassitt posted the highest ERA of the regular starters. I’m not ready to consider the Curse of the PotM just yet, but the pitchers we highlight today might want to take an extra training day as a precaution. Honourable Mention: Michael Stefanic - 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H On a hot day in Florida with the Rays on their way to handing Toronto their worst defeat of the season (so far!) the Jays were looking for someone to stop the bleeding. That someone was Michael Stefanic. Primarily used as a middle infielder, Toronto asked him to dial into his inner Ohtani and take the mound. Mixing a slider that averaged 61mph with a 62mph curve Stefanic sat down the three Rays he faced. He then led off the next inning with a single - something no other Jays pitcher has done this year. May Pitchers of the Month #4 - José Berríos - 36 IP, 14 ER, 37 K, 13 BB, 3.80 FIP Berríos has thrown more innings than any other pitcher this month. He’s also given the Jays a chance to win by throwing a quality start in five of his six appearances. All other Jays pitchers combined to throw five quality starts over the 22 non-Berríos starts. His fWAR is second among the starting pitchers and his durability is unmatched. Given the revolving door of relievers the team is working through, being able to count on Berríos for 6 innings every start is a luxury. #3 - Brendon Little - 13.1 IP, 0 ER, 16 K, 7 BB, 3 holds Of the Blue Jays pitchers with zero earned runs given up in May (incredibly there are seven), Little has done it while having the most appearances (12), innings pitched (13.1) and batters faced (48). In April Jesse Burrill highlighted how nasty Little’s curveball is, and while he’s throwing it almost 50% of the time, opposing hitters can’t seem to do much with it. He’s also got a wild pitch, a hit batter and just enough walks to be a candidate for "effectively wild”, but as long as he’s keeping runs off the board he’s got a place here. #2 - Yariel Rodríguez - 17 IP, 1 ER, 18 K, 3 BB, 4 holds Rodríguez has been so consistent out of the pen this month. He’s made 13 appearances and only given up one run. In seven of those appearances Rodríguez was asked to throw more than one inning and has picked up four holds in the process. Little and Rodríguez have had a real ‘whatever you can do, I can do better’ month coming out of the ‘pen and given how close their performances have been, I wouldn’t quibble if you wanted to flip them in the rankings here. The additional workload tips the scale in Rodríguez’s favour for me. #1 - Kevin Gausman - 32 IP, 10 ER, 33 K, 1 BB, 2.74 FIP In his first start of the month on May 3rd in the bottom of the first inning Gausman issued a walk to the Guardians’ Carlos Santana. He would face 119 batters after that without issuing another walk. In addition to limiting the walks, Gausman also gave up the fewest home runs and fewest earned runs of the Jays main starters. On May 21, Gausman went 7 innings of three-hit shutout against the Padres and put up a 0.4 WPA (Win Probability Added) which was the highest mark by a Jays pitcher to that point in the season. Then, on four days' rest, he went back out against Texas and upped the high water mark to a 0.5 WPA with 8 high leverage innings against the Rangers leading the Jays to a 2-1 win (his 3rd of the month). Leo Morgenstern talked about the Jays' need for an ace, and this month Gausman reminded us of what he is capable of. He’s our Jays Centre Pitcher of the Month. View full article

Man, those mid-90s Cito lineups really were something !

No pitcher in baseball has given up more home runs at this point in the season than Bowden Francis (15). Through ten starts, he’s given up homers in eight games and multiples in four of those. With the usual caveat of small sample size tucked squarely under my arm, I went back and looked at all of the home runs he has allowed to see if there were any trends or identifiable causes for concern. The first trend is thankfully something that we won’t have to worry about again this season. With Toronto having already played a home and away series against Seattle, Rowdy Tellez shouldn’t get a chance to face Francis again in 2025. Of course, this is where I am obligated to mention that Tellez and Francis were traded for each other in 2021 (Trevor Richards also came to the Jays in that deal), and Tellez certainly got the best of Francis this year. In Toronto, it was a first pitch, four-seam fastball off the plate inside that Tellez got around on quickly and put over the fence. In Seattle, it was a fastball again, this time on a 2-0 count on the outside part of the plate, but with the same result. Last year, Francis threw a first-pitch fastball about half the time. This year, that rate has jumped up closer to two-thirds of the time. So, I wondered if his opponents were hunting for that first-pitch fastball. After all, in Francis's last start, he served up a first-pitch fastball down the middle, which Gavin Sheets crushed into the seats. However, aside from the two first-pitch homers by Sheets and Tellez, the only other first-pitch blast Francis has given up this season was on a down-and-away curveball that Riley Greene knocked out. Back to the drawing board. The home runs have come in every possible count, with the exception of 3-0. Five have come in even counts, three with Francis ahead and seven with him behind (including two full-count home runs). Hitters don’t seem to be teeing off on a specific pitch either. Seven of the home runs Francis has given up have come against his four-seam fastball, five against his splitter and three on his curve. He throws the fastball more than any other pitch, so by percentage, the splitter is leaving the yard most often, but not by a significant amount. Comparing Francis to the other mainstays of Toronto's rotation, he's thrown the fewest pitches over the heart of the plate. Francis’ 223 trails José Berríos (241), Kevin Gausman (276) and Chris Bassitt (262), but the other three have all kept their home run numbers down. Gausman and Bassitt combined have given up the same number of homers as Francis, despite throwing more pitches/innings/games. All four of those pitchers are right-handed throwers, and as such, opposing managers tend to try to stack their lineups with lefties to take advantage of that platoon split. With his conversion from a reliever to a full-time starter, Francis has seen a massive spike in the number of lefties he is forced to pitch against – a 13.3% increase from last season (45.8% to 59.1%). Compared to the other starters, all veterans, who have seen 5.5% (Berríos), 0.8% (Gausman) and 1.0% (Bassitt) increases from 2024 to 2025, it is understandable that this would be a bigger adjustment for the less experienced Francis. The one thing that is undeniable, and I’ve buried it a little here, is that the vast majority of the damage against Francis is being done by lefties. Of the 15 homers he has surrendered, 12 have been to players hitting from the left side of the plate. I’ve looked at a lot of tape and sifted through a lot of data, and I can’t identify what it is that those hitters are seeing, or what Francis is doing differently that has led to that extreme of a split, but there has to be something going on. Two of his worst pitches of the year were middle-middle offerings to Christian Walker and Alex Bregman, and those represent two of the righties that have taken Francis out of the park. I'd argue that none of the home run pitches he has thrown to lefties were as meaty as those two. Some have caught more plate than is ideal, but for the most part, the lefties that have gone deep have done it on arguably tougher pitches. I wasn’t content to just look at Francis’ first nine starts this season, so for comparison, I also looked at his final nine starts of last season. This, of course, includes the historic span of games that earned Francis AL Pitcher of the Month honours for August. This also includes two games where Francis took no-hitters into the ninth inning. Both of those no-hit bids were broken up with home runs. There was another one-hit game in that stretch where the only hit he surrendered was a round-tripper. Overall, in those final nine games, Francis gave up seven home runs – a total he would surely trade for at this point. Even then, for as well as he pitched, the percentage of the hits he gave up that left the yard was higher last season (29%) than this year (27%). A fly ball pitcher is going to have unlucky stretches, and hopefully that’s all this turns out to be, but the focus has certainly been drawn, and the Jays can’t afford to have another questionable spot in the rotation if they’re serious about their postseason aspirations. Last year, Francis' splitter never left the yard. In fact, the only hits to come off of his splitter were singles. Lefties barrelled his splitter just three times, with all three dying at the warning track. This season, the splitter is at five barrels already, with three of those leaving the park as homers. On April 28, Leo Morgenstern wrote about Francis not fooling hitters anymore and noted the velocity drop on his splitter. The next day (April 29), five different Red Sox went yard. In the next game (Cleveland at home), Francis kept the ball in the park. In Seattle, it was Tellez (of course) going deep, and in Francis' next start (Detroit at home), two Tigers left their cage (that’s not a real saying, but I’m going with it). The Padres continued that trend. Fernando Tatis Jr. leads their team in homers, but it was the matchups against the lefties Sheets (HR) and Jackson Merrill (two hits) that produced the damage in Francis' four innings of work. These heat maps show Francis' splitter locations in 2024 (left/top) and 2025 (right/bottom). It was definitely catching more of the zone last season, and opposing batters produced a wOBA of .173 and an average exit velocity of 87.9 mph against it. This season, despite the pitch missing the zone more often, those numbers have jumped to a .416 wOBA and a 94.8 mph average exit velocity. With its decreased velocity, the case can be made that hitters are able to pick up the splitter a bit sooner to lay off when it's coming in low and punish it when it catches the zone. The good news, at least in the short term, is that Francis' matchup tonight is with the Texas Rangers. Their top four home run hitters are all right-handed bats, and their top lefty (Corey Seager) is currently on the 10-day IL. Catcher Jonah Heim represents the biggest left-handed power threat. Or if you prefer a dark horse, watch out for the at-bats against Alejandro Osuna, the Rangers rookie who just made his MLB debut on Sunday. He's made some hard contact in his first two games (extreme small sample alert!) and could run into one if things don't break Francis' way. View full article