Up until Wednesday, the outfield looked pretty much set with Canadians Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC) in left, Dalton Pompey (Mississauga, ON) in center and team leader Jose Bautista in his familiar spot in right.
Then Saunders stepped on a sprinkler head jogging in the outfield before practice, tore his meniscus and got put on the shelf until pretty much the All-Star Break, leaving the Blue Jays in a bind.
Before addressing the problem in left, let’s break down the two positions that appear set in stone.
Bautista continued to be a consistent producer for Toronto in 2014, rebounding from an injury-plagued previous season to play 155 games while putting up a .286/35/103 slash and continuing to display a cannon of an arm in right field. Now six full seasons into his time as a member of the Blue Jays, the fact that he was acquired for the paltry sum of a player to be named later that eventually turned out to catcher Robinzon Diaz just keeps getting better and better.
A five-time All-Star, Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have spent the last three seasons as The Bash Brothers North, one of the most potent middle-of-the-order tandems in all of baseball. During that time, they’ve launched 202 combined home runs, and now they have a new sibling to add to the mix, Josh Donaldson, thereby reducing the offensive load they’re force to carry.
That can only be a good thing for Bautista, who spent a couple seasons chasing the long ball before rebounding to his .286 last year. When “Joey Bats” was at his best during his back-to-back monster seasons in 2010 and 2011, he wasn’t just smashing home runs, but he was lashing doubles as well, resulting in a career-high .302 average in 2011.
While Bautista is a proven commodity in right, Pompey is anything but in center. The 22-year-old made his Major League debut last year as a September call-up, posting a .231 average in 39 at-bats. Though his cup of coffee with the big club last season didn’t set the world on fire, the switch-hitter was successful at the plate in the minors in 2014, hitting .317 with 43 steals in 50 attempts across three levels before reaching Toronto.
But here’s the thing: Pompey isn’t being counted on for his bat, at least not right now.
His speed on the bases is a plus, but more than anything, the Mississauga native is penciled into the starting lineup in center because of his defensive abilities. He covers a ton of ground and has made a grand total of eight errors in 312 minor league games, good for a .988 fielding percentage.
Now we come to the newfound quagmire in leftfield.
First and foremost, it’s not like Saunders is irreplaceable in left. While he seemed to be the frontrunner to secure the position, he’s a career .231 hitting after six seasons in Seattle, where he was a perennial injury risk. Yes, his speed/power potential is intriguing and he’s still only 28-years-old, but Toronto most likely didn’t stumble upon another Jose Bautista here if that’s what you were thinking.
That’s what makes the current situation more difficult. If a guy that has been somewhat of a disappointment through the first 500-plus games of his career was your best option, what does that say about his potential replacements now that he’s hurt?
Former Detroit Tigers outfielder Andy Dirks has a .276 average for his career and brings a left-handed bat to the lineup, but he hasn’t even been clear for baseball activities yet after missing most of last season with back issues.
Kevin Pillar has some speed and can play all three outfield positions, but he’s yet to prove that he can hit big league pitching consistently enough to be an everyday option. Plus he’s the proud owner of a .274 on-base percentage and has posted an atrocious 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio during his two brief stints with the Jays thus far, two stats that don’t help his case for playing time very much.
There are also veterans Chris Dickerson and Ezequiel Carrerra kicking around at camp, but given that neither has been able to stick as a major leaguer over parts of several seasons with various teams, the chances that they’re anything more than a stopgap solution is highly unlikely.
Should Dirks be cleared for Spring Training, he and Pillar will most likely end up in a platoon to start the season, with the former getting the lion’s share of the workload.
What will be interesting to see, however, is if General Manager Alex Anthopoulos can parlay eager-to-be-traded catcher Dionner Navarro into a better option in left field before the season gets underway.
Maybe call the Red Sox, see if they want to part with Mookie Betts in exchange for a catcher with some experience and the ability to hit at the major league level?
Ask the Dodgers if they’re willing to move Scott Van Slyke, who hit .298 last year as a utility outfielder and has never been given a chance at full-time reps.
If there are no takers, it will be a revolving door of different players in left field until Saunders comes back and there is no guarantee it stops then either.
