We have reached the All-Star break, which means that we are just slightly passed the half-way point in the season. The Jays are 45-42 going into the break, are currently 8.0 games out of first place in the AL East, and are 4.5 games out of the second wild card spot. There has been a bit of everything for the Jays in the first half – they’ve had their good, bad, and ugly moments. Some aspects of the season have gone better than others for the Jays, and here I will break down each part individually and give them a grade for their first half performances.
Offence, A – Coming into the season, the offence was expected to be the team’s biggest strength. The additions of George Springer and Marcus Semien would complement the young core and make a good lineup, a great lineup. Although Springer has missed a majority of the season due to injuries, the offence still slugged and has been one of the top lineups in the American League. Now, with Springer healthy, his addition only adds to the power, and length of the lineup. The Jays are 1st in the AL in homeruns, 2nd in average, and 4th in runs per game. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leading the charge, the offence has definitely been the team’s biggest strength, and the most exciting part of the team’s performance.
Defence, C+ – The Jays are not going to win gold gloves anytime soon to say the least. The defence is a weak point of the Jays’ gameplay, but it should only improve through time and more practice. The outfield defence is serviceable; Springer is good out in centre, Teoscar has gotten better in right, and Gurriel has a cannon for an arm in left. Teoscar and Gurriel will make errors here and there, and their routes can sometimes be questionable, but as long as they catch the routine fly balls, and throw to the correct base, they should be fine. It is the infield where the defence is much shakier, particularly, on the left side of the diamond. Cavan Biggio, who can play nearly anywhere on the diamond, has been the Jays’ primary third baseman this year. This is his first year playing third – as he has primarily been a second baseman – and with anything new, it takes time to learn. Bichette on the other hand, has spent his entire career playing shortstop, so he has much more experience at his position than Biggio does at his, and therefore should be better than what he has put on display the last few months. The biggest concern for both Bichette and Biggio are their throws. There have been a lot of errant throws to first that have caused Vladdy to do many stretches and splits to save errors, and some that have just completely missed Vlad all together. Both players will continue to play at their respective positions for the rest of the year, but it will remain to be seen if they continue there moving forward.
Starting Pitching, B- – You can never have too much pitching, and ever since last season ended, the Jays’ biggest need has been starting pitching. With ace Hyun Jin Ryu atop the rotation, the Jays were looking to see improvements from Robbie Ray and Steven Matz from last year, and hoped Nate Pearson and their other young pitchers could take that next step. While Ryu has struggled in his last few starts, he started the year as vintage-Ryu, and was continuing his success from 2020. Robbie Ray has been magnificent for the Jays this season. He has a 3.13 ERA and is tied for second in the AL with 130 strikeouts. Matz started the year quite strong, but has struggled lately since returning from the COVID IL. Ross Stripling was looked at as someone who could be used in a hybrid role and bounce between the bullpen and starting rotation. However, he has spent the entire season in the rotation, and despite a very poor start, he has turned his season around since making some mechanical adjustments in mid-May. Nate Pearson, who was expected to be the number two starter behind Ryu, started the season on the IL, and has only made one start for the team this year. It was a poor outing, and he was then sent down to triple-A the next day to refine his craft. He has since hit the injured list again, and it is uncertain if he will pitch again at the big league level this year. While Pearson has been a disappointment this year, on the other end of the spectrum, there is Alek Manoah who surpassed Pearson on the depth chart. Manoah started the season in triple-A, and was dominant. He got called up on May 27th and had an excellent debut at Yankee Stadium. Of course, not every outing has been great, but he is young and is still learning how to pitch in the majors. As long as he can stay healthy and give the team a chance to win every time he takes the hill, he should be quite a force in the rotation for the months, and years ahead.
In baseball, they say it starts and ends with starting pitching, and while the Jays’ rotation is far from perfect, it hasn’t been detrimental to the team’s success, up to this point. The Jays will likely look to add another arm to the rotation, but if their current horses can stay healthy, they should be able to keep the team in most games.
Bullpen, C – What was once the strongest part of the team, has turned into by far the weakest. Plagued by injuries and poor performances, the bullpen has struggled for the last couple of months. When the season started, the Jays had Borucki, Chatwood, Phelps, Romano, and Merryweather as lockdown relievers and were doing a very good job at carrying the team to victories when either the starters or the offence waivered. However, Phelps, Merryweather, and Borucki have missed significant time due to injuries and while Borucki should be back this weekend, Merryweather is not expected to be back anytime soon, and Phelps is out for the season. Chatwood – who is now on the injured list with a neck strain – started the season very well, but has seemingly lost the ability to throw strikes. Prior to May 23rd, Chatwood had only allowed 5 walks and 1 earned run in 16 innings pitched. Since May 23rd, he has 15 walks and 16 earned runs in 11 innings pitched. Romano has been the only reliable arm in the pen for the last little while, and only recently has the front office managed to make trades to acquire some more relief help. Recently acquired Adam Cimber, and Trevor Richards will be very helpful pieces, but the Jays should still be looking to add one or two more quality arms by the trade deadline.
All things considered, the Jays have had a pretty good first half of the season. They are currently projected to win around 87 games, and if you told me that at the start of the season, I would have said that’s a successful year. While there have been some terrible losses – from leads blown by the bullpen – there have been some great moments as well; Bichette hitting a walk-off homerun against the Yankees, a clubbing 18-4 win against the Red Sox, and Vladdy hitting three homeruns in one game. The Jays sent four players to the All-Star game Tuesday night, and Vladdy is competing for AL MVP against Shohei Ohtani. We are just a little more than halfway through the season, and the Jays are well in the thick of a postseason push. The team has battled up to this point, and if they want to make the postseason, they will have to fight even harder. One thing is for sure, it certainly should be an exciting second half.