2021 Blue Jays: First Series Takeaways
Storylines, takeaways, and awards from Toronto's first series of 2021
The offense didn’t dominate, the pitching wasn’t perfect, but every part of the 2021 Blue Jays did just enough to come away with a series win over the Yankees to begin the year. The roster and season outlook will look different 159 games from now, but there are already some early takeaways for this year’s edition of Blue Jays baseball.
Clearer Bullpen Picture
Even with Kirby Yates gone for the year, Toronto’s pen looks like it will be a heavily relied upon weapon for Charlie Montoyo’s Blue Jays. Julian Merryweather turned heads, Jordan Romano got big outs (both ugly and cleanly), and Ryan Borucki looked absolutely unhittable against lefties. The only significant bullpen hiccup of the series was Rafael Dolis (who looked great in game one) walking three on Saturday.
If Tyler Chatwood, David Phelps, and Tim Mayza can produce as secondary options in the bullpen, Blue Jays games are going to seem short with Dolis, Romano, Merryweather, and Borucki shutting things down. Montoyo seems set on not naming a closer, but Romano and Merryweather seem like Charlie’s guys for big outs so far.
Every year, the Blue Jays roster two or three relievers who find themselves riding the QEW from Toronto to Buffalo all season — rotating rested and healthy arms for the last spot in the bullpen. It seems this year’s first candidate for the roster shuffle is Joel Payamps, who pitched 1.1 innings in game two of the year with a K and BB and was optioned Sunday morning.
Thin LHH Depth
Toronto’s Sunday lineup revealed a glaring hole on their current 26-man roster: left-handed hitting depth. To “get another lefty in the lineup,” with Rowdy Tellez moving to the bench, Montoyo chose to DH Joe Panik. This is not an indictment on serviceable utility player Panik, but he can’t be the DH for a hopeful playoff team. We saw it on the 2020 Blue Jays, but the 2021 squad has higher expectations. If Tellez doesn’t breakout (or continue his breakout), like many assume he can, Toronto’s LHH depth behind Cavan Biggio will be non-existent, creating a lineup catered for right-handed pitchers.
For Toronto to stay effective against the strong side of the platoon, pressure will be on players like Vlad (106 tOPS+ vs RHP) and Teoscar (99 tOSP+ vs RHP), to continue their neutral splits. Both had crucial homers against right-handers this series, but a LH-hitting bench bat may be priority #2 (behind starting pitching) for a Blue Jays in-season move.
Kirk Slots In
He recorded just a walk in four plate appearances, but Alejandro Kirk's Sunday start behind the dish showed that Toronto will manufacture opportunities and at bats for their young catcher. He didn’t have a hit, but Kirk framed well and made some athletic blocks on Zeuch and Thornton breaking balls.
Though Danny Jansen started the year with a hit, walk, and run in two starts, Kirk seems set to play in about two of every five of games. Once Robbie Ray returns from injury (sounding like soon) Kirk should act as a “personal catcher” for him, and can DH or catch the second-game of day/night back-to-backs as well. If Kirk hits anywhere near how he did briefly last year, or throughout the minor leagues, Montoyo may need to up his workload.
Great Start For Grichuk
In 2019 and 2020, the streaky Randal Grichuk had two months with OPS's over .820 and three under .700. He's a career .778 OPS hitter, but very rarely puts together a lengthy stretch of .778 OPS baseball. Even when George Springer returns from injury, Grichuk can force Toronto’s hand to play his hot streaks and find a spot for him in the lineup.
Through the season's first series Grichuk is hitting .400, has three RBI, two walks, and a hit in every game. While Springer’s injury robbed Jay’s fans of an opportunity to see their new man in blue, it may have allowed Grichuk to get hot early.
Player of the Week: Julian Merryweather
2.0 IP — 2 Sv — 5 K — 0.0 WHIP — 1,345,932 tweets about how Toronto won the Donaldson trade
What’s Next:
The next week holds seven games against the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels, the debut of George Springer, a possible return from Robbie Ray, and a slated Sunday matchup against one of the most entertaining players in baseball: Shohei Ohtani.
Find a complete breakdown of Toronto’s April schedule HERE.