Blue Jays: Don’t you forget about small ball

By @RyanGrosman
Laced
June 4, 2017

It’s no secret that the John Gibbons-lead Blue Jays rely on power and hitting fastballs more than James Bond relies on bad guys with shitty accuracy.

Just ask the Indians.

They’re an all or nothing team. And when the power is absent, like it was in April, the Jays find themselves up shit creek without toilet paper.

But after the horrendous train wreck that was April, the Blue Jays have managed to turn their fortunes around in May, even with all-stars like Donaldson, Tulo and Martin on the shelf for long stretches.

In their absence, the remaining stars, Bautista and Morales, stepped up massively. But perhaps more importantly, so too did the non-stars.

Pillar, Carrera, Travis, Goins, Smoak and Barney don’t have a single all-star appearance between them, yet they helped lift the Jays to one of their best months in years. And, at least for the time being, they helped make the Jays relevant again.

How did they do it? Through a little thing called small ball.

Sure, the long bomb is a big reason for their newfound success. But it isn’t the only reason.

That’s because a miraculous thing happened. Faced with a lineup full of Carreras and Pillars, Gibbons adjusted his approach – employing small ball baseball for the first time since…well, ever.

Suddenly they were doing actual baseball things like stealing, bunting and hit and running. I even witnessed a double steal with men on first and third.

Insert shocked emoji face here.

You have to wonder if someone up top talked to Gibby about changing his game plan. “Hey, dude. We’re like 30 games below .500. All your mashers are either hurt or slumping. Maybe try something new. Just a suggestion.” 

But now that the big boys are back and hitting fifth deck dingers, the Jays are returning to their old ways – standing around, waiting for a big blast to save the day.

Just look at the Yankee series they just finished. Yes, they won 2 out of 4 vs. the division leader. But they did so without a single hit with runners in scoring position. That’s actually pretty hard to do.

The majority of their runs came on bombs with a tiny sprinkle of sac flies.

That kind of offence is just not sustainable.

They may have their hitting jocks on right now. But whether it’s 2 months, 2 weeks or 2 days from now, you know they’ll go through another huge power outage. And then what?

Well, April happens again. That’s what.

I’m not saying they should go full on small ball. That would be crazy, especially in the AL East. I’m also not saying that homers aren’t crucial to their success. Because they most definitely are.

All I’m saying is to have sustained success in this league, and in the playoffs, a healthy combo of the two is needed.

Here’s how the Jays turned their season around and how they should continue to play.

We have contact

You can only have so many swing and miss guys in your lineup. Last year and to start this season, the Jays had plenty.

Somewhere Melvin Upton Jr. is striking out as we speak.

Punch outs give you absolutely nothing. And when they happen with runners on, they can destroy innings.

Guys like Carrera, Goins, Barney, Travis and Smoak have been making a ton of contact. They may not always get hits, but at least they put the ball in play.

More balls in play, puts more pressure on the other team’s defence and will lead to more guys getting on base. So, too, does the hit and run, which was another surprising addition to Gibby’s repertoire during May.

Making things happen

Nothing plagued the team last year and the start of this year more than LOBs.

Getting men on is one thing. But you have to get them over and get them in. I believe this is called “manufacturing runs.” It’s been so long since I’ve seen it, I kind of forgot what it looks like.

In May, instead of waiting for the big blast (or much more likely, an inning ending double play), they Jays were starting runners and moving guys over with sac bunts and groundouts. These are called productive outs.

Even more shocking – the Jays were also scoring on sac flies and the occasional safety squeeze.

Speed kills

Centre fielder Jarrod Dyson once said, “Speed don’t slump.” This is entirely true. The only way speed do slump is if you don’t use it.

Pillar, Carrera and Goins can move their assess. And with speed, you can do a lot more things to win.

During the early part of May, to my and probably everyone’s total surprise, there were a shit ton of steals and hit and runs – things you don’t ever see from the Gibby-lead Blue Jays.

Needless to say, it payed off big time.

Timely taters

You can get on base. You can move guys over. You can thieve bags. You can even manufacture some runs. But, especially in the power heavy AL East, you still need to hit some timely round trippers.

Bautista, Morales, Pillar, Travis, Smoak and even Go-Go Ryan Goins have been smashing homers at precisely the right times. And the infusion of Tulo and Donaldson back into the lineup has made this an even bigger strength.

The return of the kings

Now that Gibby has all his bashers back, they’re already going back to their usual all or nothing ways.

But just because your regulars have returned, it doesn’t mean you should just abandon small ball like a drunk, out of control prom date. Especially since it got you back in the race.

What’s that expression? Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to get shut down by half decent pitching.

If Gibby can't find a way to marry small ball and long ball, the Jays brass need to find someone who can.

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