Hot Gaus
On Gaus the Boss, the Jays' red hot offence, Matt Chapman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Connor Seabold, Yusei Kikuchi, Max Castillo, Danny Jansen, Trevor Richards, Alejandro Kirk, the All-Star Game, & more!
The Blue Jays got exactly the performance they needed, both offensively and on the mound, as they opened up a huge week of games against division rivals with a 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. Kevin Gausman was brilliant, the bats stayed hot, and the feeling of last week’s tension all melting away — at least for one night — was palpable.
So let’s talk about it! Here’s Three Up…
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Up: Kevin Gausman
Four starts ago, Kevin Gausman struggled through 3 2/3 innings against the Twins while the Blue Jays universe speculated that he was tipping his pitches — something Sportsnet's Hazel Mae said on Monday's broadcast that Gausman is trying to combat by switching to a bigger glove. The dirty secret of that game, however, was that he was actually having trouble locating his pitches where they needed to be. He couldn’t get either his fastball or his splitter to the lower third of the zone, consistently working up with the former and missing low with the latter, which made the Twins’ task of distinguishing what was coming much too easy.
Two starts later, against the Orioles, location was again a probably, albeit in a different way. On that day he couldn't seem to get the heater up, and couldn't get the splitter down, missing consistently inside to right-handers with the split instead of getting them to dive below the bottom of the zone or live on the edge of it.
Afterwards he complained to reporters that he “was really tired out there,” lamenting his “embarrassing” performance.
“I just didn’t have anything today,” he said. “Usually, it’s something mechanical, something small that, in the game, I can make adjustments and figure it out. For whatever reason, in that third, I just couldn’t make the adjustment.”
This was the nadir of a tough run for Gausman that began when an inconsistent May wiped out most of the Cy Young talk that had followed him after his brilliant start to the season. We can see that by simply tracking his strikeout totals over the course of the year, as in this chart from Props.cash — player prop research made easy!
As you can also see, Gausman took a step in the right direction last week in Chicago.
On Monday night, for the first time since May 1, he had a second straight excellent outing — this one far better than the last, and incredibly important for this reeling Blue Jays team and its overworked bullpen as they began a run of eight games in seven days against AL East rivals the Red Sox and Rays.
Gausman located in precisely the sorts of ways that had eluded him against Baltimore and Minnesota. He filled up the zone with his fastball, primarily working it up and in to right-handers, but painting the inside edge with several, including a solid number that were in his typical splitter zone. He worked it to the outside, kept some low, and mixed in enough splitters that caught the bottom of the zone to keep Red Sox hitters swinging over the top of the ones that didn't. The slider isn’t as important a pitch for him, but he made good use of it, too.
It was everything the Jays and their weary fans needed. Seven innings of four-hit shutout brilliance (the only extra-base hit being an absurd Rafael Devers "double" that hit off the second base bag). Gausman walked only two, struck out ten, induced 18 whiffs on 55 swings (33%), and managed a whopping 15 called strikes on the fastball, almost all of which came low in the zone on pitches one can surmise that Red Sox hitters thought were splitters bound to dive into the dirt.
Two starts isn’t enough to say that Gausman is now back to where he was in April, but it sure as hell is enough to get this week started on the right foot — and to make you forget just a little bit about the Berríos and Kikuchi disasters over the weekend. That’ll do!
Up: The hits just keep on coming
Since May 24th, the Blue Jays have best hitting team in baseball by a hilariously wide margin. Their pitching issues have, understandably, gotten much of the ink as the offence has hummed along at what I suspect we all sort of have figured is a pretty natural pace for a group of hitters this talented. But it's not! The good times aren't just rolling, they're blasting across the alkali flats in a jet powered, monkey-navigated...
You get the idea.
Or maybe you don't. But you're about to!
I recognize that we're about to use some heavily arbitrary endpoints here, but you can choose whichever endpoints you want from over the last month or so and the Jays' offence is going to come out looking spectacular. Since May 24th, over the span of 1,237 plate appearances, the Blue Jays as a team have produced a wRC+ of 144. As a team!
For context, the only qualified hitter last year to produce a 144 wRC+ was the Cardinals' Canadian slugger Tyler O'Neill. He was the ninth-best hitter in baseball.
Like, that's absurd. During this run the Jays have slashed .286/.355/.511. Their wRC+ is 17 points higher than the second place Atlanta Braves (Boston had been in second place before they ran into the buzzsaw that is Kevin Gausman on Monday). They've been the best team by batting average over this span, the best team by on-base percentage, and are the only team with a slugging percentage over .500.
Wild.
Oh, and would you look at that? On Monday the Jays absolutely torched Red Sox starter Connor Seabold to the tune of seven runs on nine hits over 4 2/3 innings.
George Springer led off the game with a walk and was promptly cashed on a Bo Bichette double (thanks to a favourable bounce off the left field wall). Springer scored again when he blasted his 14th home run of the year with one out in the third. A Bichette laser for a single followed, then Vladdy smashed a hanging slider 414 feet at 108 mph to put the Jays up 4-0. Alejandro Kirk’s night included a double and a hit-by-pitch. Cavan Biggio, whose recent run I wrote about in this week's Weekend Up! piece, had a double. Teoscar and Bo had a pair of hits each. Matt Chapman hit a ridiculously towering home run in the fifth to make it 7-0 and knock Seabold from the game — a shot with a 39° launch angle that is among the 100 highest of any of the more than 2,200 home runs hit so far this season.
The Jays have averaged 6.3 runs over their last 31 games. Ho hum.
Up: The agony and the ecstasy in photos
Obviously it was a frustrating night for Seabold and a pretty incredible one for Blue Jays hitters, but it’s one thing for me to write that, and another all together to see it.
There was a moment on Sportsnet’s broadcast in the bottom of the fifth that I thought encapsulated those two poles perfectly. As Matt Chapman rounded the bases after hitting his towering home run, we got one last look of a lonely Seabold searching for answers shortly before Red Sox manager Alex Cora came out to lift him from the game.
Just a handful of frames after this perfect shot told us 1,000 words, it was contrasted with another that did the same, in this case a smirking Chapman.
That was basically the game in a nutshell right there.
There was some other good visual representation of what this game was all about caught by Sportsnet’s cameras, too. Particularly when Vladdy and Chapman hit their home runs, and mostly because the way that Seabold wore his frustrations on his face made him a perfect foil for these joyous, baseball-smashing Blue Jays. (All screengrabs via Sportsnet).
Lmao. Hard not to love these Blue Jays on a night like this, isn’t it?
Now, to be fair, and to his credit, Seabold did strikeout seven Jays on the night. The amount of swing-and-miss he generated was more than even Gausman produced. The Jays swung at 46 of Seabold's 86 pitches, and 21 of those swings (46%) came up empty.
Unfortunately for him, and for the Red Sox, the Jays did… uh… manage to connect rather well on quite a few.
Other notes
• Charlie Montoyo spoke to reporters before Monday's game and addressed the situation with Yusei Kikuchi, revealing that the beleaguered lefty is still scheduled to make his next start on Thursday, though that's something that could change. A bullpen role for Kikuchi has apparently not (yet) been discussed.
This is all, of course, wholly disappointing, but there’s logic here. The Jays have a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday against the Rays, and Montoyo also told reporters that it’s possible Maximo Castillo or Thomas Hatch will make one of those starts (though Pete Walker simultaneously threw some cold water on the idea of Castillo getting one). As much as it feels as though Kikuchi needs a trip to the bullpen to sort himself out, with spot starters and more games to play than days to play them in, it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck situation over the weekend. Unless he’s Alek Manoah, who is in line to pitch on Wednesday and then again next Monday in Oakland, every pitcher on the roster is likely going to have to take the ball at some point against the Rays.
We will see Kikuchi, unfortunately. And while I don’t expect that any fan is going to be concerned about his feelings at this point, I think there’s genuine sense in not rushing to tell the guy you agreed to pay $36 million just three months ago, “Hey, by the way, you’re our seventh best starter now — eighth if Ryu was still around, ninth if Pearson wasn’t hurt. Oh, but be ready to go out of the ‘pen if we need you!”
There’s also — though I also don’t expect any fan to believe this right now — a legitimate non-zero chance that he comes out, has feel for his pitches, and is entirely fine. I obviously wouldn’t recommend betting on that, but he’s not that far removed from looking like he was really figuring it out. I think the move here is to start him and hope for the best. And if he only lasts a couple innings again, maybe you can have him available in long relief before the weekend is through. Fun stuff, huh?
• Other updates from Montoyo via the cadre of beat reporters at the stadium before Monday’s game: 1. Danny Jansen was taking swings in the cage and is making progress toward a return, but will likely be sent out on a rehab assignment before that happens. And 2. Trevor Richards was only shut down for a few days with the “neck issue” that coincidentally cropped up last week, exactly at the point when he’d shit the bed one too many times for everybody’s liking. He’s hoping to only be on the IL for the minimum 15 days, which, if I’ve counted right, means he could be active by Sunday.
• MLB has updated the totals for the first phase of All-Star voting, and Alejandro Kirk has expanded his lead among AL catchers to more than a million votes. Lol.
Here's the hat he'll be wearing when he makes the start at Dodger Stadium on July 19th (catching Kevin Gausman). You can take a look at some different angles, or I suppose buy it, via Lids.ca. (Actually, if you really do want to buy it, you can do it through that link and you’ll be helping me and the site, because apparently Fanatics has an affiliate program which means I’ll get a small commission.)
• Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet had a good one on Monday, taking a look at how Santiago Espinal is dealing with his first slump of the season.
• In case you missed it, the Jays have reportedly — though not yet officially — signed Sergio Romo to add some fun factor (and probably not a whole hell of a lot else) to their bullpen. I wrote all about it on Monday afternoon.
• Lastly, Nick and I were recorded another live version of Blue Jays Happy Hour after this one ended. Thanks to everyone who joined us live to ask Qs, give us a call, or just listen in. For those that missed it, you’ll be able to find the show your podcast app of choice — like Apple, Spotify, or Google. (NOTE: If you had us on your podcast app before we made the move to Callin, you'll need to subscribe again using these links — essentially like it's a brand new show.)
Be sure to get Callin and follow Blue Jays Happy Hour so that you can join us next time. We’ll be back again after Thursday’s game against the Rays!
Next up: Tuesday, 7:07 PM ET: Jays vs. Red Sox (Ross Stripling vs. Michael Wacha), TV: Sportsnet One, Radio: Sportsnet 590
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I think I read that Gausman was also quite sick for the Baltimore game and was actually on intravenous fluids before the game? I think the real issue with Gausman is hygiene. He tosses his gum on the field as he walks back to the dugout after most innings. Who cleans that up? Are there Covid-safe protocols in place? Does it damage the new turf? Someone needs to get some insights on this from the grounds crew.
"It's startin' to come together Pepper. It's startin' to come together". Will there be a time when we do not always feel this way about the Jays? Last night was beautiful. It was indeed a breath of fresh air (especially since Gausman is on my fantasy team), but am I alone in thinking we've yet to see this team hitting on all cylinders?
I suppose this is the workings of a young team. I'm still not sure we've ever seen the confident hum of everything working together on a regular basis. If it ever does this would indeed be a formidable team that strikes fear in the hearts of other clubs. It always seems not quite there. I'd like to see us hit the top of the power rankings before the end of the season and witness a series where the Yankees get served up a big fat bowl of their shredded pinstripes!