Three Up!: Jays @ Yankees - Game 4/162
On Manoah, Bo's glove, Teo's wrist, Springer and Espinal, roster moves, and more!
The Blue Jays moved to 3-1 on the season with an impressive series-opening win over the Yankees in the Bronx on Monday night.
So let’s talk about it!
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The Jays beat the Yankees 3-0 in the Bronx on Monday night, in a game that was more about pitching and defence than it was offence — as you’d entirely expect from two of the powerhouses of the AL East. Here’s three up!
Up: Alek Manoah
You don’t ever want to see your starter walk four guys, but an easy way to get away with that was to be as good in every other way as Alek Manoah was in this one. Manoah struck out seven Yankees over six innings, allowing no runs on just one hit in the process.
Though his velocity dropped a little in his final three frames of the night, Manoah was averaging 94.5 on his fastball, which is nearly one mph above last year's 93.7 mph average. He was generating swing-and-miss all night, getting whiffs on 39% of his four-seamers, 44% of his sliders, and 57% of his changeups. And even the balls that the Yankees were able to put the bat on didn't stand the chance of doing much damage — only four of 12 balls in play Manoah allowed had an expected batting average above .240.
Amazingly, given what a strength it ought to be, for a Jays rotation that had yet to give the team much, the six innings may have been the biggest thing.
What’s most interesting, however, is the changeup. Manoah generated swing-and-miss on the pitch just 13% of the time last season. Though nothing in the data suggests it was a much different pitch tonight — the velocity, break, and spin on it were all about the same as last year — he certainly seemed to have it working.
Ricky would know!
Do the Blue Jays have a potential ace in Manoah? I think that’s premature to suggest. But he’s a dude! And seems to love pitching against the Yankees, which certainly doesn’t hurt.
Up: Glove love
Though Manoah was mostly magnificent on the mound, he had a bit of a wobble in the third, issuing three of his four walks in that frame, and needing a great play from Bo Bichette to get out of it.
Bichette’s obviously not known for his glove, but he’s a competent shortstop who has flashes of “wow” in him, like this play — something that we might see more of as the presence of Matt Chapman at third base allows Bo to position himself differently.
Now, it must be noted that we’re talking about a small sample here, and that the Jays have been employing some pretty dramatic shifts so far this season, so this might be misleading, but the data on Bichette’s average position so far in 2022 (the dot on the right) shows that he’s been able to starting out closer to second base than in the previous years of his career.
Bo’s play in the third wasn’t the only time that Jays defenders made great plays at crucial times. Reliever Trevor Richards wasn’t at his best in this one, allowing a leadoff single, followed by a walk, in the seventh. Fortunately, Teoscar Hernández was able to make the first out, with a terrific, sliding catch.
Teoscar grimaced for a bit, having bent his wrist back rather badly on the play, but managed to stay in the ballgame.
With the Yankees still threatening, Richards was relieved by Adam Cimber, who put his career ground ball rate of 55.2% to good use, inducing a double play ball that Espinal and Bichette turned into quite a ballet.
Vlad was right to be pumped! A real game saver.
Up: Springer-Espinal
All of the Jays’ offence in this one came from a somewhat unlikely pair: George Springer and Santiago Espinal.
OK, OK, it’s not unlikely that Springer would be involved in producing runs, but the number nine hitter, Espinal, who got the start at second base over Cavan Biggio despite Yankees starter Jameson Taillon being a right-hander, continued what’s been a great run of play to start the season. Espinal was on base four times on the night, collecting three singles before being hit by a pitch in the ninth. Two of the singles came off the bat at over 100 mph.
The newly swole Espinal came into the game with a 90.8 mph average exit velocity so far this season, which is 6 mph higher than his 2021 mark. He also has raised his career best EV by more than two mph.
It’s easy to roll your eyes at the sorts of “best shape of his life” stories we hear every spring, but Espinal seems to be backing his up. Cavan Biggio is still going to be an important player for the Jays, I think, especially because they lack another hitter like him (and lefty swingers in general), but Espinal is going to give the Jays no choice but to make him their everyday second baseman if he keeps this up.
As for Springer? He hit a two-run bomb with Espinal on base in the third, and doubled Espinal home in the seventh. That was all the offence the Jays needed.
Other notes
• Some interesting roster moves before the game, as catcher Danny Jansen was placed on the 10-day IL with an oblique strain. That’s a tough break for a guy who really could use some runway — especially offensively. Jansen was always a bat-first catching prospect but has become more notable for his defence early on in his young MLB career, mostly because the hits just haven’t been there for him. However, dating back to last September he’s hit five home runs in eight games, including two so far this year. Could he be unlocking some of that long ago potential? I guess we’ll have to wait at least 10 days to find out.
Replacing him on the roster is journeyman Tyler Heineman, who saw some action for the club this spring in Dunedin, where he was in camp as a non-roster invitee. Since he wasn’t on the 40-man, room needed to be made for him, and in order to do so the Jays designated outfielder Josh Palacios for assignment. The 26-year-old has looked shaky with the glove at times in MLB, but had a good camp for the Jays and seemed poised to be a contributor to the club before the additions of fellow left-handed hitting outfielders Raimel Tapia and Bradley Zimmer — better fielders who may have more in their bats than they’ve shown so far as big leaguers.
Palacios has already hit two homers for Buffalo this spring, and I suspect this wasn’t a move the Jays were particularly thrilled to make, but he was made just redundant enough by those additions for this to have been the outcome. I’m not sure picking him over third catcher Zack Collins — who had an ugly three at-bats here on Monday night — was the right call, but I guess we’ll see!
Also on the move were a pair of lefty relievers, Tayler Saucedo (optioned to Buffalo), and Anthony Kay (promoted to the big leagues). Kay is a familiar face who probably will have a tough time of his own at keeping a 40-man spot. He’s walked four and allowed five hits in 2 2/3 innings of work for the Bisons so far this season. I wouldn’t expect him to last long.
• If Vlad was hitting second he’d have been up to face Taillon with Espinal on second base with two outs in the top of the fifth instead of Bo. And with Springer on second with two outs in the top of the seventh. And with Espinal on first with two outs in the top of the ninth. Just sayin’!
• Yes, Bichette struck out in his first three plate appearances, and the “Bo and two” thing continues to be a bit too common for my taste, but the third one really wasn’t his fault. Paul Emmel’s strike zone was a mess all night.
• Pretty impressive stuff on opening weekend, ratings wise!
• Eight strikeouts in 16 plate appearances for Matt Chapman is, uh, not great!
• Not that I’m complaining, but this seems less than ideal!
• Welcome back to the mics, Buck and Pat!
• Lastly, this one was from before the game, so I’m not sure what exactly happened here. But maybe Kay’s stay will be exceptionally short. Anderson, albeit a right-hander, certainly looked better (in limited time) in camp, and pitched six innings of three-hit, one walk, shutout baseball for Buffalo in his lone start there this year, striking out eight. Could see him get the call at some point, though perhaps the Jays simply changed their minds.
UPDATE: I’m told Anderson is on the taxi squad… which is apparently still a thing!
Next up: Tuesday: Jays @ Yankees (Yusei Kikuchi vs. Nestor Cortes), TV: Sportsnet, Radio: Sportsnet 590
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Espinal is taking that 2B job. Book it.
Getting seriously good Espinal vibes. Imagine if he turns out to be a star regular at 2B? Thanks Steve Pearce!