The Blue Jays’ left-handed power problem has been hanging around all season, and the clock is getting loud now. Toronto has managed just 38 home runs from the left side of the plate, a mark that leaves them tied for the third fewest in MLB going into Saturday, Aug. 22.
Jesús Sánchez and Andrés Giménez have supplied eight apiece from that side, while Nathan Lukes has seven. The right-handed damage has been better, with Toronto up to 74 home runs overall, 14th in the league, and Kazuma Okamoto doing most of the heavy lifting with 26. George Springer is the only other Blue Jay in double digits with 12.
With the deadline already passed, the Blue Jays have to find answers from within. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the obvious one.
If he can return from the 7-day concussion Injured List and rediscover the kind of postseason pop he showed last year, that would go a long way toward fixing a drought nobody expected. But Guerrero hits right-handed, so he doesn’t solve the left-side issue on his own.
That’s where Sean Keys starts to look interesting.
Keys, who already made his MLB debut earlier this season, is one of Toronto’s better internal bets to force his way onto the roster as the club pushes for a playoff spot. Right now, he’s back with Triple-A Buffalo, and he’s doing plenty to make a case.
The 27 home runs he has hit in the minors this season lead the entire Blue Jays organization, MLB included. He opened the year in Double-A New Hampshire and put up a .285 average with 14 home runs before getting bumped to Buffalo at the start of June. Toronto brought him up before the month ended, but that stay didn’t last long after he hit just .167 with one home run and was sent back down.
Since that demotion, Keys has settled in. In 25 games, he’s batting .281 with six home runs.
The power has come in a rush, too. He homered twice on Friday, Aug. 21, and since last Tuesday he’s slugging .765 with an OPS of 1.276.
The plate discipline has been there as well. Over that stretch, he has walked more often than he has struck out, with a 16.3% walk rate and a 14% strikeout rate.
He’s also carrying a .400 BABIP during that run. Keys may be catching fire again at exactly the right moment.
The complication is simple: there isn’t a clean path to a full-time job. Keys is a first baseman and DH, with some third base mixed in, and Toronto already has Guerrero, Springer and Okamoto filling those spots. Even so, there’s a case for using him in a more flexible role.
Springer has been better against righties, batting .242 with a .722 OPS and 10 home runs, than he has against lefties, where he’s at .219 with a .658 OPS and two home runs. That opens the door, at least in theory, for Keys to share DH duties.
He could also help just by being a dangerous bat on the bench. Friday night against the New York Yankees offered a good example.
Brandon Valenzuela doubled off David Bednar to start the ninth inning and brought the tying run to the plate, but Toronto didn’t have many options left. Springer had already pinch-hit for Lukes in the seventh, and Davis Schneider had replaced Springer in the field.
Charles McAdoo and Myles Straw both went down, and Brett Bateman struck out to end it.
If Keys had been sitting there, the Blue Jays might have had a different choice against Bednar. With 27 home runs this season, he’s the kind of hitter who can change a game in one swing.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Are Getting An Unexpected Boost From A Familiar Arm
Simeon Woods Richardson is back in the Blue Jays organization after a quick detour through waivers, and Toronto has gotten far more than a depth arm since the right-hander returned. Reacquired after being designated for assignment and clearing waivers, he has given the club six outings and 16.2 innings of rare stability, a useful stretch for a staff that can always use innings from someone already familiar with the system.
The wrinkle, of course, is that the results have outpaced the underlying numbers, which leaves some uncertainty about how long this run can last. Woods Richardson was once a notable piece of the trade that sent him to Minnesota, but his time with the Twins never really took hold before he was released. For now, though, Toronto is simply enjoying the boost, even if the longer-term outlook remains a little murkier than the early returns suggest. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Face A September Call-Up Choice That Could Boost The Lineup
MLB rosters will expand from 26 to 28 players in just over a week, and that means the Blue Jays will soon have a chance to add a little more depth for the September push. Toronto is expected to weigh several internal options, with prospects Jay Harry, Yohendrick Pinango and Sean Keys all putting together strong minor league seasons and putting themselves in the conversation for a call-up.
For a club chasing a playoff spot, the question is not just who deserves the look, but who can give the lineup a needed spark without disrupting the rest of the roster. A September promotion can be more than a reward for good work in the minors. It can also be the difference between carrying extra organizational depth and bringing in a player who gives the Blue Jays another offensive option when the games start to matter most. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Keep Winning The Hard Way As Pressure Builds
The Blue Jays keep finding ways to win, but it is happening the hard way. Toronto has been piling up hits and generating plenty of traffic on the bases, only to leave too many chances hanging early in games, which has kept a lot of nights tighter than the raw offensive volume would suggest. For a club trying to stay in the thick of the race, the pattern has made every inning feel a little more urgent than it should.
John Schneider has already pointed to the issue in plain terms, noting the clubs struggles to cash in with runners in scoring position. That has turned a lineup with enough activity to matter into one that often has to wait for late-game hits to separate itself, and it leaves little margin when the pressure rises. The numbers are still good enough to keep Toronto in games, but the next step is turning all those opportunities into a little more breathing room. [Read more 🡒]