Who doesn’t love a pitcher’s duel in Spring Training?
On Thursday evening, the Toronto Blue Jays faced off against the Pittsburgh Pirates, defeating the National League Team by a score of 3-2 to bring their record to 12-13.
Let’s look at some things worth mentioning.
Things worth mentioning…
Kevin Kiermaier hit his fourth home run of spring, which begs the question: Who saw Kevin Kiermaier leading the Blue Jays in that category a week out from the beginning of the season?
When he re-signed with the jays, Kiermaier said that his hope is to hit more homers in 2024, and if we’re going off Spring Training, he’ll do just that. His career-high came in 2017 when he hit 15 with the Tampa Bay Rays, and hit eight last season for a 104 wRC+ with the Jays.
Justin Turner also hit a home run, his second of the spring. It’s worth noting that he struck out twice and is now batting .250 with an .816 OPS. The more I watch him, the more excited I am to see how he does.
George Springer has had a fantastic Spring Training, and continued his hot stretch with a double, single, and walk on Thursday evening. He’s now batting .424 for the spring with an insane OPS of 1.283.
Enmanuel Bonilla was the Blue Jays massive signing during the 2023 International Free Agency period. For context, his $4.1 million bonus was larger than Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s bonus. Bonilla’s first plate appearance of Spring Training also happened to be his first hit. I can’t wait to watch this outfielder on the regular once he makes it to Vancouver.
Davis Schneider made an incredible catch in left field, his second such catch of the spring training. There’s been a lot of question marks as to who will be the fourth outfielder, but Schneider could honestly be that guy when a left-handed batter is on the mound.
Ricky Tiedemann made his third start of Spring Training, finishing with a line of 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K while giving up a home run to Bryan Reynolds. The fastball averaged 96.1 mph and touched 98.1 mph, generating three whiffs on 10 total swings. Tiedemann’s best pitch was his slider, as it had four whiffs on six total swings. Moreover, he’s up to 50 pitches which is a great sign.
Paolo Espino may legitimately pitch in the big leagues this season with the Jays, and I don’t think anyone would have a problem with it. The soft tossing righty had a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8!!! K, giving him a Spring Training ERA of 2.65 over 17 innings pitched. What a great pick up he was.
The Blue Jays return to action on Friday at 1:07 PM ET against the Boston Red Sox in Dunedin. Mitch White will get the start, and the Blue Jays will once again have a chance to reach the .500 plateau with a win. There are just five games remaining in Spring Training!
More must-reads: