What you missed in Blue Jays land: From a limber JD to a pinpoint 'pen

Every Sunday in this space I’ll be doing my best to bring you little tidbits about the week (or in this case week and a half) in the world of the Toronto Blue Jays that you might not have seen.

With an off day and a game postponed by rain, the Toronto Blue Jays’ week felt a little bit incomplete, but it was undoubtedly productive. Going 3-1 on the road is always encouraging, even if three of those games are against a Baltimore Orioles team that doesn’t look to be going anywhere.

Yes, the Blue Jays had to put Josh Donaldson on the shelf for a bit, but the week had everything from a grand slam, to a near no-hitter, to a memorable season debut from Teoscar Hernandez. Here a couple of the little things that might have passed you by though:

Donaldson’s flexibility

Very rarely does a defensive play that did not result in an out qualify as a highlight, but this is an exception. Pushed into duty at first base due to a Kendrys Morales injury, Donaldson showed off some seriously flexibility on this stretch – a valiant attempt to close out a double play on Tim Beckham.

For the less limber viewer – or anyone who’s pulled a groin before – this GIF hurts a little bit to watch, and it’s possible this wasn’t a risk worth taking. It was, however, a very impressive effort from a guy playing out of position with just 42 games of pro experience at the position – the vast majority coming in the Arizona Fall League in 2008.

The weirdly spectacular Aaron Sanchez

There were a couple of major takeaways from Sanchez’s big outing on Tuesday. The first was just how close he came to a no-hitter, losing the bid in the eighth. The second was that he’s moving toward using the changeup as his top secondary pitch, which is giving him a significantly different look on the mound.

Those are understandable focal points, but there were a couple of other things going on worth noting. One is the fact that he walked more hitters than he struck out for his second time in two tries. The new-look Sanchez is interesting, but remains a work-in-progress. Although he’s kept runs off the board, his 5.95 K/9 and 5.03 BB/9 will both require significant improvement for him to come close to replicating his 2016 form.

Another interesting tidbit pertains to his velocity which fell off a cliff in the game.

The chilly conditions may have played a role, but Sanchez lost 3.07 mph off his fastball from his previous start while his counterpart Andrew Cashner lost 0.95. In all likelihood it’s just a blip, but it bears watching in his start to come.

Danny Barnes is on fire

It’s not often that a middle reliever gets the spotlight, but Barnes deserves it this week. The right-hander appeared in three of the team’s five games without surrounding a run and played a crucial role in each. By the time the week was up he had recorded a win, hold, three “shutdowns” and stranded three runners. Here’s how it broke down.

Monday: Entered in the seventh with a 2-1 lead and the Orioles’ 9-2 hitters coming up.

Result: Scoreless inning with two singles allowed and a strikeout. Recorded a hold and shutdown.

Wednesday: Entered with the bases loaded, none out, and 4-2 deficit in the fifth with the Orioles’ 4-6 hitters coming up.

Result: Although the Blue Jays ended up losing this game, this was Barnes’ most impressive outing. First he got Adam Jones swinging on a slider that wound up well outside the zone.

Next up, he left a changeup high to Pedro Alvarez, but was able to get him to swing through it due to an extreme gap between his fastball and changeup that sits around 12 mph.

He finished off the outing by getting Chris Davis to fly out to straight-away centre on a well-placed low fastball that the slugger was able to muscle an uncomfortable distance.

The effort by Barnes here was ultimately for nought, but he kept the Blue Jays in the game and improved his stat line with a clean inning, two strikeouts, and another shutdown.

Friday: Entered to begin the sixth inning clean with the Cleveland Indians’ 9-2 hitters coming up.

Result: Scoreless inning with two hits allowed and two strikeouts. Recorded a win and shutdown. There is a slight asterisk on this one because Barnes benefited from a nice out at the plate courtesy of Devon Travis and Russell Martin, but it was still a strong outing.

So far in 2018, Barnes has done the thankless job of coming out of the bullpen first and often bailing his starters out of trouble. That rarely makes headlines, but he hasn’t allowed a run since the first game of the season, or a walk all year. Considering he ended 2017 struggling, and looked shaky in the spring, that’s an excellent sign for the Blue Jays.

Tinkering alert: Marcus Stroman’s pitch mix

It’s fair to say Stroman hasn’t gotten off to the start he’d want with a 7.98 ERA and less than five innings per start through his first three outings. That sounds as negative as it gets, but the right-hander has been retooling his repertoire in a way that could pay dividends going forward. Here’s a comparison of his pitch mix this season to last season:

Stroman is known for a complicated six-pitch mix and it appears this year he’s pretty much gone down to four. On the chopping block so far have been the curveball and cutter, while the beneficiary has been the slider. This looks to be a wise strategy as in 2017 his slider was worth 10.7 runs above average per FanGraphs while the other two pitches combined for a value of -4.4 runs.

If Stroman is simplifying, he’s probably doing it in the optimal way, – even if the results haven’t followed yet. His slider is his best swing-and-miss offering and if his pitch mix in 2018 goes the way it’s going now, he could see his K/9 surge. So far, his problem has been a BB/9 of 6.14 that’s derailed his first three outings. Once he gets his command back it will be interesting to see if this mini approach change holds up.

On-the-mark bullpen

Beyond Roberto Osuna, the Blue Jays’ bullpen had its share of question marks coming into the season. Barnes and Ryan Tepera were coming off seasons it was unclear they could replicate, veteran additions Seung-hwan Oh, Tyler Clippard and John Axford were all buy-low rebound candidates, and Aaron Loup was the sole southpaw.

So far, the bullpen has vastly exceeded expectations and has been arguably the strength of the team. This week, though, it was especially impressive, spinning 12 innings of one-run ball with 14 strikeouts without walking a single batter.

For a unit that costs just $13,543,800 – slightly less than what the St. Louis Cardinals are paying Greg Holland – that’s some tidy work.