Sócrates Brito sets infamous record to start Blue Jays career
On the same day that the Toronto Blue Jays traded centre-fielder Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants, they also made a small side trade with the San Diego Padres to acquire 26-year-old outfielder Sócrates Brito.
The toolsy Brito had shown flashes of promise in the minor leagues but never put any measure of sustained success together in any of the small handful of games he played at the major league level. Out of options and on a brand new team, the Blue Jays represented a new start for Brito to prove he could stick in the big leagues and find a way to complete the puzzle of turning his individual tools into a fully formed player.
Eight games into his tenure with the Blue Jays, Brito has already etched his name into the franchise record books, though not in the way anyone would have hoped.
With a first-pitch flyout in the 6th inning on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Twins, Brito reached the 0-for-20 mark as a member of the Blue Jays. This broke the previous record set by David Dellucci in 2009 as the longest hitless at-bat streak to begin a career with the franchise.
Dellucci ended his Blue Jays career after a total of eight games, finishing with one hit in 25 at-bats. It remains to be seen if Brito’s time with the Blue Jays will be as short or as futile, but it is now the low-water mark for new players joining the team.
With Anthony Alford waiting in the wings at Triple-A Buffalo following a start-and-stop call-up to begin the season, the clock may be ticking on how much longer the organization is willing to let Brito’s streak go before ending the attempted reclamation project.
Brito finished the game 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, pushing his franchise record to 21 hitless ABs. He’s not quite at the Chris Davis level yet, but it’s a start.
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