Blue Jays’ Player of the Week – Week 1

The first week of the 2015 season is in the books. No one Jay has really stood head and shoulders above his teammates so far (April 6-12). That can be a good sign or a bad sign. In this case, it’s good sign as the team’s been getting solid contributions from most players and they are 4-2. There are five players that have done enough to be considered this week’s PoW. By that of course we mean player of the week and not prisoner of war or Prince of Wales.

Defensively, Kevin Pillar has been the obvious standout. He’s had a handful of diving or wall-crashing catches. He’s certainly been making us miss Michael Saunders less. His offence, however, lowers his overall contribution so far.

Devon Travis has made his presence known with his bat and glove to this point. He’s put up a 125 wRC+/.798 OPS and 2 defensive runs saved.

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Jose Reyes has been tearing it up at the plate reaching double digits in hits already. He’s stolen a base and has a 161 wRC+/.944 OPS. There’s been nothing to complain about his glove so far either. The only negatives about Reyes so far are the few injury scares he’s already had.

R.A Dickey did a heck of a job in his start. It was cold, it was misty and it was windy—the type of conditions everyone assumed Dickey’s knuckler would balk at. But Dickey threw six and a third letting in a solitary run. Yes, the Blue Jays lost that game but that’s not on Dickey. He did everything and more that could reasonably have been expected of him on a day like that.

Miguel Castro continued his meteoric rise and has been promoted all the way to the closer position. Where would the Blue Jays be without the steadiness of their two rookie relievers at this point? Castro’s only let up a hit and a walk in 4 innings. He’s also earned two of those relatively meaningless Save things.

Castro’s fellow 20 year old greenhorn, Roberto Osuna is similar story, the main difference being the 6 Ks in 3 innings of work.

By a nose, PoW honours are bestowed on Jose Reyes for week one. If Castro and Osuna were one person, the honour likely would have been theirs but one everyday player producing like Reyes did this past week puts him ahead.

This week’s Blue Jays equivalent of a Razzie belongs to Aaron Sanchez due to an ugly first start. Those 3 runs he let up in 3.1 IP are one run less than he gave up in 33 IP last year. So ya, don’t expect him to be in the running for this award much.

Next: Jays Journal Podcast- First Week of 2015