The Blue Jays need to seriously start thinking about who’s on first

With the 2017 MLB season set to start in less than two weeks, the Blue Jays need to acknowledge the elephant in the room; that there’s a serious crisis happening over at first base.  It’s time to start looking at other players to be the Jays’ first baseman.

April 3^rd is just around the corner.  Most teams are pretty much set with their rosters plus or minus a couple players.  The Jays are no exception and to that extent have publicity acknowledged and endorsed Justin Smoak as their everyday first baseman.  As mentioned to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi last month, Jays GM Ross Atkins said the team is not only behind Smoak but that “one of our best teams could be if Justin Smoak is playing first base at a regular rate and playing every day for us.”

Knowing his role was pretty much guaranteed come April 2017, baring a crazy situation or injury, Smoak committed this off season to making a couple changes to his game.  He decided to change his physical approach when at the plate, but also mentally shift his focus and perception.

He came to camp hoping to curb his high strikeout rate (112 K/299 AB in 2016) while also trying to change his swing to generate smaller but more productive hits.  According to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun, Smoak has been working with hitting coach Brook Jacoby to fix the part of his swing that is considered loose.

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In regards to a shift in focus and thought process, Smoak explained to Longley that he needs to not “give a crap…my mindset is to enjoy the game.  You’re on a good team.  You have an opportunity.  Make the best of it.” I truly believe that changing one’s outlook on situations can positively impact other aspects of their life.  But it also seems it would be easier said than done in this situation.

With spring training winding down, the question remains, has Smoak accomplished these two goals he set out for himself?  The way we can figure that out is to look at his statistics from spring training thus far.  These statistics are courtesy of Foxsports.com.

2017 Spring Training

15 G/38 AB/13 K/6 H/1 HR/.158 AVG/.250 OBP/

Based on these stats alone, it shows that Smoak hasn’t accomplished what he set out to do, albeit in a small sample size.  In fact, those numbers look a lot like last year’s numbers.  These two aspects, the change at the plate and the mental shift don’t resemble anything close to a positive change or outcome.  People might argue that, but if any positive or impactful changes were made, he’d have a higher batting average, a lower strike out rate, more hits and so forth, but that’s not the case.  The Jays need to give this position to someone who’s earned it.

Since 2016 and so far in 2017 spring training, Smoak has shown that the changes he made aren’t working.  He’s still striking out at an alarmingly high rate (13 K/38 AB), his hits are almost slim to none (6 H) and he’s has managed 1 home run this entire spring training.

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The Blue Jays need to ask themselves who’s on first and the answer shouldn’t be Justin Smoak anymore.