Blue Jays little known facts from the 2017 season

As we struggle to satisfy our Toronto Blue Jays offseason appetite, here are some little known Jays facts from the 2017 season that may tide you over until the main course.

Disclaimer: If you already were privy to these facts then just pretend there were little known for the sanctity of this article. 

The Blue Jays suffered 15 walk-off losses while only compiling 7 walk-off wins of their own in 2017. The Jays allowed 10 or more runs on 18 different occasions losing every single contest. They only scored 10 or more runs on 5 occasions last season.

Manager John Gibbons experimented with 8 different leadoff hitters in 2017 (Travis, Pearce, Carrera, Bautista, Pillar, Aoki, Urena, Hernandez). The Jays also utilized 20 different players in the 9th spot of their batting order throughout the season.

The Jays as a team only mustered 5 triples all season long finishing last in the majors. The Orioles were the next closest in 29th place with 12 triples. Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies was tops in the league with 14 triples of his own in 2017.

Kevin Pillar

Only 4 of his 16 home runs came with runners on base last season as the centerfielder hit below the Mendoza Line with runners in scoring position, hitting at an uninspiring .168 clip in 125 plate appearances.

Kendrys Morales 

Morales hit 14 of his 28 home runs versus American League East opponents swatting 4 homers each versus the Red Sox, Rays and Orioles while going deep twice against the Yankees in 2017.

Conversely, the slow afoot Morales hit just .030 on balls in the infield tallying just 6 infield hits in 198 chances on the diamond.

Justin Smoak 

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King
• Toronto Blue Jays: Has the Shift Killed Kevin Gausman’s 2022 Cy Young Hopes?
• Blue Jays: What Yusei Kikuchi’s latest stumble should mean

Smoakie was Mr. Consistency in 2017 hitting 19 home runs at the friendly confines of the Rogers Centre as well as 19 homers on the road. He also nearly hit for the same average racking up a .271 average at home compared to a .269 average on the road last season. His home and away splits are nearly identical in every offensive category.

Marcus Stroman

Blue Jays pitchers had 24 plate appearances collectively as a group last season, however, Marcus Stroman was the only hurler to register a hit, actually, the Stro-Show had two hits in 7 plate appearances slashing a double and a home run which one was one of the most memorable highlights from a disappointing season.

Tim Mayza

Mayza had a ridiculous team-leading 14.3 SO/9 ratio fanning 27 batters in 17 innings, the young hurler will have to work on lowering his 6.88 ERA if he wants to stick around but he definitely has swing and miss stuff.

Jose Bautista

Joey Bats had the lowest WAR of any Blue Jays player last season with a -1.7 WAR rating, it was the first time Bautista had a negative WAR value since his 2008 season.

Matt Dermody

The southpaw was owned by right-handed batters last season to the tune of a .326 average while surrendering 6 round trippers. Lefties, however, hit .195 and failed to take Dermody yard. If Dermody is going to remain at the major league level it will have to be as a LOOGY with those drastic splits.

Next: Blue Jays: Ricky Romero still trying to make a MLB comeback

Would love to see some of your fun facts from last season feel free to chime in below in the comments.