Blue Jays’ Kevin Pillar still struggling to find consistency

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar is still struggling to find consistency at the plate in his fourth full season in the majors.

Kevin Pillar at times looks like a complete professional hitter with great pitch recognition for stretches on end and then all of a sudden the wheels fall off and the outfielder appears lost at the dish flailing at breaking balls out of the zone. From month to month his splits paint a troubling picture of inconsistency and the inability to succeed on a consistent basis.

Pillar busted out of the gate in April hitting .305/.351/.552 with 32 hits including 4 round trippers and 14 runs batted in 28 games. The 29-year old was arguably the Jays best offensive player for the first month of the 2018 campaign.

As the calendar turned into May the production began to decline for Pillar. In the month of May the centerfielder hit .235/.277/.333 with 24 hits and 5 stolen bases, Pillar failed to go yard during the second month of the season.

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The stat line continued to plummet into June as Pillar is hitting .202/.202/.340 with only 19 hits and 3 homers in 24 games thus far this month. His month to month line is nearly identical from last season as Pillar came out of the gate swinging in 2017 as well.

In 2017 his monthly batting average was as follows: April .301, May .252, June .212, July .211, August .293 and Sept .263.

Pillar needs to somehow find a way to eliminate the drastic dips and dives in his stat line and somehow harness a more consistent approach at the plate. When Pillar is firing on all cylinders he has the ability to change the outcome of a game with his stick and on the base paths.

What Pillar provides on defence has never been called into question, however, he needs to become a more complete player in all facets of the game if he is going to continue being an everyday player moving forward.

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Unfortunately, it appears Pillar will continue to be plagued by inconsistent play and it may even force the Jays hand to eventually move the outfielder out of Toronto for a more consistent option.