Blue Jays: Late season performances bode well for 2019

The Toronto Blue Jays have endured a season to forget howver some late-season performances have things on the up and up and bode well moving forward for 2019.

The mid-season addition of rookie hurler Ryan Borucki has gone better than anyone could have anticipated. Through eight starter Borucki sports at 2.81 earned run average and although not perfect last night, the 24-year old hung around long enough to beat the Red Sox and avoid a sweep.

Borucki has all but solidified his spot in the rotation for 2019 and resembles former Blue Jay Mark Buehrle with his approach and pace of play when on the bump. The former 15th round selection will slot somewhere behind Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez next season when it all shakes out.

Devon Travis had a disastrous start to the 2018 campaign that included a demotion to Triple-A. The second baseman was demoted to Buffalo on April 29th after hitting .148/.212/.246, he would return to the big club on May 22nd.

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Since returning Travis has inflated his numbers to a respectable .250/.302/.404 while hitting .294 for the month of July. When Travis is firing on all cylinders he is a top of the order hitter who can hit to all fields and set the table for the big bats.

It will be interesting to see how the middle of the infield plays out next season with the emergence of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. but at least Travis has put himself back in the conversation for 2019.

Speaking of Gurriel, he came out of nowhere and owned the month of July setting records with his 11 consecutive multi-hit games totaling 25 hits in that span. Gurriel was hitting .423 for the month before injuring himself sliding into second. On the season Gurriel is batting .322/.340/.503 with seven homers in 38 games.

The 24-year old should be a staple on the infield for years to come depending on what decisions the brain trust make moving forward.

Lastly, outfielder Randal Grichuk is sending balls into orbit like we all had anticipated and finally seems comfortable in his new digs.  Grichuk got off to a horrid start with his new team hitting .106/.208/.227before hitting the disabled list with a sprained knee at the end of April.

Since being activated from the disabled list on June 01st the 26-year-old has gone off hitting 14 of his 16 homers on the season. He has raised his average to .234/.295/.475 while playing a very reliable rightfield.

In a season we there hasn’t been much to celebrate hopefully these players can build off their strong finishes and give fans something to look forward to in 2019.