Blue Jays: Lourdes Gurriel Jr. making the most out of demotion

Toronto Blue Jays infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is making the most out of his recent unfortunate demotion to Triple-A Buffalo.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. took his talents to Buffalo with a positive outlook and appears to be honing his craft as anticipated. The Blue Jays infielder was demoted after struggling to make throws from second base on defence, the issue appeared to have crept into his psyche and was also affecting his performance at the dish.

Since his demotion, Gurriel is batting .388/.423/.755 with 19 hits including four home runs in 52 plate appearances. Over his last 10 games, Gurriel is hitting .425 with 17 hits and 18 runs batted in with the herd. Gurriel has also seen action at both second base (7 games) and shortstop (2 games) making one error in 26 chances.

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The 24-year old is an important part of the Blue Jays future core despite this latest setback. Gurriel Jr. has a very good rookie campaign last season where he batted .281/.309/.446 with 11 homers in 65 games.

If Gurriel can overcome his defensive hurdles in a timely fashion, he may be in line for promotion back to the big club sooner than later. You have to figure that Socrates Brito days in a Blue Jays uniform are numbered and Gurriel would be the obvious choice to be his replacement.

Gurriel possesses a middle of the order bat who can confidently set the table in a major league lineup. Last season the 24-year old set a rookie record for notching multi-hits in 11 consecutive games. His bat plays on any team and it will be refreshing to have him back with the big club swinging with authority after beginning the season hitting at a .175 clip.

This was a setback that nobody saw coming, however, it is nice to see that Gurriel has taken a positive approach to the turn of events and will be a better ballplayer for it at the end of the day.