Toronto Blue Jays Road Trip – The Hot and Cold Of It

The Blue Jays had a nice road trip to start the month of August, and it was highlighted by some hot and cold streaks throughout the roster.

After an impressive ten game road trip that saw the Jays win seven of those games, let’s look back at who had the hottest and coldest streaks of the trip.

HITTING HOT STREAK

Bo Bichette – There has not been anyone hotter on the Jays, or perhaps the entire major leagues, than Bo Bichette since he was called up to join the Blue Jays.  Bichette set records all trip long and had almost half the team’s doubles on the trip. Bichette batted .409 with eight doubles and three home runs.  He did make four errors, get picked off, was caught stealing and struck out 10 times, but those growing pains are very easy to deal with when you are raking like he is.

More from Jays Journal

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• 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

Vladimir Guerrero Jr – I think everyone knows VGJ has turned it on as of late, but it was shocking to see him batting .400 on the trip with six extra base hits over eight games.  He also struck out just five times in 35 at bats.

Randal Grichuk – When Randall is swinging the bat, the sound it makes is the sound of pure baseball.  Grichuk was hot on the trip batting .368 with six extra base hits.  He walked just once but that was likely due to his pounding everything around the zone.

Freddy Galvis – Galvis is going through another hot streak as he hit .324 over nine games with five extra base hits.

Cavan Biggio – While Biggio batted just .265 it is about 50 points higher than his season average and he led the team with five walks for an OBA of .359.

HITTING COLD STREAKS

Justin Smoak – I have a feeling Smoak’s days as a Blue Jay are numbered.  He is barely batting .200 and was 3 for 28 (.107) for the trip with no extra base hits.  With the emergence of Brandon Drury at first base, Smoak is going to see less and less time down the stretch.

Reese McGuire – With arguably my favourite nickname “Pieces”, McGuire has struggled, he went just 2 for 16 on the trip and had zero walks.  There was a couple situations where I would have liked to see him lay down the sacrifice bunt to push runners along for the top of the order.

PITCHING HOT STREAKS

Derek Law – The guy looked brutal all year long, but was very impressive over the trip.  He appeared five times, picked up two saves without allowing a hit or run over seven combined innings.

Justin Shafer – The drafted and developed Blue Jay has been very impressive all season since being called up.  During the road trip he pitched five times for 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run.

Wilmer Font – Font had two starts this week where he pitched 4 1/3 innings.  Font allowed just two hits, no runs, no walks and seven strikeouts.  Font is going to keep earning more appearances going forward.

Jacob Waguespack – This trade looks like a steal, getting the young starter for Aaron Loup.  Waguespack pitched the most innings on the road trip with 12 picking up two wins.  His WHIP was 0.92 and ERA was 0.75.

PITCHING COLD STREAKS

Sean Reid-Foley – It seems hard to give a guy who went 1-1 with a 1.00 ERA a cold streak, but he allowed seven unearned runs and walked eight batters to increase his WHIP on the trip to 1.78.

Buddy Boshers – Boshers had a bit of a rough go, but he picked up 2 of the 3 losses on the trip and allowed three earned runs over three innings pitched.

Yennsy Diaz – We will chalk this up to young nerves, but the 22-year old had one appearance getting just two outs while walking four.  He’ll rebound (hopefully).

As you can see, there have been plenty of performances to be excited about with this young, fresh-faced team, and of course, a few struggles as well.