2022 is a crucial year for Blue Jays Manager Charlie Montoyo

Toronto Blue Jays Manager Charlie Montoyo has steadily progressed in his three seasons as a Major League Manager, but 2022 will be the most important year of his career so far.

Since taking over as the Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2019 season, Charlie Montoyo has seen his win totals and winning percentage increase in each season.

After a tough debut campaign in 2019, which saw the Blue Jays finish with a record of 67-95 for a .414 winning percentage, Montoyo steered the ship to a Playoff berth in the shortened 2020 season, finishing as a finalist for American League Manager of the Year, before a 91-71 record in 2021.

Montoyo deserves a lot of credit for how he navigated the 2021 season, which saw Toronto play home games in three different ballparks while moving from Dunedin to Buffalo and finally Toronto, without seeing a noticeable decline in the on-field performance.

Expectations have ratcheted up each season for Montoyo and the Blue Jays, but 2022 will bring them to a fever pitch.

With the signing of Kevin Gausman to a 5-year $110 million deal, the Jose Berrios extension, and an expectation of more moves to come whenever the MLB Lockout is resolved, the Blue Jays are strongly positioned to have their most talented and complete roster in Montoyo’s tenure as Manager.

The Manager of a talented team such as this needs to be able to command the respect of the clubhouse, while also pushing the right buttons when it comes to lineup machinations and bullpen configuration.

Toronto Blue Jays Manager Charlie Montoyo has steadily progressed as a Major League Manager, but 2022 will be the most important year of his career so far.

Ideally, the bullpen will be deeper and more talented for the Blue Jays in 2022 than it was in 2021, but Montoyo must have a stronger feel for how to deploy relievers in certain situations.

There can’t be a repeat of letting Tyler Chatwood try and figure things out in the ninth inning. Under any circumstance.

As Uncle Ben Parker says in Spiderman: “With great power, comes great responsibility,” and this adage can be applied to the 2022 Toronto Blue Jays and Charlie Montoyo.

With such high expectations in place, if the Blue Jays were to get off to any sort of a slow start, the spotlight would fall squarely on the shoulders of Montoyo as it does in all sports if a team with high hopes underperforms.

It is hard to argue that Charlie Montoyo’s career as Blue Jays manager has been anything other than a success thus far, but 2022 will represent a different canvas than the first 3 seasons of the Montoyo era.

It will be fascinating to see how he handles it.