Blue Jays: Raimel Tapia shouldn’t be expected to replace Randal Grichuk

Raimel Tapia won’t ever be confused for Randal Grichuk. The 6-foot-3, slender outfielder isn’t as strong and powerful as Grichuk. He’s not the type of hitter to call off the Blue Jays bench when you need a three-run home run. Opposing teams won’t intentionally pitch around him.

What he can do, and what the Blue Jays are counting on after acquiring the 28-year-old on Thursday from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Grichuk, is be a perfect complementary player. Tapia is a player who could give one of the Blue Jays’ valuable outfielders a much-needed day off, come off the bench to steal a base (he stole a career-high 20 in 2021), and be trusted not to strike out in a key moment. He won’t replace Grichuk, but for the Blue Jays, he doesn’t have to.

The Blue Jays have a clubhouse full of players capable of hitting home runs. Tapia isn’t one of them. He hit just six in 533 plate appearances in 2021, even while playing half his games in the notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field. Of the 70 players with at least 400 balls put in play last season, Tapia ranked 65th in average exit velocity; Grichuk was 27th. Grichuk hit as many home runs in the first half of last season as Tapia has in the last three seasons combined.

While the Blue Jays are trading Randal Grichuk to Colorado for Raimel Tapia, the two players aren’t exactly alike

Tapia is the quintessential groundball hitter. No player hit more balls into the ground in 2021 than Tapia’s 242; Bo Bichette led the Blue Jays with 186. His average launch angle was a negative 4.4. Grichuk’s was 16.1. But he’s also a much better contact hitter than Grichuk. His 1.75 strikeouts per walks ratio was nearly two-and-a-half points better than Grichuk’s 4.22.

What will Tapia’s role be with the Blue Jays?

Tapia was the Rockies’ starting left fielder for most of 2021 before the acquisition of Kris Bryant made him expendable. He certainly won’t start for the Blue Jays ahead of the trio of George Springer, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Teoscar Hernandez.

But he’s capable of playing anywhere in the outfield; while he didn’t play center often in the majors, he did appear there in more than half of his games in the minors. Springer went through a litany of lower-body injuries in his first season in a Blue Jays uniform, from a quad strain to an ankle sprain suffered while playing the outfield. Tapia is a backup plan to give him a day off when needed and ensure Springer doesn’t experience the same injury-plagued season as he did a year ago.

Grichuk’s four years in Toronto saw him cycle between dizzying highs and terrifying lows. He was capable of looking like an All-Star one moment (as he did for the first 57 games last season when he ranked seven in the Majors in RBI), and others when he looked lost at the plate, such as a six-week span in the second half when he hit under .200 with only three homers in 128 plate appearances.

Tapia won’t bring the same rollercoaster of production and emotions to Blue Jays fans. He will bring a much-needed left-handed bat in a predominantly right-handed lineup, a cheaper price tag than Grichuk—he’s set to earn $3.95 million this season compared to Grichuk’s $9.3 million—and be a player who can provide some speed, some ability to make contact, but not a lot of power.

For the Blue Jays, that’s all they can hope for.