Latest Nathan Lukes news opens the door for an unpopular but necessary Blue Jays roster move

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes is on his way back to the big leagues soon. On Tuesday (May 19), Lukes was set to begin his rehab assignment by getting into a couple of games with the Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto's Single-A affiliate. Lukes has been on the Injured List since the end of April as he suffered a hamstring injury.

While there's never a "good time" to get injured, Lukes went down at the worst possible time as he was in the midst of breaking out of a season long slump and had become one of the Blue Jays hottest hitters in the seven games before he got hurt. Lukes had just two hits in his first 27 plate appearances, and was striking out at a 22.2% clip, while producing a -51 wRC+. Then it was discovered that he had been dealing with vertigo. Lukes saw a specialist, got help for his symptoms, and started spanking the ball.

Over the following seven games, Lukes hit .458/.480/.625 with 11 hits in 25 at-bats, and pulled his strikeout rate down to 4%. It's felt like the Blue Jays have been missing his presence ever since and that's what will make the upcoming decision a difficult, but necessary one, considering where the Blue Jays currently are in the standings. Heading into Tuesday evening, the Blue Jays were sitting at 21-26, and desperate from some more production out of their outfield group as a whole.

Blue Jays outfield group leaves a lot to be desired

Daulton Varsho has been the most productive with a 3.1 offensive fWAR, while hitting .261 with a 112 wRC+. Rookie Yohendrick Piñango has been worth 1.9 offensive fWAR with a .327 average and a 131 wRC+. Myles Straw follows, with a 0.2 offensive fWAR, .270 average and 110 wRC+. The issue is that both Straw and Piñango have been used mostly in platoon situations. The other outfielders, Jesús Sánchez, and Davis Schneider have produced a -0.2 and -2.5 offensive fWAR respectively, while Addison Barger has been limited to nine games due to injuries.

One of these players will not be on the roster once Lukes comes back. If the Blue Jays are weighing this purely from a contributions standpoint, then the ever popular Schneider will be the odd man out. His 16 walks are third on the team, and his eye for the zone is something every team needs, but he just hasn't been able to provide anything other than that. For as much as he walks, he also strikeouts a ton (35% strikeout percentage) and has .229 BABIP.

But similarly to when Barger returned from his first injury, Schneider's handedness saved him. Being a righty, along with Straw, is what kept him in The Show. The Blue Jays decided that having four left handed hitting outfielders was at least one too many and Piñango was dropped. That feels like a decision that can't happen again. The division among the split stats isn't great enough to justify carrying Schneider's bat anymore. When Piñango (2-for-6) and Sánchez (3-for-19) have been more productive against lefties in way less chances, the writing on the wall starts becoming clearer.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow