Going into the 2023 season, the Toronto Blue Jays had quite the overhaul in their roster, swapping out strong, everyday run producers in Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. for defensive-minded stalwarts Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho, along with steady veteran presence of Brandon Belt. Their hope and focus was to change the dynamic look of the team to help them get to the next level, and at the same time, provide the leadership and motivation to help the team to succeed.
With that, the Jays indeed got off to a strong start to the 2023 season, posting their best record in April in a long time. However, since then, they have encountered some struggles more in an up and down month of May thus far, as they now currently hold a modest 26-24 record through 50 games into the season. Even with the winning record, four teams remained above them as they currently sit in last place in the uber-tough AL East division, having lost eight of their last ten games as well.
In looking at the performances of the players on the Jays’ roster that have contributed to their record, one could probably pinpoint many examples of those players that have been effectively producing and having a great year so far, and many that have been struggling somewhat and definitely underperforming for the most part of the season.
Here, we take a look at two players that have exceeded beyond what was expected of them, as well as two players that may not seem obvious at first thought, but have fallen short of what they were expected to produce thus far this year.