3 truths about the 2023 Blue Jays that may have fans fuming

The Blue Jays were not a bad team with runners in scoring position, it was just frustrating when they didn't deliver.

Despite the Jays’ struggle with offence as mentioned above, there was one aspect of their game in particular that had many people scrutinizing them more than anything throughout the 2023 season. That was their inability to hit with runners in scoring position (RISP). But let the truth be told, the Jays actually didn’t do that bad hitting with RISP. As a matter of fact, they actually ranked 6th in the AL and 12th overall in MLB with a respectable .260 batting average in such situations, as well as 9th overall in hits with 363.

Their main problem as a matter of fact was producing in the clutch and coming up with the big play when it mattered most. The statistics showed that they would end up sputtering in those instances. With RISP, the Jays ranked 27th in the league with 49 GIDP, 27th in caught stealing with 11, 26th in sacrifice flies with 32, and 19th in the league with 491 RBI. So basically, they were either running themselves into outs, or not cashing them in with key hits and small ball play.

That certainly explained why every single time we saw the Jays with ample opportunities to tie or win a game, we would end up all frustrated and all, seeing the players walking slowly back to the dugout with the rally flaming out. So what the Jays really needed were players that could come through in the clutch and actually produce some runs as a result. Danny Jansen is probably the only one that comes to mind that did that successfully for the Jays during the 2023 season, but we will definitely need more than just one player. As a result, the Jays must start finding a recipe for success with it comes to RISP in the future.

The Blue Jays failed (miserably) to address their offence and ended up paying for it.

Back during the 2022-23 offseason, the Jays lost a fair chunk of their offensive potential when Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno all left town as a result of trades made by GM Ross Atkins. With the team’s focus on improving the overall defence for the ballclub, they hoped that some extra runs saved by the defence would more than make up for some of the runs they could have been scored by the offence to win ballgames.

However, over the course of the 2023 season, it just felt like there were numerous times when the Jays struggled to produce any kind of sustainable offence, or even coming up with the big hits when they needed it most. Overall in MLB, the Jays ranked 14th in runs scored, 16th in home runs and RBI, and a woeful 27th in grounding into double plays, which definitely became a rally killer time and time again.

They had ample opportunities to try and obtain a power bat throughout the season, especially at the trade deadline, with both Lane Thomas and Hernández potentially available along with other viable options with the right offer. But the Jays never pulled the trigger as they just barely made it into the postseason. And guess what happened during the playoffs? They would end up scoring just ONE run in two games as they were swept by the Minnesota Twins in the AL Wild Card series.

The moral of the story here is, if you know there’s a problem with something, at least make an honest attempt to fix it before it ultimately comes back to haunt you in the end.

John Schneider is far from the only problem in the Blue Jays' front office.

With the José Berríos yanking incident from the AL Wild Card game, manager John Schneider certainly took some big-time criticism for pulling such a move in such an important ballgame. However, it wasn’t the first time all season that he made daring, unthinkable decisions like that, as throughout 2023, we have seen Schneider pull pitchers and/or hitters at critical points in the game that ended up backfiring on them. As a result, it had unquestionably left many of the Jays’ faithful fuming.

However, Schneider can’t be blamed for everything that didn’t go the Jays’ way. After all, for any gutsy moves or decisions, when they work out, it would make one look like a genius, but when they fail, one would appear to be a complete fool. Schneider was unfortunate that most of his moves fell into the latter category than the former. More importantly, there were other aspects in the game that helped contribute to some of the faults that the Jays had. This included implementing the usage of analytics and statistics in making decisions, and the mediocre play by the Jays when it came to their poor baserunning and situational execution.

In the case of applying analytics to real-life baseball situations, sometimes just going with the gut feeling and making the right decision based on common sense may be the best route to take. There’s no need to make things more complicated than it should be, unless the analytics have proven to be successful over many instances.

With baserunning blunders, the Jays ranked 5th in the entire league with 57 outs on base. What this statistic incorporates is the runner is put out as a result of a baserunning play (e.g. getting doubled off, getting thrown out trying for an extra base on a hit or fly ball). This does not include pickoffs, caught stealing, and force plays. If it did, the number would probably be far worse for the Jays. In addition, their stolen base percentage of 74% ranks them second-last in the league, so they shouldn’t be so aggressive on the basepaths if they keep running into outs.

In terms of execution, one can just look at the two points from above with regards to their offence and coming through with RISP. So perhaps what the team really needs is not a new manager, but instead some type of shake-up or change in baseball culture in the clubhouse. That way, they can develop that focussed and professional mentality that could help them eliminate the warts in their game, as well as being able to finally play smart, winning baseball as a whole.