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.