April In Review: A look at the first month of the season for the Blue Jays

Top performers

Matt Chapman:  .384 AVG, 1.152 OPS, 17 R, 5 HR, 21 RBI

Chapman has put together his best ever start to the season in his career. He was named AL player of the week and have now seen more time in the cleanup spot behind Vladdy. He currently leads the AL in hits, batting average and on-base percentage, and leads MLB in extra base hits, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS. What more can the Jays ask for?

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.:  .309 AVG, .885 OPS, 20 R, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 2 SB

Guerrero has come out of the gate red hot, looking to regain his MVP-like form from the 2021 season. His plate discipline has been the best in his career so far, with a walk to strikeout ratio about 1:1, and he has also been proving that his 2022 Gold Glove was no fluke.

Bo Bichette:  .317 AVG, .862 OPS, 18 R, 6 HR, 18 RBI

Forming a booming trio with Chapman and Guerrero in the heart of the Jays’ order, Bichette also has had an explosive start to the season, unlike last season in which he had a miserable April. This bodes well for the rest of the season as he tends to get better as the season goes on.

Yusei Kikuchi:  5 GS, 4-0 W-L, 3.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 27.0 IP, 28 K

To the surprise of many, Kikuchi has been one of the most consistent Jays starter in all of April, giving them a chance to win each time out, making him one of the Jays most valuable and reliable pitchers for the month.

Kevin Gausman:  6 GS, 2-2 W-L, 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 38.2 IP, 54 K

Other than one horrendous start in Houston, Gausman has been vintage KG and more for the Jays in 2023 thus far. He is currently on pace for the best K/9 ratio and BB/K ratio of his entire career.

Erik Swanson:  14 GP, 8 HLD, 1.32 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 19 K

Swanson had been the Jays most dependable reliever to date, no matter what role he played. Look for Swanson to breed his success and get even more high leverage situations in the near future.