Blue Jays: 3 biggest storylines through 3 weeks of Spring Training

No. 2: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s knee injury

While Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s right knee injury turned out to be minor, there's hand-wringing to be done anytime your star slugger and franchise cornerstone goes down.

After feeling the discomfort on March 3 while rounding first and making his way to second, Guerrero promptly removed himself from the game. The team ran tests and reported only inflammation, no structural damage.

Almost immediately, Guerrero pulled out of the World Baseball Classic. He was scheduled to leave camp that weekend to meet his Dominican Republic teammates in Miami. Guerrero and the Blue Jays were obviously thinking of the team's goals for 2023 and played it safe.

Luckily, the knee discomfort didn't appear to be a big concern. Guerrero even made light of the situation, posting a hilarious reaction to his "injury" on Twitter.

After some time off, the 24-year-old superstar began light work and quickly progressed to baserunning and fielding drills. When he returned to game action on March 15, less than two weeks after the initial injury, he showed no ill effects.

As if to show that he was 100%, Guerrero turned up the intensity. Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling made note of his hustle down the line during his first plate appearance.

That’s a home-to-first time of 4.79 seconds, only two-tenths of a second off Guerrero’s 2022 season average. His 28.2 foot-per-second sprint speed was the fastest he’s recorded in a tracked game this spring and would have ranked within his 50 quickest sprints up the first base line last season.

He then launched a 113.6 mph double in his next at-bat.

Per Zwelling, "There was no holding anything back. No easing his way in. Guerrero went full-send as soon as he had the opportunity."

Blue Jays fans can breathe a sigh of relief now that the almost two-week saga of the sore right knee is in the rearview mirror.

No. 1: Yusei Kikuchi and the fifth rotation spot

Coming into the preseason, one of the biggest questions was who would rise to the occasion and grab the fifth rotation spot.

Yusei Kikuchi and Mitch White were considered front-runners for the job, with Ricky Tiedemann a dark horse pick to claim the role. With early reports about White being behind in preparation after an offseason shoulder problem, Kikuchi looked to have the inside track for the job.

After a disastrous 2022 campaign in which he lost his starting role, there were doubts about whether Kikuchi was the right man for the rotation this year.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported early on that Kikuchi has "a more aggressive approach and a new breaking ball" and that "he's looking like a different pitcher."

The newly bearded Kikuchi has looked good early in camp. Through his five Grapefruit League starts, he has posted 16 strikeouts, a 1.15 WHIP and a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings. Encouragingly, he has been finding the zone and, until his most recent outing, hadn't surrendered an earned run.

According to Sportsnet's David Singh, Kikuchi has gained "confidence from the reactions he's seeing from hitters so far this spring — different reactions than he was getting last season."

While John Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker have yet to decide who will enter the season as the fifth starter, the odds are good that the 31-year-old Kikuchi will get the job.

Now that Tiedemann has been reassigned to minor league camp and White looks like he might begin the season on the IL, there isn't a clear challenger to Kikuchi. So far, he has done everything in his power to show that he deserves to be in the rotation on merit, even if he gets the job by default.

All Blue Jays fans can do is cross their fingers that Kikuchi's Spring Training success translates to the regular season.