Davis Schneider once again plays hero for the Blue Jays, proves he deserves a starting gig

There's little doubt that the vast majority of the Toronto Blue Jays' lineup has been struggling as of late. Outside of a few epic wins that saw them combine to put up 17 runs in the season-opening series against the Rays, all has been quiet.

Just a day removed from being no-hit for the second time in as many years, the Blue Jays entered Tuesday night's contest with a chance at vengeance. Of course, the bats remained non-existent. Left-hander Framber Valdez and right-hander Ryan Pressly pieced together the first eight innings of the game for Houston and had allowed no runs on six hits with five strikeouts.

Entering the bottom of the ninth, there was little to no chance that the Jays would find a way to dethrone Josh Hader, who is one of the most dominant closers of this generation. Of course, that was until Davis Schneider came up to the plate with a runner on base and two outs.

Doesn't it just feel like Schneider has a knack for coming up big in moments like this?

His two-run blast off of Hader was his second homer of the year and 10th of his career. Notably, eight of those have come off of left-handed pitchers. It's easy to see why Schneider's been getting the majority of his playing time against southpaws to kick off the 2024 campaign.

Davis Schneider needs to be playing every day

With many of the other hitters in the lineup struggling out of the gate, John Schneider needs to run Davis Schneider out there on a regular basis. Fans have, as they usually do, found a way to pick holes in Schneider's game - citing that he strikes out too often and that his defense leaves much to be desired. But there's little doubt that he's a clutch performer who has had great success connecting on pitches and sending them over the wall since he debuted last summer.

Putting Schneider, 25, into the every day lineup over Cavan Biggio, who's hitting .200, or Daulton Varsho, who's hitting .111, feels like the obvious choice here. At times the Jays have been known to make questionable calls when it comes to their starting lineups, frequently sitting players who have red-hot bats, but this needs to be a call that's made as soon as possible.

Using the phrase "it's early" to cope with losses to start the year can only go so far. The Jays got lucky on Tuesday, winning their third game of the year to hold onto a tie for fourth place in the AL East, but this is a tough division this year. Too many of these "early" losses can so easily result in a deficit Toronto's not able to dig themselves out of. Put your best players out there, like Schneider, on a nightly basis and reap the rewards.