Jay Bird Watching Podcast Recap: Bat flipping into mid Spring Training!

This is a recap of the Jay Bird watching podcast featuring hosts Craig Borden, and Jason Lyons. This week they were joined by Jays Journal site expert Eric Treuden. 

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The show started off with the crew breaking down the recent announcement of the José Bautista bobblehead day, which will be held on August 12th. It seems like an obvious choice and a promotion that will bring excitement to fans young and old. 

Craig can’t help but ask the guys where they were when Bautista drilled his iconic bat-flip home run in the 2015 ALCS series. The three men had different stories about where they were for that unforgettable moment and are all in agreement that he was the perfect player to be recognized. 

The significance of Bautista’s home run and how closely he’s associated with the era of Blue Jays baseball was discussed and the bobblehead itself was shown off for any fans who have been living under rocks lately. A stroll down memory lane with some other memorable bat-flip homers was taken. 

Eric is right on the money in pointing out that Edwin Encarnación should be the next Jays player to be honored and placed into the Level of Excellence.  Craig asks if any other player from that time could be hoisted up to the rafters. 

The talk shifted gears to the Yankees' lousy run of injury luck to their pitching staff and how that could affect their season outlook. Eric believes the depth of the Bronx Bombers will still be a force and the other teams in the division could also be tough opponents. 

The injury to Harrison Bader has added to the growing list of injured Yankees and his potential prolonged absence could be even more damaging than that of the pitchers downed. The team’s somewhat questionable depth at that position group could force some young players like Oswald Peraza to play a lot of games. 

Craig steered the conversation back to the recent run of blowout wins for the Jays in spring games and how well some of the hitters have looked early on. Jason and Eric highlighted a few players that have impressed as the season approaches. 

One of those players is Addison Barger and the topic of whether or not he could make the roster was tossed around but it seems more likely for him to start the year in Buffalo. 

He’s a natural third baseman and making the transition to the outfield could be a challenge although players like Bautista, Ryan Braun, Nick Castellanos and Joey Gallo have made the move in recent memory.

Inevitably, the chat included the newly formed pitch clock and how some players have adapted. Craig was curious about disappointments so far in camp and Nate Pearson and José Berríos are fairly obvious choices.

There’s still plenty of time for preparation and initial roster cuts will be underway soon. Ricky Tiedemann and L.J. Talley are two players that Eric and Craig would love to see stick around while Barger and Nathan Lukes are two favorites of Jason.