The three Blue Jays hitters opposing pitchers don't want to face right now

While the Toronto Blue Jays have had pleasant surprises from players up and down the roster this season, the core four of the Blue Jays lineup has been particularly impressive over the last few weeks. Bo Bichette, George Springer and Alejandro Kirk can seemingly do no wrong at the plate lately and it's keeping the Blue Jays ahead of the curve through the dog days of summer. (*All stats prior to Wednesdays game)

The Blue Jays hitters opposing pitchers don't want to face right now

Starting with Toronto's number one catcher, Kirk has arguably been the best hitting catcher in the American League outside the guy who is challenging Aaron Judge for the MVP award. While Kirk's power numbers are no where close to what Cal Raleigh has done in Seattle, Kirk has been just as tough of an out for the opposition.

In two -strike counts, Kirk leads all of MLB in batting average (.308), OBP (.363), and OPS (.781) while sitting third in SLG (.418). Kirk's .929 BB/K ratio is sixth in all of baseball as well. He is the only player in all of MLB who is in the 90th percentile in K% and Hard Hit % making him an extremely tough at-bat.

While Kirk has been raking in two-strike counts, Bichette has been a force with runners in scoring position and two outs. In those situations, Bichette is hitting .313/.378/.567 with a .945 OPS. His 21 hits leads the league, and 32 RBIs are second. Bichette also leads the league in hits overall with 167 and since the beginning of July he's been held off the bases in just four of the 46 games he has played.

Springer, meantime, has been hot all season leading the way with an OPS+ of 147 which is the highest mark of any Blue Jays' player in franchise history in a season where they are 35 or older. But lately, Springer has brought his game to yet another level. In the 10 games he has played since returning from the seven-day IL, Springer has hit .381/.435/.833 with an OPS of 1.268. He's smashed six home runs in 42 at-bats. Four of those ten games have been multi-hit performances, while he's driven in a run in six of those contests.

As the Blue Jays strive for their first division title in 10 years, they'll continue to rely on the production from these three players as the games take on more and more meaning with every passing day.