This new Blue Jay could be in for a big year at the plate

The Toronto Blue Jays threw all of Canada through a loop over the winter they acquired Andrés Giménez from the Guardians in exchange for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell. The trade resulted in the fanbase asking itself some justified questions.

Doesn't Toronto have a boatload of players who could play the infield spots not occupied by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette? Is this really the offensive threat the team needed to boost its lineup?

In the end, Giménez may have just been the victim of poor sequencing. As one of the first major transactions this winter, Giménez's trade was viewed in a vacuum by the fanbase. Fortunately, the front office did more as the winter wore on and brought in some desperately needed power that's made everyone feel a little better about Toronto's lineup.

We're now a month into spring training and Giménez is making the fanbase excited about the future of second base. While Giménez is the owner of the largest contract Toronto has ever taken on in a trade, he seems poised for a big year and could also provide Toronto with some insurance at shortstop if Bo Bichette departs in free agency.

It's the offensive side of the equation that Giménez is striving to turn around. Giménez set the bar high in 2022 when he hit .297 with 17 homers, 69 RBIs and 66 runs scored in 146 games. In the last two years, Giménez has slashed .252 with 24 home runs, 125 RBIs and 140 runs scored in 305 games while also winning two Gold Gloves.

In spring training, hope springs eternal. But based off new comments from Blue Jays manager John Schneider, it seems like he's buying into a Giménez rebound.

"With his mechanics, you see a little bit more of a hip coil as opposed to just getting his foot down and being more contact-oriented. His exit velocity, you look at it and he’s hitting the ball hard," Schneider told reporters.

Last year, Giménez produced an almost identical average exit velocity to his elite 2022 campaign (85.4 mph, down slightly from 85.5 mph in ’22), along with making more contact and cutting down on strikeouts.He lowered his strikeout rate to 15.3% last season after punching out at a 20.1% clip in 2022. Of course, one can't discuss Giménez's offensive profile and neglect to mention the 30 stolen bases in each of the last two years.

Giménez has had an interesting professional baseball career. He was included in the Francisco Lindor trade between the Cleveland Indians and New York Mets during the 2020-21 offseason and struggled badly in his first full year in Ohio before developing into a player that Cleveland decided to lock up on a long-term basis. Now, a change of scenery is the name of the game for the Venezuelan.

Schneider isn't the only one singing Giménez's defensive praises. One of the best parts about the Blue Jays' commitment to defense in recent years is that it makes life much easier for the club's pitching staff.

"“If I can have a guy who can come in on a ball and go get those balls in the four hole, then Vladdy doesn’t have to do as much over there, and he can protect the line a bit," pitcher Kevin Gausman said this spring. "Bringing him in, his level of defensive talent is off the charts."

And Jays fans should rest easy because of that improved infield defense. Offense, though, is where the team really needs to take a step forward.

For the Blue Jays to have any shot at keeping up with the big boys in the rest of the division, they must find a way to put large numbers up on the board. Giménez may not provide a boatload of power, but the rest of his offensive profile is promising.