Why these two Blue Jays players just earned themselves more playing time

Davis Schneider didn't inspire a lot of confidence with his numbers in Spring Training. The Blue Jays' utility player had five hits in 38 at-bats, but worked in seven walks, while striking out 12 times and having a hard hit percentage of only 29.6%. With other players having much better springs, and with Schneider not having a permanent position to play at, it was conceivable that he could have missed the Opening Day roster cut.

Joe Mantiply wasn't even on the radar to make the Opening Day bullpen. With almost every spot spoken for save for, the former All-Star was looking at a start in Triple-A to begin the season, and needing to wait for his opportunity to get back to the big leagues.

However, after the last few games, both players have been thrust into the spotlight and rightfully deserve more playing time if their current trends continue.

Daivs Schneider and Joe Mantiply have been the pleasant surprises over the last few games

Schneider may have earned the "spark plug" moniker for the Blue Jays in their last two wins. On Wednesday (Apr. 8) against the LA Dodgers, he didn't record a hit, but drew two crucial walks and scored two even more crucial runs in Toronto's 4-3 win over LA. That included some heads up base running in the bottom of the eighth, when Schneider scored what became the eventual game winning run on a throwing error by Dodgers catcher Will Smith. Andrés Giménez stole second with Schneider on third and the throw was off line, allowing Schneider to scamper home.

On Friday against the Minnesota Twins, Schneider had his best offensive game of the season, going 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored, and two RBIs. His RBI double in the fourth cut the lead in half (4-2). He scored on Giménez's single later in the inning to make it 4-3. He helped tack on a run in the bottom of the sixth after getting on with a walk. Then he singled home Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-4 in the Blue Jays eventual 10-4 victory - their largest margin of victory this season.

As impressive as the clutch hits are, Schneider's eye at the plate continues to be elite. He has six walks and six strikeouts this year - really good numbers for a guy that has basically been playing part-time to begin the year. Based off the last few outings, Schneider should get a serious look at getting the starting nod a little more often.

The same goes for Mantiply who has put up solid consecutive performances out of the bullpen. Mantiply was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks last June, and then joined the Blue Jays in July, but never made it to Toronto, spending the remainder of the 2025 season in the minor leagues. He then signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays in March, to little fan fare, and basically flew under the radar throughout the spring.

But since being called up by Toronto last weekend, the 35-year-old left-hander has made three appearances and has been setting hitters down with incredible success. Out of the 12 batters Mantiply has faced, seven of them have gone down by striking out. He struck out three of the four batters he faced in Chicago, got one strike out against five LA Dodgers hitters on Monday, and followed that up by striking out all three batters he faced against the Twins on Friday.

Perhaps that success will lead to Mantiply being trusted more often by manager John Schneider. At the very least it should close that revolving door in the Blue Jays bullpen ever so slightly in the meantime.