DUNEDIN, Fla. — While the Blue Jays front office focused on bolstering their starting pitching this winter, a question that lingered all offseason long was who would play centre field in 2020. By not signing or trading for a centre fielder, we knew the candidate would have to come internally.
Now, only days into camp, it appears the answer for the Blue Jays in centre field could be Randal Grichuk.
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On Friday, during a 20-minute session with the media that covered a lot of ground, Toronto general manager Ross Atkins indicated Grichuk is the “most likely” option to open the season in centre field when the season begins at the Rogers Centre on March 26, marking the GM’s first declaration of spring training on the outfield’s outlook this season.
“We’ll stay open-minded about that and this will be an important camp for some other guys that will be in the mix,” Atkins said. “But that would be the most likely.”
Since he debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014, the 28-year-old outfielder has primarily split his time between centre and right field. Since he joined the Blue Jays organization, Grichuk has played 194 games in right field and 88 games in centre.
Atkins expressed his confidence that Grichuk will be up for the challenge of handling centre-field duties.
“He doesn’t back down from those,” Atkins said. “The more I work in baseball and professional sport, I just get amazed. I’m amazed at the fierce competitors and what it takes to compete at this level and not fearing challenges, not backing down from them, that has to be a non-starter for these guys and he is certainly one of them.”
Defensively, Grichuk grades out well at both positions. Per Statcast’s new defensive metric, Outfield Outs Above Average, Grichuk posted a plus-2 in 486 2/3 innings in centre in 2019 and a plus-4 in 724 2/3 innings in right.
Atkins was asked why it had appeared the club was hesitant to play him at the position more regularly in the past, to which the GM responded: “It wasn’t really hesitant. It was more just considering and exposing others to the position.”
Offensively, Grichuk has displayed above-average power over his career, but he has endured two inconsistent seasons in Toronto, often oscillating between stretches of success at the plate and struggles. In 2019, Grichuk walked less than the average batter (5.6 percent) and struck out more (26 percent). However, he hit a career-high 31 home runs, and the team’s management has maintained the belief that Grichuk has not yet played to his potential. With the ongoing adjustments he’s making at the plate, the team believes he can.
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It must also be said that the Blue Jays have a significant financial investment in Grichuk, who is owed at least $44 million over the next four years, and so, from the team’s point of view, their thinking is likely to try him in centre field, in case he emerges as their long-term solution. Last month, Atkins said the team would be willing to acquire a centre fielder if it represented a “significant impact” — but, reading between the lines, the suggestion seemed to be the club would prefer to exhaust all internal options before searching outside of the organization.
A month later, that is indeed the case. That said, if this experiment was to go south, it would be imperative for the team to find a viable centre fielder if they intend on filling the holes on their roster in the hopes of fielding a competitive team in the near future. One such option could be Joc Pederson, who the Los Angeles Dodgers attempted to trade this winter to the Los Angeles Angels before the deal was pulled back, due to Angels owner, Arte Moreno’s impatience after the deal was held up while the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox sorted through their deal for Mookie Betts and David Price. While he remains with the Dodgers now, it would seem likely Pederson remains a trade chip, especially now that the team has officially acquired Betts.
But back to the Blue Jays. How this impacts the rest of the team’s outfielders remains to be seen, however, it feels safe to slot Lourdes Gurriel Jr. into the everyday left fielder role, given how impressed the coaching staff and management were about how he transitioned from the infield to the outfield last season. Meanwhile, Teoscar Hernández would seem to be the leading candidate to move to right field and Atkins said the team feels good about slotting him into different outfield positions.
“He’s continuing to work very hard at his defence,” Atkins said. “He’s passionate about it, and then we have some other alternatives to be in the mix for our team. But those are the three that probably are the most established and right now as we sit today would get the bulk of the playing time.”
Those other alternatives are Derek Fisher, Anthony Alford, Billy McKinney and Jonathan Davis, who all appear to be in the hunt for the extra outfield spots. With the introduction of the 26th roster spot this season the Blue Jays can carry two spare outfielders. Both Fisher and Alford are out of club options this season, so there is a sense of urgency for both players this spring to make a strong impression, with Atkins stating “this will be an important camp for them.”
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At the same time, the Blue Jays might want to give them a look in the majors regardless, because if they do not break camp with the team, they would be exposed to other clubs through the waiver wire if they were to be optioned to the minors. Both Alford and Fisher, who the Blue Jays acquired last year in a trade with the Houston Astros, are former top-100 prospects that have yet to live up to their potential in the majors. Through parts of three seasons with Houston and Toronto, Fisher has batted .191/.279/.369 over 152 games. Meanwhile, Alford has slashed .145/.203/.218 over a much smaller sample of 33 games over the course of three seasons with the Blue Jays.
Still, they might have a leg up on both Davis and McKinney, who both have options remaining, simply because of their circumstances and potential upside.
“If you’re trying to perform at the highest levels, (Alford and Fisher) both committed to adjustments and feel very good about where they are coming into camp and how they’ll get a lot of exposure over spring training,” Atkins said. “Everyone’s going to see them play a ton. We’ve talked about both of them a lot in different ways, in different times. They both have the potential to do special things as players. They’ll be given a lot of opportunities.”
(Photo: David Banks/Getty Images)
