This Week in Blue Jays: The chemistry and success of the bullpen, what’s behind Danny Jansen’s offensive struggles and more

During his more than yearlong recovery from Tommy John surgery, what Tim Mayza missed most about pitching — besides competing — was the close-knit environment that exists in a major-league bullpen.

“The camaraderie and being able to go through this season with guys, with your teammates,” the Blue Jays reliever said. “Just having guys around and being able to talk baseball and joke around and have fun playing the game.”

At the moment, the Blue Jays relievers look as though they’re having a lot of fun playing the game. Before play on Monday, Toronto’s bullpen ranked as the best in baseball with a collective 2.10 ERA. When the group is rolling, as the Blue Jays currently are, the good vibes are flowing in the bullpen. But Mayza said he and his fellow relievers know when it’s time to bear down and prepare for the task at hand, too.

“We have a great understanding of when it’s time to turn that switch and what are the times when we can joke around with each other, when are times when it’s, ‘Hey, all right, it’s time to get down to business and kind of lock it in,’” he said. “But it’s a great group of guys, a lot of personality and just have come together (and) meshed very well.”

The effort has been a collective one. The Blue Jays have received solid performances from the front, middle and back of their bullpen despite losing presumptive closer Kirby Yates before the season even started and having three of their most dangerous arms in Julian Merryweather, Jordan Romano and Tyler Chatwood, hit the injured list. (Both Romano and Chatwood have since returned.)

There’s been a next-man-up mentality within the group. As such, the Blue Jays have seen the emergence of arms like Joel Payamps and Anthony Castro, while David Phelps, Ryan Borucki, Mayza and Rafael Dolis have all been trusted to handle high-leverage spots. Trent Thornton and Tommy Milone, employing completely contradictory pitching styles, have done well as the staff’s long relievers, which is especially crucial on the bullpen days.

What’s interesting about this group, too, is that it’s not simply a bunch of flame throwers. It mixes high velocity with finesse. As such, the Blue Jays bullpen is putting up below-average strikeout numbers, but it’s among the top of the league in generating weak contact and limiting hard hits.

Another positive sign is Toronto relievers are walking batters only 9.4 percent of the time. That’s an improvement from 2020 when they walled 12.1 percent of the batters they faced.

One thing the coaching staff will have to be mindful of when it comes to the bullpen is managing fatigue. We’re only a month into a six-month season. We know that injuries and underperformance tend to correlate with rising fatigue levels. The Blue Jays relievers have pitched 85 2/3 innings thus far, sixth-most of any bullpen in baseball. The team’s short-staffed rotation is partly responsible for that, with the club turning to bullpen days in recent weeks to cover for injuries in the rotation. If the Blue Jays see starters like Nate Pearson and Ross Stripling return in the coming weeks, that’ll help to ease the burden on the bullpen some.

In the meantime, the group’s workload will need to be carefully managed. Manager Charlie Montoyo, pitching coach Pete Walker and bullpen coach Matt Buschmann make sure to check in regularly with relievers to gauge how they’re feeling physically. Borucki said the communication from the coaches is always clear.

“They all do a great job of just being really transparent with all of us, like, ‘Hey, we might need you here, but if we can stay away from you, we will.’ Knowing if guys are a little bit tired, if they got in the night before and stuff like that,” he said. “And they’re very good if you say you need a day, they’ll give you the day. And they’re really good when it comes to good communication for everybody, just letting everybody know what to expect every day.”

Since converting to a reliever last year, Borucki said he’s gotten better at quieting the ultra-competitor inside him and recognizing when he simply needs a day to rest.

“As you mature as a player, you really get to know yourself, like, ‘Hey, if I need a day in April, and I push it, it might cost me days’ — I might get hurt in July when the team really will need (me),” he said. “And if you just need a day, I think all of us in the bullpen, we’re mature enough to look ourselves in the mirror and say ‘Hey, it’s time to back off, give me one day and I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.'”

To further stave off fatigue, Borucki also said he doesn’t throw on off days, which is a departure from previous years when he said he always liked to throw just to stay sharp.

“It’s going to be a long season. And those off days are pivotal for anybody, you know what I mean?” he said last week. “If you don’t throw, it’s an extra 30, 40 days you’re not throwing a baseball, and that’s just less fatigue that you’re going to have during the season.”

Blue Jays standing behind Jansen

Danny Jansen has had a tough start to the year at the plate. He’s gone 2-for-41 and his OPS is .207. He’s at least walking (8.9 percent) and striking out (24.4 percent) at a league-average rate. He’s simply not getting any hits. His average exit velocity, per Statcast, is 86.9 mph, in the bottom 20 percent of the league.

He ripped a few hard-hit balls over the weekend in Tampa Bay, including a 105.2 mph liner on Sunday that knocked the glove off the hand of Rays third baseman Mike Brosseau. Jansen reached base on a forceout. Still, Jansen has failed to record any barrels this year, which MLB explains is a stat that signifies “a well-struck ball where the combination of exit velocity and launch angle generally leads to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.”

Danny Jansen hit that ball so hard it knocked the glove right outta Brosseau's hand. 😳 #BlueJaysOnSN pic.twitter.com/TMG40VU3mV

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 25, 2021

Jansen’s slow offence start is compounded, too, by the fact that dating to 2019, he hasn’t been the offensive contributor many believed he could be when he was a bat-first catching prospect. For his big-league career (196 games), he’s hit .197/.286/.350 with a 71 wRC+. Now, catchers usually get the benefit of the doubt that their defensive and game management work take up a significant amount of preparation time. Besides a few standouts, the catcher position is simply becoming a below-average offensive position.

In 2019, league-wide, catchers hit .236/.308/.405 with an 85 wRC+. Jansen isn’t even hitting that mark. Can he get there? It’s reasonable to think he should be able to perform better than he has during this month-long slump. The question with Jansen, however, is whether he can at least perform at an average MLB catcher level.

His offensive struggles don’t appear to be impacting him defensively, however. He’s been worth three defensive runs saved this season, per FanGraphs. Statcast says his framing is in the 76th percentile. Anecdotally, coach John Schneider said Jansen has always been good about separating offence and defence.

“It’s a credit to him,” Schneider said. “You got to be pretty mentally tough to stand in the box and look up at the scoreboard and then grind out an at-bat and come in and say, ‘OK, I got an ace I got to take care of for 100 pitches or so and then a bullpen who’s coming in to try to do something.’ He’s awesome with that. He really is. It’s a trait that not many people have.”

The Blue Jays also continue to believe Jansen will find his way offensively. Schneider mentioned that Jansen has kept a disciplined approach, and, indeed, he’s not chasing at the plate, with a 15.4 percent chase rate that has him in the 96th percentile.

“Swinging at the right pitches is a big part of it, which he’s still doing,” Schneider said. “And just the biggest difference right now is when he is getting that pitch, he’s not doing damage, he’s not getting his best swing off, if you want to say that. Part of that is a hitter’s going to go through that, and part of it is, I’m sure, he’s grinding a little bit mentally right now. It’s just a little bit of both.

“But again, I’m not sitting here lying to you guys, but this is a guy we believe in, from what we see and what we know. And, if he’s going to continue to do what he’s doing behind the plate, and continue to swing at the correct pitch, hopefully, over time that’ll start to even out a little bit.”

What can we learn about the Blue Jays this week?

We thought it might be last week. But psych! It’s this week. Assuming it all goes to plan, this should be the week George Springer makes his debut for the Blue Jays.

What we can learn is how having an established star like Springer in Toronto’s lineup will change the outlook of the club. The Blue Jays signed Springer to be a difference-maker on both sides of the ball. His bat at the top of the order — assuming he takes over the leadoff spot, which he did all spring — should give them that consistently dangerous No. 1 hitter that they have not had this year.

If Teoscar Hernández also returns this week, it’ll add another power bat. Those two players alone change the dynamic of the Jays’ lineup greatly since it’s two more strong bats that opposing pitchers have to prepare for. It’s the Blue Jays’ A lineup and we’ve not yet seen what it can do this year.

Take note

• Pearson is likely getting closer to a return. The Blue Jays top prospect pitched 2 2/3 innings (51 pitches) last Saturday, giving up five runs (four earned) on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in a game at the alternate training site, the team said. Last week, general manager Ross Atkins said the Blue Jays would definitely be bringing Pearson back as a starter. His next steps will be throwing a simulation game between three and five innings, then perhaps he’ll be ready to get back into major-league action. Atkins indicated last week that Stripling (right flexor strain) may not be too far off from a return as well.

• Schneider managed both Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio while they were in the minor leagues, at both the High-A and Double-A level. His perspective on both their defensive capabilities is a thorough one: “They’re grinding a little bit, but knowing these guys and knowing these kids for as long as I have, and as long as we have up here, they’re going to continue to work, they’re going to continue to find ways to get better. They’re out there every day with Luis (Rivera). And, I think that over the course of a long season, every player is going to go through kind of an up and down (period), whether it’s offence or defence, or both. They’re kind of in that right now, but we’re counting on them to figure some things out and just keep on working.”

• Castro was a waiver claim this offseason, and he’s been a sneaky good find for the bullpen. He had a nice spring, probably had a claim to earn a job, but a numbers crunch left him off the roster. With the cavalcade of injuries to start the year, Castro has been vaulted into some pretty clutch spots. With the Blue Jays, he’s transitioning into a full-time reliever role, and he’s been leaning on Dolis to help him adjust to the change.

“He’s been telling me a lot about how to get ready faster and a couple of tips so I can recover quicker every day,” Castro said. “He’s also been telling me a couple of funny stories that happened to him in Japan, cause he’s a very funny guy.”

Has he told Castro how he throws his splitter yet?

“He might, he might,” Castro said. “You know he’s pretty quiet about it, I think that’s his secret weapon.”