Archive for Blue Jays

JAWS and the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot: Omar Vizquel and Francisco Rodríguez

RVR Photos-Imagn Images; Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2025 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

The fourth and final multi-candidate pairing of this series is by far the heaviest, covering two candidates who have both been connected to multiple incidents of domestic violence. Read the rest of this entry »


Pack Your Passport, Andrés: Blue Jays Acquire Giménez From Guardians to Anchor Defense

David Richard-Imagn Images

The Blue Jays came into the offseason at a crossroads. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette headed for free agency after the 2025 season, the pressure is on: Make the playoffs or go the entirety of their team control years without a single playoff win. (They’re 0-6 in three Wild Card series.) It’s no surprise they were in on Juan Soto, and after coming up short there, they pivoted to the trade market, acquiring Andrés Giménez (and Nick Sandlin) from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell. The Guardians then sent Horwitz on to the Pirates in exchange for Luis L. Ortiz, Michael Kennedy, and Josh Hartle, all of whom we’ll break down in a forthcoming post.

This trade improves the Blue Jays’ outlook for 2025, and it does so in a way that fits their recent team-building to a T. Two years ago, they added Daulton Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier, perhaps the two best defensive outfielders in baseball, and frequently played them together. They gave Santiago Espinal regular playing time when his defense graded out well, then phased him out in favor of new defensive wunderkind Ernie Clement when Espinal faltered defensively. They used Isiah Kiner-Falefa to patch defensive holes across the diamond until they traded him this past summer. Now they’re adding Giménez, one of the best infield defenders in all of baseball, to the mix.

Last season marked Giménez’s third straight Gold Glove and second straight Fielding Bible award. The voters (full disclosure: I am one of them) didn’t give it to him on reputation. He’s not just a shortstop playing second base; he’s a very good shortstop playing second base. He has the strongest throwing arm of any second baseman and uses it to his advantage, ranging up the middle to make outrageous plays. He has soft hands and quick reflexes. Statcast credits him with 37 runs above average over the past three years, tops in the majors. DRS thinks Statcast is being too modest – it credits him with 59 runs saved, 22 ahead of second place. Read the rest of this entry »


Veteran Righties Roost Among the Great Lakes

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

DALLAS — The dawn of a new baseball season brings relief from the monotony of winter, hope for a successful campaign, and a multitude of questions in the vein of “Wait, where did Player X sign? How long has Player Y been on the Rays?”

In a (possibly vain) effort to head off those questions, here are some developments from the Winter Meetings: Alex Cobb has signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Tigers for $15 million, with an additional $2 million available through incentives. The details of the contract took a while to come out as Cobb took a physical; that’s a pro forma step in your garden variety free agent signing, but likely an adventure for Cobb. More straightforward: The Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a two-year, $15 million pact with right-handed reliever Yimi García.

Both Cobb and García changed teams at the most recent trade deadline; in fact, García was traded by Toronto less than five months ago. Read the rest of this entry »


JAWS and the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot: Mark Buehrle and Andy Pettitte

Mike DiNovo and Anthony Gruppuso-Imagn Images

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2025 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

It’s no secret that we’re in the midst of a lean period for starting pitchers getting elected to the Hall of Fame on the BBWAA ballot. Since the elections of 300-game winners Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Randy Johnson in 2014 and ’15, just four starters have gained entry via the writers, two of them alongside the Big Unit in the latter year (Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz) and two more in ’19 (Roy Halladay and Mike Mussina). From a demographic standpoint, Halladay is the only starter born after 1971.

It’s quite possible the writers won’t elect another starter born in that shag-carpeted decade unless voters come around on Andy Pettitte (b. 1972) or Mark Buehrle (b. 1979), a pair of southpaws who cleared the 200-win mark during their exceptional careers, producing some big moments and playing significant roles on championship-winning teams. Yet neither of them ever won a Cy Young award, created much black ink, or dominated in the ways that we expect Hall-caliber hurlers to do. Neither makes much of a dent when it comes to JAWS, where they respectively rank 93rd and 91st via the traditional version, about 14 points below the standard, or tied for 80th and 78th in the workload-adjusted version (S-JAWS). Neither has gotten far in their time on the ballot, and both lost ground during the last cycle. Pettitte maxed out at 17% in 2023, his fifth year of eligibility, but slipped to 13.5% in his sixth, while Buehrle, who peaked at 11% in his ’21 debut, fell from 10.8% to 8.3%. Nobody with shares that low at either juncture has been elected by the writers, with Larry Walker (10.2% in year four, 15.5% in year six) accounting for the biggest comeback in both cases but still needing the full 10 years, capped by a 22-point jump in his final one. Read the rest of this entry »


Job Posting: Toronto Blue Jays – Multiple Openings

Direct links to applications (please see job details below):

Biomechanist
Data Scientist
Player Valuation Research Analyst
Senior Data Engineer, Baseball Systems
Senior Developer, Baseball Systems
General Baseball Operations Entry Level Opportunities

Biomechanist

Overview:
The Blue Jays are seeking a Biomechanist to join our Biomechanics team. This position works between Baseball Research, Player Development, and Scouting to push our understanding of player movement forward. The ideal candidate will have experience processing biomechanical data, finding insights, and communicating those insights to non-technical users.

Primary Focus:

  • Conduct baseball biomechanical research and contribute to ongoing departmental research around player performance and health.
  • Create tools that incorporate this research into decision making, as well as working to improve those processes.

Responsibilities and Duties: 

  • Process biomechanical data, conduct data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of pitching and hitting biomechanics data to players and staff. Create reports and visualizations to help explain findings. 
  • Design, test, implement and maintain metrics and predictive models using biomechanical information to contribute to strategy and decisions in Player Development and Scouting projects.
  • Collaborate with hitting, pitching, medical, strength and conditioning to incorporate biomechanical findings into the player development process.
  • Keep up to date with current public and academic research related to the role and provide evidence-informed opinions (based on biomechanics studies) to contribute to decision making.
  • Create new processes that integrate other biomechanical and human performance datasets into existing processes and modeling strategies.

Experience and Job Requirements:

  • Either a post-graduate degree in biomechanics or demonstrated practical knowledge and understanding of biomechanical data.
  • Experience with building pipelines to process large data sets. 
  • Technical ability conduct analysis and visualizations on large data sets.
  • Proficiency with R, Python or other similar mathematical language is required.
  • Proficiency in Visual3D or Open Sim is required.
  • Experience with scientific process, design, and analysis.
  • Excellent reasoning, problem solving, creative thinking, and communication skills at tactical and strategic levels.
  • Interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals from diverse cultures including members of the front office, scouts, field staff, and players.
  • The ability to work with multicultural populations and a commitment to fairness and equality.
  • Ability to work occasional evening, weekend, and holiday hours as dictated by the baseball calendar.

Beneficial Experience:

  • Related work experience and accomplishment in elite sport industry and talent development is preferred.
  • Experience with SQL or other rational databases is preferred.

To apply: 
Please follow this link: Biomechanist


Data Scientist

Overview:
The Blue Jays are seeking a Data Scientist to join our team and push our organization forward through the utilization of cutting-edge data methodologies and emerging technology. The ideal candidate will have experience taking data science problems from the idea/planning phase through completion and implementation while collaborating with others.

Primary Focus:

  • To conduct baseball research and contribute to ongoing departmental research.
  • To create tools that incorporate data into the decision-making process, as well as learning how decisions are made in all areas of Baseball Operations and working to improve those processes.
  • To challenge current technical processes, explore new data sources that could provide competitive advantages, and propose novel ways to solve data-intensive problems.

Responsibilities and Duties:

  • Design, test, implement and maintain advanced baseball metrics and predictive models to contribute to strategy and decisions across all departments within Baseball Operations.
  • Conduct empirical research related to baseball strategy, player evaluation and player development whilst understanding how findings would apply to better decision making and increased operational effectiveness.
  • Offer technical expertise to other members of the Baseball Research Department, providing constructive feedback and guidance.
  • Collaborate with the front office, coaches, and scouts while conducting research. Results of this work should help those within the organization better understand, consider, and apply the use of information and data to their decisions.
  • Work with the Development team to integrate new information into existing Baseball Operations processes and infrastructure.

Experience and Job Requirements:

  • 4+ years working in the data science field, building predictive models and communicating results to non-technical users.
  • Passion for baseball and excellent reasoning, problem-solving, creative thinking, and communication skills.
  • Strong interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals including members of the front office, scouts, and field staff.
  • Demonstrated ability to successfully design and execute rigorous quantitative research projects.
  • Strong understanding of current baseball research.
  • Proficiency with R, Python, or other similar statistical language.
  • Proficiency with SQL and relational databases.
  • The ability to work with multicultural populations and a commitment to fairness and equality.
  • Ability to work occasional evening, weekend, and holiday hours as dictated by the baseball calendar.

Beneficial Experience:

  • Ph.D. or Master’s degree in a quantitative field.
  • Demonstrated experience with:
    • Stan or another probabilistic programming language.
    • Computer vision models and techniques.
    • Machine learning methods, including clustering, boosting models, and neural networks.
    • Timeseries analysis and biomechanical data.

To apply: 
Please follow this link: Data Scientist


Player Valuation Research Analyst

Overview:
The Blue Jays are seeking a Player Valuation Analyst to join our Research team and support our player evaluation processes in collaboration with our Professional and/or Amateur Scouting department. This position will primarily be office-based, leveraging video analysis, internally developed tools, and valuation methodologies. While prior baseball experience is a plus, it is not required. We are looking for candidates with strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and the ability to collaborate effectively across departments.

Primary Focus:

  • Provide objective player valuations using proprietary tools and data.
  • Work across departments (Scouting, Player Development, Research, etc) to improve our internal process for evaluating players. 
  • Collaborate with scouts and analysts to inform player evaluations during drafts, trades, and signings.

Responsibilities and Duties:

  • Filing scouting reports on acquirable players based on a thorough review of available data and video assets. 
  • Interrogating outputs of predictive models to identify potentially undervalued acquirable players. 
  • Maintain and enhance existing valuation models to ensure consistency and accuracy.
  • Work with scouts to validate and complement subjective evaluations with data-driven insights.
  • Monitor player performance trends to identify undervalued talent or areas of concern.
  • Stay updated on the latest developments in baseball analytics and player valuation methodologies.

Experience and Job Requirements:

  • Familiarity with baseball rules, strategies, and player development pathways.
  • Experience with video analysis platforms and tools (e.g., Synergy, BATS, or proprietary systems).
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with scouts and front-office personnel.
  • Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
  • Ability to work with multicultural populations and a commitment to fairness and equality. 
  • Ability to work occasional evening, weekend, and holiday hours as dictated by the baseball calendar.
  • Possible travel of 10-20 nights per year. 

Beneficial Experience: 

  • Previous involvement in baseball analytics, player development, or scouting (professional or amateur).
  • Working knowledge of baseball projection systems. 
  • Proficiency with R, Python, or other similar statistical language. 
  • Proficiency with SQL and relational databases. 
  • Experience working with scouting reports or baseball statistical databases
  • Experience applying coding skillset to improve valuation models or develop custom tools.

To apply: 
Please follow this link: Player Valuation Research Analyst


Senior Data Engineer, Baseball Systems

Overview:
The Toronto Blue Jays are seeking an experienced Data Engineer to join their Baseball Systems team to help build their next generation of databases and data processing systems. In this role you will work on challenging and compelling problems with some of the largest and most exciting datasets in sports. Your work will impact the entire organization from Research and Development through to Scouting, Player Development, and the Major League team by giving staff and players access to the full range of available information. 

Primary Focus

  • To build and maintain databases and other systems for storing baseball data. 
  • To build processing pipelines to transform data and extract useful information. 
  • Optimize new and existing data infrastructure to improve performance and scalability. 

Responsibilities and Duties:

  • Design and build systems to store a growing volume of statistical, ball tracking, player tracking, and biomechanical data. 
  • Build and maintain data pipelines for processing, transforming, and integrating large volumes of baseball data from a variety of sources and tracking systems. 
  • Develop systems for reporting, monitoring, and quality control of incoming data to ensure that systems are performing as expected and the data conforms to required standards. 
  • Understand and document database structures, data formats, definitions, and the limitations of current systems and establish future requirements. 
  • Oversee the evaluation, selection, and rollout of new software and data infrastructure. 
  • Complete ad-hoc database queries and analysis as required by the circumstances. 
  • Provide technical assistance to other Baseball Operations staff and collaborate with the Research team to ensure they have the data and resources required for their work. 
  • Recommend new data sources for purchase and new techniques to gather data. 

Experience and Job Requirements:

  • Demonstrated experience building and maintaining relational databases and data warehouses. 
  • Strong working knowledge of SQL and database programming. 
  • Highly proficient with Python (preferred) or another general-purpose programming language for manipulating data. 
  • Knowledge of database architecture, design patterns, and best practices to ensure system performance and long-term maintainability. 
  • Exceptional problem-solving skills – finds pragmatic solutions to data and engineering challenges within time or technology constraints. 
  • High attention to detail – anticipates and identifies potential issues early and strives to produce reliable and high-quality work. 
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively explain complex technical concepts to a wide range of individuals. 
  • Ability to read, speak and comprehend English effectively. 
  • The ability to work with multicultural populations and a commitment to fairness and equality. 
  • Ability to work evenings, weekends, and holiday hours as dictated by the baseball calendar. 

Beneficial Experience:

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or other educational qualifications. Higher level academic qualifications are a plus. 
  • Experience with a task orchestration framework such as Airflow, Luigi, or Dagster. 
  • Experience with cloud services and infrastructure (Azure, AWS, GCP). 
  • Experience with R programming and data visualization. 
  • Experience working with baseball, sports, or biomechanics datasets is beneficial but not required. 

To apply: 
Please follow this link: Senior Data Engineer, Baseball Systems


Senior Developer, Baseball Systems

Overview:
The Toronto Blue Jays are seeking a talented and versatile Python developer to join our growing Research and Development team in Baseball Operations. In this role, you will help to design and build web applications that empower the work of users throughout the organization and directly impact decision-making in areas such as the Front Office, Scouting, and Player Development. 

Primary Focus:

  • Design and build new features of internal web applications. 
  • Work with end-users to collect requirements and feedback. 
  • Develop creative approaches for displaying information. 

Responsibilities and Duties:

  • Work closely with the Research & Development team to add new functionality to our existing suite of Python-based web applications to communicate their work to end-users. 
  • Design and build new features to take advantage of new data and video sources, internal research, or to enable other organizational initiatives. 
  • Contribute to code review, software testing, documentation, and maintenance of existing systems as part of a collaborative software engineering team. 
  • Participate in technical decision-making that will shape the next generation of the Blue Jays’ baseball systems. 

 
Experience and Job Requirements: 

  • Professional developer with experience designing and building web applications. 
  • Highly proficient with Python and one or more web frameworks such as Django, Flask, Pyramid, SQLAlchemy or similar. 
  • Strong understanding of foundational front-end web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript).
  • Understanding of database development and proficient in SQL (especially MS SQL Server or PostgreSQL). 
  • Experience using Bootstrap and CSS preprocessors with the ability to create front-end views matching designs or mock-ups. 
  • Able to communicate with non-technical users to understand their roles and requirements and propose appropriate solutions. 
  • Strong problem-solving skills – finds pragmatic solutions to data and engineering challenges within time or technology constraints. 
  • High attention to detail – anticipates and identifies potential issues early and strives to produce reliable and high-quality work. 
  • Invested in learning and gaining new skills, both technical and non-technical. 
  • Passion for baseball and an interest in statistical and analytical aspects of the game. 
  • The ability to work with multicultural populations and a commitment to fairness and equality. 
  • Ability to work evenings, weekends, and holiday hours as dictated by the baseball calendar.

Beneficial Experience:
The following technologies or fields reflect potential projects for this role and experience with any of them is beneficial but not required: 

  • Experience with UI design and tools such as Figma or Adobe CC applications. 
  • Data visualization using libraries such as D3, Plotly, Three.js, or ggplot. 
  • Experience with additional general-purpose programming languages (PHP, Ruby, Java, C# or similar). 
  • Front-end JavaScript frameworks such as React, Angular or Vue. 
  • CSS preprocessors such as SCSS, LESS or Stylus. 
  • DevOps and CI/CD experience with Bitbucket Pipelines, GitHub Actions or similar. 
  • Data manipulation, modelling, and visualization in R or Python. 

To apply: 
Please follow this link: Senior Developer, Baseball Systems


General Baseball Operations Entry Level Opportunities

The Toronto Blue Jays are seeking highly motivated and creative individuals to assist with day-to-day tasks across various areas of Baseball Operations, including Scouting, Player Development, High Performance, and Research & Development/Analytics. Start and end dates are flexible depending on the specific role, and we will consider both full-season and partial-season candidates. These positions are paid and may be based in Toronto, ON; Dunedin, FL; or one of our affiliate locations across Canada, the United States, or the Dominican Republic.

Key Qualities We’re Looking For:

  • Passion for baseball, with excellent reasoning, problem-solving, creative thinking, and communication skills
  • Strong interpersonal skills to collaborate with a wide range of individuals, from fellow staff to players
  • Ability to work independently, self-direct tasks, and manage multiple projects with attention to detail
  • Effective time management skills to balance priorities in a fast-paced environment
  • Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as required by the baseball calendar

The Blue Jays see diversity and employment equity as foundational to creating a successful culture. Applicants who may not traditionally feel empowered to apply for a job in this field are strongly encouraged to apply.
There are several roles with different primary focuses, with more detail on each broad type of position provided below. You only need to submit one application to be considered for all potential roles. We will match your skills and experiences to available opportunities. If you have a specific area of interest, feel free to highlight it in your application.

You may receive an email asking you to complete a more detailed follow-up application regarding your interests and employment goals. Please ensure that baseballresumes@bluejays.com is allowed in your email system. 

Role Summaries

Player Development Technology
This role is ideal for candidates interested in working closely with coaches and players through embedding themselves with teams at the Blue Jays’ development complexes or affiliates. Key responsibilities include:

  • Serving as the point person for video, technology, and data resources
  • Deploying and operating technology for recording data during both practice and game settings
  • Organizing, cataloging, distributing, and reviewing video and data/advance resources for affiliate staff and other PD personnel
  • Helping to track player goals and progress over the course of the season and collaborating across departments (Minor League Operations, Nutrition, High Performance) to support projects and processes
  • Assisting with on-field activities (batting practice, fungos, catching pens) and day-to-day logistical needs of the team as needed

Proficiency in Microsoft Office is required; experience with video editing software and baseball-related data capture systems is beneficial. Spanish proficiency is also helpful and may be required in some cases.

Operations (Scouting, Baseball Operations, Player Development)
Candidates with excellent organizational skills and attention to detail will support the logistical and administrative functions of the scouting, player development, or baseball operations departments. Duties may include:

  • Organizing, entering, and maintaining data and/or video resources
  • Supporting departmental administrative tasks (expense reports, compiling statistics and rosters, meeting logistics, etc.) and responding to ad-hoc logistical or organizational needs
  • Contributing to player evaluation processes through review of video and data
  • In the Player Development department, additional duties may include translating documents to/from English and Spanish, and assisting with integration of technology into on-field work

Microsoft Office (especially Excel) proficiency is crucial; knowledge of baseball rules and regulations is also a strong asset. Spanish proficiency will be beneficial (required in some cases). Proficiency with data management and analysis tools like SQL, R, Python are also beneficial but not required.

Advance Scouting
This role involves supporting the Major League team with game-by-game and series-by-series preparation, using strong baseball knowledge to assist with:

  • Collecting and organizing statistics for scouting reports, identifying patterns in player performance and team tendencies
  • Editing and assembling video clips/visual presentations relevant to upcoming matchups
  • Conducting ad-hoc research and analysis on players or the game of baseball in general
  • Watching video to provide written evaluations and insights to coaching staff, helping to shape game strategies
  • Supporting on-field video and data collection and operating game-prep technology 

Candidates with excellent knowledge of baseball rules and strategy and strong time management and organizational skills will excel here. Proficiency in video editing software and tools like R, Shiny, or similar platforms is helpful but not required.

Research & Development
This role is geared towards analytical thinkers passionate about using data to uncover new insights in baseball. Key responsibilities include:

  • Conducting self-directed research using R, Python, SQL or similar tools
  • Working on areas like data acquisition, organization, and cleaning, as well as statistical modeling and visualization
  • Presenting research findings to front office members, coaches, or players, ensuring the work is accessible and actionable
  • Providing logistical support during major baseball events like the Draft or Trade Deadline

In addition to the technological background mentioned above, experience with advanced modelling techniques or other specialized skills (Computer Vision, AI, Bayesian Modeling, Anomaly Detection, Time Series etc.) would be beneficial, but not necessary.

Baseball Systems Development
This role focuses on creating and supporting internal web applications and databases for Baseball Operations. Duties may include:

  • Collaborating with end users to gather requirements, ensuring systems meet operational needs
  • Engineering systems to acquire and store new datasets, improving data accessibility
  • Designing intuitive front-end web interfaces for internal baseball information systems
  • Experiencing and providing logistical support to key points on the baseball calendar

Experience with software engineering, web development, and database management is important, and examples of relevant work can be helpful in demonstrating your capabilities.

Biomechanics/Sports Science
This role is for candidates passionate about using Biomechanics or Sports Science to uncover insights about baseball and eager to apply their academic background to baseball. Responsibilities may include:

  • Conducting data-driven research, using biomechanical data to inform player improvement strategies
  • Working hands-on with players and staff to support data-collection and provide real-time feedback on movement and performance
  • Staying up-to-date with the latest research in biomechanics, applying insights to support Player Development and High Performance
  • Collaborating closely with R&D and Player Development to align research with player development goals

In addition to your academic background in this subject area, proficiency in statistical programming and data visualization is a plus but not required.

To apply: 
Please follow this link: General Baseball Operations Entry Level Opportunities


We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Toronto Blue Jays.


Sunday Notes: Drew Gilbert Grew Up a Twins Fan (and Loves Playoff Baseball)

Boyhood allegiances typically go away after a player is drafted and signs with a team other than the one he (or she) grew up following. Drew Gilbert isn’t necessarily an exception to that rule, but the 24-year-old St. Paul native does retain a soft spot for the Minnesota Twins.

“I think that happens a little more so as you get older, not necessarily exactly when you sign,” said Gilbert, whom the Houston Astros drafted 24th overall in 2022 out of the University of Tennessee. “You move around a lot. I went from Minnesota to Tennessee, and then once you get drafted you go around the country with different affiliates. I don’t want to say you lose the fandom, but it naturally goes away a little bit. That being said, when [the Twins] were in the playoffs last year it was still super fun to watch. Of course, any time you get playoff baseball, no matter who you’re rooting for, it’s a cool thing to watch.”

The 2023 Twins aren’t the only team he’s had reason to root for in the postseason. The Astros won the World Series in his 2022 draft year, and his new organization’s parent club has a chance to do so this year. The New York Mets acquired Gilbert as part of last summer’s Justin Verlander trade deadline deal. Read the rest of this entry »


Leo Jiménez’s ‘The Beaning of Life’

Gerry Angus-USA TODAY Sports

A ballplayer who grabs a bat and steps up to the plate aims to hit. The point of the sport is to go around the bases, and the most efficient way to do that is to put wood on the ball and hope for the best. But it’s far from the only way to go around the bases.

Sometimes you hit the ball, and sometimes the ball hits you. I’ve long been fascinated by players who use their own bodies as a means of advancement, dating back to when I, as a child, read a George Vecsey feature on the single-season hit-by-pitch leader in an old anthology of baseball writing. “Ron Hunt, Loner,” painted a broadly ambivalent portrait of a second baseman with modest physical gifts. But Hunt made two All-Star teams and retired with the same career OBP as Shohei Ohtani, despite playing in the most pitcher-friendly era of the past 100 years.

Those who are able to systematize the hit-by pitch can transform their careers. Read the rest of this entry »


Toronto’s Joey Loperfido Talks Hitting

Reggie Hildred-USA TODAY Sports

Statistically speaking, Joey Loperfido has gotten off to slow start in his major league career. Over his first 222 plate appearances, the lefty-hitting outfielder is slashing just .229/.281/.371 with four home runs and an 86 wRC+. Those numbers are split fairly evenly between two organizations; the 25-year-old Loperfido was traded from the Houston Astros to the Toronto Blue Jays shortly before July’s trade deadline as part of the four-player Yusei Kikuchi deal.

He’s projected to produce more than he has thus far. The Duke University product put up a .933 OPS in Triple-A prior to making his major league debut at the end of April, and as Eric Longenhagen explained in mid-June, Loperfido “has done nothing but perform since breaking into the pro ranks.” Our lead prospect analyst assigned Loperfido, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2021 draft, a 45 FV while ranking him third on our 2024 Astros Top Prospects list.

Loperfido sat down to talk hitting when the Blue Jays played at Fenway Park in late August.

———

David Laurila: Let’s start with one of my favorite ice-breaker questions in this series: Do you approach hitting as more of an art or as more of a science?

Joey Loperfido: “I think it’s somewhere in between. When you look back at it, you can see the parts that would be considered more of a science. But when you’re doing it, and as you’re feeling it, a lot of it is an art. There are a lot of calculated actions and movements, and for me that’s kind of the question of feel versus real.”

Laurila: How has that perspective evolved over the years? When you’re a kid, you’re basically just up there swinging a bat… Read the rest of this entry »


Top of the Order: Waiver Wire Roundup Part II

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Tuesday and Friday I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love.

The final stretch of the season is now upon us, and it sure is going to be fun. The Orioles and Yankees are jockeying for the AL East title, with a first-round bye almost certainly going to the winner. The NL Wild Card is a beautiful mess, with four teams fighting for the three spots and two other clubs, the Cubs and Cardinals, still lurking in the distance. And the under-the-radar Tigers are roaring, trying to pull out a last-minute postseason berth after selling at the trade deadline.

Last month, when I wrote about the players who were added off the waiver wire, I mentioned that another batch of waiver claims would come at the end of August, after more teams fell out of contention. So now that we’re well into September, let’s take a look at some of the notable players who’ve switched teams over the last few weeks.

Read the rest of this entry »


Sunday Notes: Jaden Hamm Is Riding High as a Tigers 2023 Draft Gem

Jaden Hamm was surprised when he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in last year’s draft. That it happened in the fifth round wasn’t unexpected — he’d been projected to go in the three-to-five range — but the organization he would soon ink a professional contract with certainly was. The right-hander out of Middle Tennessee State explained it this way when I talked to him prior to a game at West Michigan’s LMCU Ballpark last month:

“I get a call [from my agent] and he’s like, ‘The Tigers are you taking you in the fifth,’” Hamm recalled. “ I was like, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘The Tigers.’ I was like, ‘I know who you said, but I didn’t expect that.’”

Subterfuge played a role in the surprise. Hamm had talked to Detroit’s area scout only a handful of times during his junior season, and while he went to the draft combine and had meetings with teams. the Tigers weren’t one of them. His best guess was that he was going to be drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, or Houston Astros. That none of them — nor any other team — pulled the trigger in time has turned out well for the Tabbies. Hamm has emerged as the second-best pitching prospect in Detroit’s system, behind only shooting star Jackson Jobe.

The numbers tell a big part of the story. In 99 innings with West Michigan, the 22-year-old (as of earlier this week) Hamm has overpowered High-A hitters to the tune of a 2.64 ERA, a 3.10 FIP, a 30.6% strikeout rate, and just 73 hits allowed.

Another part of the story are Hamm’s metrics, which include 20-21 inches of vertical ride on his low-to-mid 90s four-seamer. Learning how best to employ his heater is yet another part of how he’s gone from relatively unknown to a breakout prospect. Read the rest of this entry »