National Post (National Edition)
Debuts spice up Jays’ lost season
TORONTO’S KID PARADE ENLIVENS DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
With a rare off night, New Hampshire Fisher Cats manager John Schneider wouldn’t dare spend it away from baseball.
Not when two of his young proteges made their major league debuts for the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.
And throughout an organization that is enduring gloom at the major league level, Schneider would have had plenty of company watching starting pitcher Sean Reid-foley and catcher Danny Jansen hit the show at the same time.
“It’s a bit of a doubleedged sword the way the big league team is right now compared to what it was in 2015 and ’16 going to the ALCS in back-to-back years,” Schneider said. “It’s a little different type of excitement.
“For us in player development, it’s why we do what we do, to see guys work their way through the system and get up to the big league club. It’s exciting for us and hopefully it’s exciting for the fans to see some of these good young kids coming up.”
For reasons obvious and beyond, it was a magical and memorable Monday in the steamy midwest for both Reid-foley and Jansen, both of whom have been chugging through the Jays pipeline for five years plus.
They formed the pitchercatcher battery in single A and advanced through the pro ladder to double A New Hampshire last season and triple A Buffalo in 2018. And now, what do you know, they hit the bigs together, the first time in an American League pitcher and catcher have done so in 51 years.
“The last couple of days have been overwhelming with all the people reaching out, all the people who have meant so much to me in my
career,” said Jansen, who went 2-for-3 in his debut. “It meant a lot to me and I know it means so much to a lot of people who have helped me get here.”
Schneider would be one of them. A former catcher himself, there was a natural connection in Jansen’s case.
But the Jays have clearly targeted the 38-year-old as the guy they wanted handling their most prized commodities. He’s coached both Reid-foley and Jansen at multiple levels in the organization and he was also tagged to steer the progression of would-be future stars such as Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette.
“I go back all the way to 2012 with (Jansen) in the Gulf Coast League and you remember all those 7 a.m. days throwing and seeing all they hard work they put in and you’re just really happy for them,” Schneider said.
Schneider and Jansen were reunited last season in single A and the manager noticed a maturation in the catcher.
“What stuck out to me was how he handled the pitching staff, how much he cared and the attention to detail he paid to each pitcher,” Schneider said. “Things like that like were impressive.”
So where do the latest prospects to arrive figure in the Jays’ future?
Starting with Jansen, he’s the team’s No. 3 overall ranked prospect (according to MLB Pipeline) and by all accounts is projected to be the team’s catcher of the future.
That means you shouldn’t be surprised if you see more of Jansen behind the plate than Russell Martin for the remainder of the 2018 season and who knows how much of Luke Maile.
“He’s here, he’s going to play,” manager John Gibbons said of Jansen.
Reid-foley’s immediate future doesn’t seem quite as cemented as Jansen’s, but that could change over the next couple of weeks. When he pulled No. 54 over his shoulders on Monday, he was ranked as the Jays’ No. 9 prospect and is certainly one of the top arms in the system.
The challenge Reid-foley was facing on the mound was notably more escalated than Jansen’s, however, though he got it started in style with a 94 mile-per-hour fastball for a strike on his first pitch.
The night of firsts continued for Reid-foley, including a 412-foot, two-run homer allowed off the bat of the Royals’ Ryan O’hearn in the second inning followed immediately by getting Adalberto Mondesi whiffing for the hurler’s first strikeout in MLB.
Reid-foley wound up taking the loss in a 3-1 defeat, pitching five innings. He struggled with his control, walking in the third run of the game with the bases loaded in the fifth, but got out of the frame with no further damage.
There was plenty of emotion attached to the occasion, of course. Jansen’s brother Matthew lives in the K.C. area and was at the game with his wife and two sons while his parents and grandmother made the way in from Wisconsin.
“This is every kid’s dream in little league just to get the call that you are going to be a major league player,” Jansen said. “My brother was a baseball player and my dad was a baseball player. They’ve always dreamt of this and I’m glad they can live that through me.”
The Jays clubhouse isn’t the cheeriest place right now — and why would it be? Besides playing out the string, more than a handful on the roster have uncertain futures with the team. The rebuild is on and who knows what pieces will stick around to join the prospect of all prospects, Vlad Guerrero Jr.?
But there’s no denying a kid making his major-league debut brings enthusiasm. Borucki knows how it felt for him last month and was thrilled that Jansen got a similar opportunity.
“I’m definitely going to be excited for him,” pitcher Ryan Borucki said. “He’s not just my best friend in baseball, he’s my best friend in life.”
With all the turmoil around his future, Gibbons enjoys moments like Monday’s where he gets to facilitate the dream. And his advice was sound.
“There’s only one first game,” Gibbons said. “Good, bad or ugly, enjoy it. It’s not going to make or break your career.”