Pillar dives into Jays outfield battle
Lesson learned after tirade, confident Jay hits stride with 2015 job up for grabs
Kevin Pillar may have had an unfortunate slip of the tongue with the Jays this season, but he’s making a case for regular playing time in centre field in 2015.
Pillar has made headlines all week long, hitting .500 over the last five games. In the bigger picture, he and Anthony Gose have become a platoon option as Colby Rasmus heads for free agency.
This is a huge development for Pillar. Only two months ago, he was unceremoniously bounced back to Triple-A Buffalo — in part because of a tirade after being pinch-hit for with the Jays.
Pillar has worked hard on his swing and plate approach, while never ceasing to believe in himself. In the offseason, he works with the Phillies’ Marlon Byrd and Byrd’s personal hitting coach, and he learns whatever he can from veteran teammates such as Edwin Encarnacion.
The hard work is starting to pay dividends.
“I don’t see much change in his demeanour, but I see a different guy than last year,” Jays manager John Gibbons said recently. “He was way too aggressive at the plate, swinging at a lot of pitches, but this year he’s taking away the outside of the plate (from pitchers) and using more of the middle of the plate. He’s just a good baseball player, a good hitter, the type of guy who helps you win ball games.”
Pillar spoke at length this summer about his dugout display after Gibbons pinch-hit for him — and he obviously learned a hard lesson there — but he hasn’t lost any of the confidence that made him react that way, confidence that was mistaken for pouting.
“When I went home after last season, I really thought about what needed to be done and (how) make those adjustments,” Pillar said. “I’d been watching Edwin, the adjustments he had to make to have success, and I tried to mimic his swing a bit. Last year was also the first time I began watching video seriously. I hit all winter with Marlon . . . and I give him a lot of credit for helping me with my swing. “I came into spring training . . . and some people didn’t like (my swing), so I changed back to a more conventional swing. But I went back to what I was working on and I just asked people to be confident in that. You see some great players, they take advice and coaching, but they make it work their way. You see Jose Reyes, not a lot of guys hit like him, and then Jose Bautista, he has that big leg kick. I saw Miguel Cabrera and other guys, too, and I modeled my swing after them. Playing every day helps a lot, too, because you see every pitch a pitcher has. When it comes into a big situation, you’ve seen everything he has and you can be more confident in your approach.” Pillar needed rock-solid confidence entering this season in large part because his swing and pitch selection were flawed. It left him as a marginal prospect, one who’d excelled at every level of pro ball except the majors. He began the process of fine-tuning his swing with Byrd over the winter. The two lived near a Chatsworth, Calif., batting emporium owned by Doug Lotta, Byrd’s coach. The place was equipped with high-tech monitors that helped break down swings and map them against different pitches. “I started hitting in November and wasn’t comfortable until after the all-star break this summer,” Pillar said. Now, almost a year after he began tearing his swing apart and rebuilding it, Pillar is producing the results he’s capable of.