Saunders back under Jays’ wing

A year ago, Canadian Michael Saunders was about to realize a career highlight when he was named as the Blue Jays’ representative to baseball’s all-star game.

It’s mostly been downhill for the Victoria-born outfielder since, with the low point coming recently when a struggling start to the season resulted in being released by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Now the Jays are giving the 30-year-old a shot at resurrecting his career, signing Saunders to a minor-league deal on Wednesday.

“(Management) mentioned they wanted to do it and I (agreed),” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Send him down to triple-A (Buffalo) and see if we can get him going. You never know. Mike’s one of the good guys, a real pro.”

Even though there was a need for help in left field, the Jays didn’t re-sign Saunders in the off-season and he landed in Philly, where he was given a one-year, US$8 million contract. But after struggling at the plate with a .205 average and just 20 RBI, he was released Sunday.

With so many Jays outfielders injured, at the very least Saunders is a low-risk depth signing. If he can find some form at the plate, it will be an added bonus.

When Saunders was named to the American League All-Star team last summer, he was batting a solid .298 with 16 homers and 42 RBI. His numbers went south after that, however, as he hit just .178 with eight homers and 15 RBI.

The Jays are making an aggressive last-minute pitch to get Justin Smoak to the top of fan voting for this year’s all-star game.

Once again Smoak’s teammates were wearing “THIS JUSTIN: SMOAK THE VOTE” T-shirts during batting practice before Wednesday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.

“It’s pretty cool,” Smoak said. “I think it’s awesome for the organization to do something like that. It’s just a pretty cool idea.”

The latest voting results released Monday showed Smoak was just 71,000 votes behind the Royals’ Eric Hosmer for the lead among AL first basemen.

Balloting ends Thursday.