NEW BEGINNING FOR SHOEMAKER
Veteran starter shows mid-season form in return to mound following knee injury
There has been far too much injury rehab in pitcher Matt Shoemaker’s career, so every time he makes it back to a bigleague mound after a successful recovery, you better believe he appreciates the moment.
And he savours it even more when it’s the first start of spring, everything feels good physically, and the optimism of a strong new season ahead adds to the moment.
The Toronto Blue Jays starter experienced all that and more on Monday at TD Ballpark when he allowed just one hit over 2.2 shutout innings and struck out five in leading his team to a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“All of it. You say any of those words and they all fit,” Shoemaker said when asked whether he felt relief or reassurance in his first game action since suffering a season-ending knee injury just five games into his 2019 campaign. “Most importantly, it’s just really exciting. It’s been a while.
“You fight through injury and surgery and then you’re just excited to be back out there. The excitement starts back up. You’re facing hitters.”
In his first start of the Grapefruit League campaign, Shoemaker tossed 31 pitches, 22 for strikes.
“The fastball felt really good,” Shoemaker said.
Now pitching ... Jose Bautista? According to an ESPN report, former Blue Jays star Jose Bautista is considering a return to baseball as a pitcher. The goal for the 39-year-old, reportedly, is to help the Dominican Republic qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The idea would be for Bautista, who last played in a major league game on Sept. 30, 2018, to return as a two-way player.
According to the report by ESPN, Bautista has been seen throwing a bullpen session in which his fastball was clocked as high as 94 miles per hour.
Throughout his career — mostly as an outfielder and third baseman — Bautista prided himself on his commitment to fitness — and even when he left the Blue Jays following the 2017 season, he attempted to stay in the majors.
The Dominican Republic is one of eight teams playing in the America’s qualifying tournament for Tokyo from March 22-26. Included in that group competing for one remaining spot is Canada, the U.S., Colombia, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Venezuela.
All around, it was a solid day for Jays pitching, as opposed to a day earlier when they allowed 13 runs to a Pirates lineup that bore much closer resemblance to the big-league version.
In all, six Jays pitchers allowed just three hits on the way to the shutout win. At least as impressive was Trent Thornton, who added another notch in his bid for the Jays fifth starter’s spot. Thornton didn’t allow a hit in his three innings of work.
Catcher Danny Jansen continues to impress at the plate, rocking a second-inning offering from Pirates start Mitch Keller over the wall in left field. It was Jansen’s second homer of the spring and brought home Randal Grichuk.
Up next: The Jays, who improved to 6-2-2 in Grapefruit League play, have an off-day on Tuesday — their only one of the spring — before travelling south to Port Charlotte to face the Tampa Rays. It’s expected that Anthony Kay, who came to Toronto in last summer’s deal for Marcus Stroman, will get the start.
Speaking of Kay, Jays GM Ross Atkins said the 24-year-old lefthander is still in the mix for that fifth starter’s spot.
“He’s been great, he really has,” Atkins said. “The thing that stood out the most, and it was something that our pro scouts identified (prior to the trade), was his competitiveness and his lack of fear.
“I think we all know that fear is a normal thing to have. But he seems to tap into it, embrace it. His ability to pitch, the development of his breaking ball seems to be coming. He’s been very encouraging for us.”
With a couple of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in Florida, Jays GM Ross Atkins says the team is exercising precautions and advising players to take extra care.
“We’re following Major League Baseball’s lead on that,” Atkins said. “Making sure that we’re talking to our staff and players about being smart, about all the things that we should be doing.”
Other teams and players are taking it a step further. The Tampa Rays, for example, recommended players take precautions to avoid spread of the virus.
South Korean first baseman Ji-man Choi, for example, asked media from his homeland to interview him outside the clubhouse.