FATHER SHOWS BEST?
Papa Pearce enters Blue Jays’ season finally healthy — and ready to display his talents
DUNEDIN, Fla. — Blue Jays utility man Steve Pearce is not a huge social media guy. He’s posted something on Twitter just twice since last August.
But he really should consider updating his Twitter bio. It reads: “I have a beautiful wife, a baby girl and two loving boys (Mojo and Swagger). I play baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays.”
One can assume that Mojo and Swagger are dogs.
On Jan. 31, Pearce and his wife Jessica became the proud parents of a baby boy, young Crew Pearce. And the Pearce baby girl, Jensen, is now five.
“I tell you what, if you can deal with kids, you can deal with almost anything,” Pearce said with a laugh during a break inside the Jays clubhouse at Dunedin Stadium on Monday. “This is a walk in the park compared to having to babysit and all that stuff. I’m back in my comfort zone.”
Pearce seems like a very content man. Not only has he become a proud papa again, he is, for the first time in a while, completely healthy for spring training.
In September 2016, Pearce underwent surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right throwing elbow and wasn’t completely healed by the time he arrived for his first spring training appearance with the Jays last year.
They signed him to a twoyear, $12.5-million US contract in December 2016 and never had a real chance to show what he can do in Toronto. He suffered a strained calf while sliding into second base in a game in May 2017, forcing him togo on the disabled list. Though he had a great middle part of the year — including hitting two walkoff grand slams in the span of four days in July — he began suffering from back problems late in the year and played in a lot of pain.
“That forced me to miss September,” he said. “I was pretty much rehabbing (all the time) trying to my body right. But now I feel great coming into spring training.”
Pearce, 34, is very anxious to give Jays fans a taste of what he can do if healthy for an entire season. Though he only played in 92 games last year, he did manage to hit 13 home runs.
“If I’m healthy ... I mean you guys saw what I did (mid-season). I can put up numbers,” Pearce said.
“I started behind the eight ball last year,” he added. “I had the elbow surgery the prior season, and I only got to play in a handful of games. I missed the first half of spring training. I was trying to prove what I could do, but at the same time I wasn’t ready and I just did my best. I tried as hard as I could. But I made up for it and it’s a whole different year. I’m going into the year healthy.”
It’s been a fairly quiet spring training for the Jays, save for Marcus Stroman’s rants on Twitter concerning arbitration and Josh Donaldson’s ultimatum that he’ll talk no more about free agency. But there have been some rumours floating around that the Jays may be looking to trade Pearce now that they’ve acquired Curtis Granderson and Randal Grichuk. There’s talk that Granderson and Pearce will platoon in left.
Pearce, for what it’s worth, doesn’t seem to be worried about that and welcomes his new teammates.
“I’m just going to prepare like I always prepare,” Pearce said. “Granderson and Grichuk are great players. We’re excited to have them. Good to know them personally. Great guys.”
“We’ll just see what happens during the year,” he added. “A lot of stuff can happen, I could be in left field, I could be at first base, I could DH, just depends on what happens. I’m versatile, I can play all over the place. I’ve played a lot of second in the past couple of years. If they need me to spell anywhere, I can do it, especially now that the elbow’s healthy, the back’s healthy. Just running around out here, I feel great. I know it’s cliche to say, but when people say they feel five years younger, that’s how I feel.”
Pearce gives a ton of credit to his wife Jessica for doing most of the heavy lifting at home while he prepares for the season.
“She’s a trooper. She takes care of me,” he said. “It’s great to have that, especially at this time of year. And having a baby, she knows how important baseball is. She lets me get my sleep so I can come here and prepare for the season. And she takes all the pressure off me. I can’t give her enough credit.”