BLUE JAYS VS. RANGERS
Bautista goes deep in the heart of Texas in opener
Jose Bautista, no fan favourite in Arlington, launches one into the seats in Monday night’s series opener against the Rangers, which ended after the Star’s deadline. Read Rosie DiManno’s report on Star Touch and at thestar.com.
In many ways, Kendrys Morales is almost a mirror image of Edwin Encarnacion.
Same quiet and shy nature in the clubhouse. Same sweet, dimpled smiles. Same powerful home run swings. On Sunday, back at the Rogers Centre, Morales deposited a monster shot in left that flew 464 feet. Encarnacion super-duper dimensions.
Two-and-a-half months into the season, Morales — the free-agent DH signed as a replacement for beloved Double-E — is just about neck-and-neck in long-ball swat with the Blue Jay-turned-Cleveland Indian, ahead of him in RBIs and slugging percentage, behind him in strikeouts and near even in batting average.
What’s perhaps most distinctive about the 33-year-old Cuban is that he absolutely devours blazing fastballs, the harder the better, 99 m.p.h. not a problem. He’s at his most aggressive at the plate when seeing heat (537 of them entering Monday night’s game here) with a 23 per cent whiff/swing ratio. He’s hitting .337 off fastballs.
A third of his 15 jacks have come off sinkers. Breaking balls, however, befuddle him — as they had through early June — but that’s a defect characteristic of the entire Toronto lineup.
“To be honest, I know what the pitcher likes to throw before I go to hit,” Morales was explaining Monday. “And then I react. I have no idea how come I have better success off fastballs 96, 97, 98 miles an hour.’’
At that velocity, it’s impossible to imagine that Morales can actually see the pitch type coming out of the thrower’s hand. “No, not much time to see the ball. It’s all about preparation. You have to know what you’re looking for when you’re in the on-deck circle.”
The teammate most beholden to Morales is fellow switch-hitter and the club’s surprising home run leader, Justin Smoak, who’s hit just behind him in the fifth spot through 42 games since being elevated in the batting order.
“It helps me big-time because our first three guys are righty,” says Smoak, referring to Kevin Pillar, Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. “So, when we’re facing a righty and he gets in there left-handed, you see what they do to him. I can kind of somewhat expect they do the same thing to me.
“You can kind of see what to expect because there’s a lefty in front of you, which we don’t have that many of — a power left-handed hitter, to be able to see what they do to him. And I can kind of expect the same thing.’’
But here’s the thing: Morales has arguably been a detriment to Smoak in their four-five hitter bracket. Because getting runners on base — the often AWOL yin to the team’s long-ball yang — and moving them over has become their ridiculously stark weakness.
Of Smoak’s 19 four-baggers heading into Monday night, 11 had been solo shots. All that heft and pffft, one straggly run comes across the plate. So, either Morales has cleared the bases ahead of him or, as is more often the case, Morales hasn’t got on base — and especially through a dim-wattage June, neither has Bautista.
And it happened again in the second inning Monday: slow-footed Morales retired on a 3-4-1 put-out that should have been a single into right, followed by Smoak stroking a beauty deep into right-centre for No. 20, tying his career high. And, yup, a solo shot.
Donaldson, for one, is respectful of Morales’ bat and his ease with scorching fastballs. “You have to be able to relax and be able to still recognize location and pitch, and really just anticipate a fastball at that speed, then know what type of swing it takes in order to be able to put the barrel on it.”
Yet the former MVP is quite frank about the cascading effects of a lineup with Morales and Smoak back-to-back with a dearth of baserunners for either — especially Smoak — to usher home.
“For the most part, our three and four guys aren’t getting on base enough,” says Donaldson. “Bautista’s known to be .380 to .400 (onbase percentage) and I don’t think he’s anywhere near there right now.” (Actually, he’s .337.) “I’m not sure where Kendrys Morales is, but I can’t imagine he’s a very high onbase guy.’’ (He’s .307.)
“So the fact of it is, if those guys aren’t getting on base, then (Smoak’s) going to hit solo home runs. With that being said, I think the proper question is: Where would he need to hit in order to have guys on base ahead of him?”
Indeed, that’s a subject that Donaldson said the players have discussed with the coaching staff. “Trying to figure out a way for some of our guys, like Smoky, who is really hitting well, to figure out a spot to take advantage of it.”
Thus, the question is afterwards put to manager Gibbons: Why is he so attached to this lineup configuration?
“You kind of hope if one of them doesn’t knock ’em in, you’ve got the other guy,” shrugs the manager of his Morales-Smoak tandem.
But the truth of the matter is that Gibbons doesn’t much like juggling his lineup. Essentially, Smoak has been eating Morales’ dust — good and bad — since they were first yoked (due to injuries elsewhere) on April 22.
“You know, I can be stubborn,” Gibbons acknowledges.
At this point, the discussion was whether Morales and Smoak should be twisted apart and maybe Bautista dropped in the order, flipping with Smoak.
Well, that’s entirely too radical a concept for Gibbons.
“I’m a patient guy. Guys who have always done something, I like to just leave ’em alone because they’ll come out of it. “With certain teams, you start juggling too much, that causes more chaos.” S’fine with Smoak. “Guys in our lineup, from one through nine, can hit homers. J.D. hitting second, Bats in third. Can happen anytime. The key is being able to do it with runners in scoring position. Being able to get those runs in.’’
Off Smoak’s eight home runs with runners on? Eighteen RBIs.
What a colossal waste.