DUNEDIN, Fla. -- If the 2022 Blue Jays had leaned any further to the right side, they would have fallen over.
They entered the season with a lopsided lineup that was loaded with right-handed bats, and as the season rolled on, it became even more pronounced.
The Blue Jays took 4,638 at-bats from the right side, easily the most in Major League Baseball. In fact, it’s the most right-handed at-bats a team had taken in 30 years, going back to the 1993 Rockies. Toronto’s 917 at-bats from the left side last season were also the fewest by a wide margin, and the fewest any club had taken since those same '93 Rockies.
The difference? The Blue Jays led the league in average, ranked second in OPS and won 92 games. That '93 Rockies team, on the other hand, went 67-95. What the Blue Jays were doing was working -- even if it was extremely unconventional -- but the theme of their offseason has been rebranding, taking a new approach to the same old problem of getting over the hump in the postseason.
Hitters notice this, too. When Bo Bichette was asked earlier in camp about the club’s new lineup, which features three new lefties in Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier and Brandon Belt, it was clear this was something he’d thought about before.
“Last year, I think we were like two months in and I had 15 at-bats against lefties,” Bichette said. “Maybe that will change.”
Perhaps it runs in the family. Bichette’s father, Dante, was one of the stars of those '93 Rockies.
Now that the Blue Jays are more balanced, though, every batter in the lineup should benefit, not just the lefties.
“If you’re facing a lineup of nine righties, you’re dialing in a simple approach as a right-handed pitcher against our lineup in years past,” said manager John Schneider. “Having that mix-and-match is going to be good. When bullpens are getting deployed, that hopefully puts us in better spots late in games, too.”
More goes into lineup construction than just handedness, though.
In the modern game, front offices and coaching staffs evaluate how batters will fare against individual pitches, release points or velocities. A righty throwing 99 mph with a hard slider is different than a righty throwing 91 mph with a mixed bag of soft secondary pitches. A batter’s swing tendencies, bat path and pitch selection are all considered.
“We’ve targeted guys who can do specific things from different sides of the plate versus certain pitch types,” Schneider added. “That part of it is pretty cool, too. You can hopefully avoid a massive amount of pinch-hitting, but when there’s an opportunity to do so, you can still do that.”
In April or May, this might not matter much. The Blue Jays’ lineup is talented enough to mow through opposing pitching, just like it did in 2022 and the season prior. There’s power from top to bottom, and with the new rules implemented for '23, Toronto should have no trouble turning its athleticism into more stolen bases.
Where this will really shine, though, is October. If the Blue Jays are able to make another postseason run, they’ll be getting each club’s best relief pitchers every single day. By October, contenders have loaded up their already stacked bullpens, often giving them the ability to soften a lineup that skews heavily towards one type of hitter.
The Kiermaier and Varsho additions had other factors, most notably on defense, but it’s the Belt signing that could really make this lineup tick. Well, tick differently.
“What they did this offseason in adding some left-handed hitters to the lineup, I think that’s helpful,” Belt said. “When you only have one side, the pitchers get in a groove and they can roll with that for a while. When you switch it up on them, it’s tougher. I think that’s where I can help out.”
Belt is expected to be the club’s primary DH against right-handed pitching, and he should mix in a few games at first base when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. needs a day off his feet. Cavan Biggio should offer a fourth lefty bat, too, and he should be in the lineup plenty, given his defensive versatility.
All of this should also give Schneider more late-game options, which he was thin on in 2022. Last year’s offense put up numbers, but come October, you don’t always get to play your style of game, and this new-look lineup should finally feature the diversity to do just that.