Meet the Blue Jays' assistant managers, the Schneider boys

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Manager John Schneider has been taking some heat at home.

No, he didn¡¯t forget an anniversary or miss a birthday, but his two boys, Gunner and Grayson, are unofficially interning as the Blue Jays¡¯ new assistant managers.

¡°Especially Gunner,¡± Schneider said, laughing early Thursday. ¡°He¡¯s one of my biggest critics -- along with a lot of other people in the media -- about decision-making, lineup construction and things like that. It¡¯s nice to bounce some ideas off him.¡±

Schneider¡¯s sons have been fixtures at Rogers Centre and Spring Training since he took over as manager in the middle of the 2022 season. You can typically find them in the middle of the pickup baseball games that break out in the tunnels underneath the outfield bleachers after games, the two most energetic kids in the crowd. Now, they¡¯re growing up with their dad in the manager¡¯s chair.

On Thursday, both Gunner and Grayson were on the field with their dad while he ran the Blue Jays through some rundown drills on Field 1 at the club¡¯s player development complex in Dunedin. Spring Training is full of slow, monotonous drills to shake the rust off fundamentals each year, but there¡¯s something about rundown drills that¡¯s always different.

These get lively. Typically, a few players are brought over from the Minor League camp, handed a helmet ¡­ then hunted down on the bases. The pitchers and infielders waiting to the side turn it into an event, shouting at their teammates as they chase down runners, scrambling back and forth in the dirt at 10 a.m.

Some of it gets a little colorful.

¡°Earmuffs, boys!¡± one player said as he ran past.

These moments mean something to Schneider and his wife, Jessy, as their boys are getting older and learning more about what really goes into this job. It¡¯s not quite as easy as playing MLB The Show. That¡¯s why Thursday was a special moment for Schneider to have them around the complex. When the Blue Jays jumped across town to TD Ballpark for their game against the Red Sox in the afternoon, Grayson was there in the dugout next to his dad, in full uniform.

¡°It¡¯s really cool. Grayson, he¡¯s six, and I set that as a Schneider cutoff date to get around the field,¡± Schneider said. ¡°They¡¯re really at the point where they understand the game and understand what I do for a living. They get to know the players, too. For both of them, Grayson and Gunner, it¡¯s good to have them go through this with me, and it¡¯s something that I don¡¯t take for granted.¡±

They¡¯ve got suggestions, though.

¡°Well, let¡¯s see,¡± Schneider said, clearly with a list already in his head. ¡°[Wednesday], he had the top seven laid out. He had a good handle on that. A little bit of a back-and-forth with me and him about where he wanted to hit Santander and Vladdy. I¡¯ll leave that conversation at home.¡±

Gunner and Grayson have become close with plenty of the Blue Jays¡¯ players over the years, particularly those whom Schneider came up with through the Minor Leagues as a manager.

At the 2024 Trade Deadline, Schneider joked that he was dealing with some negative press at home from Gunner after the club traded catcher Danny Jansen to the Red Sox. Jansen, beloved by everyone in the organization, had become close with Schneider¡¯s sons over the years, the two of them growing up around the stadium while Jansen found his footing in the big leagues.

¡°When Jano was scuffling, he would FaceTime Gunner,¡± Schneider said last July. ¡°And Gunner calls home runs ¡®fence balls,¡¯ so he¡¯d be like, ¡®Jano, just hit a fence ball.¡¯ And there was like an 85 percent success when he told him that Jano would go deep.¡±

Prior to Thursday¡¯s game, Gunner came out with his dad to exchange lineup cards and chat with the umpiring crew.

He hasn¡¯t been ejected from his first game yet, though. That comes later in the internship.