In a ‘take action’ year, Blue Jays reinforce focus on detail at first full-team workout
Posted Feb 22, 2023 12:35:00 PM.
Like so many of his teammates Bo Bichette spent a lot of time in the off-season thinking about how the Toronto Blue Jays can take the next step as a team and deliver some playoff success.
“If you put it in a bubble,” the star shortstop said Tuesday before the club conducted its first full-squad workout of the spring, “it’s maturity, it’s professionalism, it’s preparation before games. Little things on the field, defence, baserunning, more competitive at- bats, all that. We've learned a lot and it’s probably time for us to take action.”
About five hours later, after a hearty round of drills and the first live batting practice sessions of camp beneath a pretty blue sky, manager John Schneider stressed the importance of what’s become mantra at the Player Development Complex.
During his introductory address to players, “the main messages were look around the room and look at what we've assembled here and it's time to take the next step from a really talented team to a team that's going to be really tough to beat every single night,” Schneider relayed.
Gone Campin’
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“What does that entail? That entails running the bases correctly, taking care of the baseball and putting together good at-bats,” he continued. “It's been a conversation that's been going on throughout the off-season with myself and a few of the players already. They've heard the message. But just more like, OK, look around and it's time for us to take the next step.”
Resonance of those words can be found in the zeal with which the Blue Jays have thus far engaged the mundane.
During one set of pick off drills, for instance infielders cheered Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for picking an errant toss out of the dirt, while pitchers cheered Jordan Romano for a particularly crisp strike to Bichette at second, who drew praise for the way he applied the tag.
Asked what maturity and professionalism from his earlier comment meant to him, Bichette replied, “maturity as a professional.”
“At this point, I think we've been through everything,” he added. “We've not had expectations and gone past them. We've had expectations and not quite reached them, as individuals, too, not only as a team. We've been through the ups and downs and we've been through two full seasons now. It's definitely time for us to get where we're going.”
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Part of that is the collective recognition that the path starts with habits and traits ingrained right now.
Kevin Kiermaier remembers how in the spring of 2019, after the Tampa Bay Rays finished third in the American League East at 90-72 to end a run of four straight losing seasons, he and his teammates discussed playing to win because they refused to watch the playoffs from home any longer.
The Rays lost a division series in five games to the Houston Astros that year, fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the World Series the next year and haven’t missed a post-season since.
“With our team, we saw it develop over the years. We were really good and we knew that and each spring training we had new goals, let's take that next step, let's do it,” said Kiermaier. “When I look at these guys in here, we have a ton of good players, it's so exciting, and you need you need players who care and guys who want to win. I know come the eighth inning, if we hit a leadoff double, we're trying to move that guy over. Those are team at-bats and those things go a long way. If we can do that with the personnel we have in here and the pitching and the defence, we're going to win a lot of games and that's fun to think about.”
WHOLE SQUAD READY
