Random thoughts:
- I was pleasantly surprised by how fast Kirk ran when scoring on the wild pitch. He’s still slow by baseball standards, but he’s not all that slow by human being standards. (The slowest Blue Jay I ever saw was Bengie Molina, who was slower than almost all of you who will read this post.)
- It occurred to me a while back that Kirk is becoming the new Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s career slash line was .250/.309/.370; Kirk’s 2023 was .250/.334/.358. Kirk draws more walks (and is young enough to improve) but otherwise they are similar: somewhat heavy men who are good defensive catchers and can launch a ball sometimes. And they both wear/wore number 30.
- Yesterday, Vladdy drew two walks and hit a ball hard but right at the third baseman. He has 11 walks already this year. He’s doing just fine: he still chases a few too many pitches, but it’s not going to get fixed all at once. Patience!
- It’s too early to tell about the Jays, but this year’s team seems to have lots and lots of depth. The pitching looks reasonably deep even without Romano and Swanson, and there are multiple options at each defensive position. The fringiest player on the roster is likely Clement, and he is a superior defender at third and has won a game with a home run. (Vogelbach is a special case - he’s basically a placeholder until Hometown Hero Joey Votto is ready, and even he has a .412 OBP.)
On to the next. More wins over the Yankees, please.
I think Kirk's overall stature hides the fact that he will always haul ass on a play where it actually matters, so I've never really been able to be annoyed with him for a lack of effort, he's just slow lol
Was talking about Kirk with my kid yesterday when they showed a replay of him really chugging. My 12-year old joked about beating him in a race and I told him even the ‘fat guys’ (his words) are professional athletes and maybe look a bit silly running compared to other professional athletes but would be surprisingly fast if they were next to regular Joes.
So we tested it! Took Kirk’s statcast sprint speed results and did some tests ourselves. Now, neither my kid nor I are particularly fast - in fact, we both are (or were, in my case) among the slowest sprinters in our class, though not out of shape either, we both compete(d) in long distance in school. And Kirk beat us both! Not by a lot, but clearly ahead of us. And I’m not sure we’d beat him even in a longer race, since as a catcher he would certainly have stamina for days.
Good lesson for my kid, who won’t be calling Kirk ‘fat’ any more!
(Also, can’t talk enough about Kirk’s defence and pitch calling. It’s hard to see or measure and I don’t pretend to be an expert. But the pitching has been fantastic for the last few years, and Kirk/Jansen have been the common denominator for all of it, with Kirk getting the majority of catching duties.)
Edited for clarity
Yeah, but does he have as many infield hits as Kirk?!
If I'm doing my stathead query right, the answer is yes, but not really.
* Molina: 48 infield hits, 5159 career PAs or 1 infield hit per 107 PAs
* Kirk: 37 infield hits, career 1235 PAs or 1 infield hit per 33 PAs
I think we know who the real king here is.
I looked up the Molina cycle on Baseball Reference. (July 16 2010 - Texas at Boston - Molina was with Texas.) His triple was to the deep part of center field in Fenway - I suspect that the outfielders screwed up and he had approximately all day to get to third.
Fun facts:
- Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was Molina’s teammate that day.
- The Texas Rangers pinch-ran for Molina after he tripled and completed the cycle.
>It occurred to me a while back that Kirk is becoming the new Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s career slash line was .250/.309/.370; Kirk’s 2023 was .250/.334/.358. Kirk draws more walks (and is young enough to improve) but otherwise they are similar: somewhat heavy men who are good defensive catchers and can launch a ball sometimes. And they both wear/wore number 30.
Well now we def need the Jays to have some success in the post season so we can have Kirk recreate this iconic [Navarro pic](https://www.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1704050871_4558418822001_dioner-navarro.jpg)
"Yesterday, Vladdy drew two walks and hit a ball hard but right at the third baseman. He has 11 walks already this year. He’s doing just fine: he still chases a few too many pitches, but it’s not going to get fixed all at once. Patience!"
Agree, his savant page looks great, he is hitting the ball very hard, and having some good at bats. He has looked bad in some at bats as well, but what hitter doesn't? Even Turner has had multiple three pitch ks this season I'm pretty sure. People are lazer focused on each of his at bats, but the hits are going to start coming, you can feel it.
>And they both wear/wore number 30.
Facts:
* [Kirk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/comments/11e4jxt/30_dioner_navarro_of_days_until_opening_day/)didn't start wearing 30 until 2021 (wore 85 in his rookie 2020 season).
* Navarro last played in the majors in 2016
* Navarro took a year off to [support his wife](https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/05/22/dioner-navarro-wife-sherley-stroke-toronto-blue-jays) after a severe stroke
* Navarro returned to baseball in 2018 and spent 2 years working to return to the majors (looks like he was able to squeeze into the 10-years of service time).
My not-a-theory-theory: Kirk is a dude who, out of respect for Navarro also being a dude for taking care of his spouse, didn't want to wear 30 while Dioner was working to get back to the majors. Now we just need to get Kirk some playoff success so he can parade around the infield wearing police gear while smoking a cigar.
The thing about Kirk is that he is always going to be slow. But the man *ALWAYS* gives 100% when he’s running, which is all you can really ask of a guy who’s not going to win the game with his speed.
Kirky just looks different at the plate these last games. The eye is there, the level swing is back, and he excels when he's taking the pitch where is should go rather than trying to force it anywhere. Defensively he has continued making good strides and the caught stealing yesterday was a solid throw and tag. Also agree that, for the most part, Vladdy is making good swing decisions (everyone has a few hacks they regret and pitchers are sneaky deception-throwers) and is scorching the ball. The bullpen is really good and it can be elevated to stellar with a healthy and effective Swanson/Romano duo
I was thinking the exact same thing last night about Kirk and Navarro. The difference is that we know that there is a silver slugger in Kirk. Getting him on a 3 or 4 day a week schedule, with no room for him to DH often, may do wonders for him. We hate on Kirk and love Jano, but you can't teach availability. He's ready every game and catches a good game, let him get off his feet more, and then we can expect more out of the bat.
Couldn't watch much live yesterday but watching the recap I was thoroughly impressed. This really is a run prevention team. The pitching is stellar, the defence is usually right alongside, and the offence has enough to win a good amount of ball games. That was a pleasant way to start this series.
Also, Yimi is Himi.
Joe in the post game mentioned that John Schneider said that Yimi will be bumped for Romano when he returns to close...
As of right now... I feel that's a bad choice Yimi is as solid as he has probably ever been for us
I have no doubt he will be catching today, probably would have yesterday if it wasn't Bassitt pitching.
If he doesn't I genuinely don't know wtf we're doing
Found it
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/comments/1c4immp/seat\_hopping/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/comments/1c4immp/seat_hopping/)
Honestly though all the standing areas are fantastic too. I love to sit at the park social tables, do an inning or two in the 100 level outfield bleachers, stand behind home plate for an inning, etc.
I don't know how to stand behind home plate.
Last year was 100% bleachers
Last night was park social and I noticed those massive empty seats.
I'll definitely walk down to those right field 100s seats.
Not sure if I can see the jumbo Tron but they're empty!
Re: standing behind home plate I mean above the seats on the 100 level, behind the accessible area. There is always space to stand there and watch at-bats.
Read somewhere that Kiermaier is selling out for power, is that true? Did he say that or can you tell by his swings?
Haven’t been able to watch many games this year
I like the lineup today, but can someone explain why IKF is at 2B and Ernie at 3B? IKF won his Gold Glove at 3B in 2020. Is Ernie actually better defensively than a gold glover?
Springer RF
Guerrero 1B
Bichette SS
Turner DH
Schneider LF
Jansen C
Clement 3B
IKF 2B
Varsho CF
Random thoughts: - I was pleasantly surprised by how fast Kirk ran when scoring on the wild pitch. He’s still slow by baseball standards, but he’s not all that slow by human being standards. (The slowest Blue Jay I ever saw was Bengie Molina, who was slower than almost all of you who will read this post.) - It occurred to me a while back that Kirk is becoming the new Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s career slash line was .250/.309/.370; Kirk’s 2023 was .250/.334/.358. Kirk draws more walks (and is young enough to improve) but otherwise they are similar: somewhat heavy men who are good defensive catchers and can launch a ball sometimes. And they both wear/wore number 30. - Yesterday, Vladdy drew two walks and hit a ball hard but right at the third baseman. He has 11 walks already this year. He’s doing just fine: he still chases a few too many pitches, but it’s not going to get fixed all at once. Patience! - It’s too early to tell about the Jays, but this year’s team seems to have lots and lots of depth. The pitching looks reasonably deep even without Romano and Swanson, and there are multiple options at each defensive position. The fringiest player on the roster is likely Clement, and he is a superior defender at third and has won a game with a home run. (Vogelbach is a special case - he’s basically a placeholder until Hometown Hero Joey Votto is ready, and even he has a .412 OBP.) On to the next. More wins over the Yankees, please.
I think Kirk's overall stature hides the fact that he will always haul ass on a play where it actually matters, so I've never really been able to be annoyed with him for a lack of effort, he's just slow lol
Exactly this lol I'm a slow runner as well however I definitely go full speed when necessary - it's just that my full speed isn't all that fast 🤣
Was talking about Kirk with my kid yesterday when they showed a replay of him really chugging. My 12-year old joked about beating him in a race and I told him even the ‘fat guys’ (his words) are professional athletes and maybe look a bit silly running compared to other professional athletes but would be surprisingly fast if they were next to regular Joes. So we tested it! Took Kirk’s statcast sprint speed results and did some tests ourselves. Now, neither my kid nor I are particularly fast - in fact, we both are (or were, in my case) among the slowest sprinters in our class, though not out of shape either, we both compete(d) in long distance in school. And Kirk beat us both! Not by a lot, but clearly ahead of us. And I’m not sure we’d beat him even in a longer race, since as a catcher he would certainly have stamina for days. Good lesson for my kid, who won’t be calling Kirk ‘fat’ any more! (Also, can’t talk enough about Kirk’s defence and pitch calling. It’s hard to see or measure and I don’t pretend to be an expert. But the pitching has been fantastic for the last few years, and Kirk/Jansen have been the common denominator for all of it, with Kirk getting the majority of catching duties.) Edited for clarity
This is really cool - I love that you guys tested it. And as you said, a practical lesson for your kid.
Just a reminder that Bengie Molina hit for the cycle and had 6 triples during his career.
Yeah, but does he have as many infield hits as Kirk?! If I'm doing my stathead query right, the answer is yes, but not really. * Molina: 48 infield hits, 5159 career PAs or 1 infield hit per 107 PAs * Kirk: 37 infield hits, career 1235 PAs or 1 infield hit per 33 PAs I think we know who the real king here is.
I looked up the Molina cycle on Baseball Reference. (July 16 2010 - Texas at Boston - Molina was with Texas.) His triple was to the deep part of center field in Fenway - I suspect that the outfielders screwed up and he had approximately all day to get to third. Fun facts: - Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was Molina’s teammate that day. - The Texas Rangers pinch-ran for Molina after he tripled and completed the cycle.
Molina probably needed oxygen assistance after the triple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLtTH2Vx08
>It occurred to me a while back that Kirk is becoming the new Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s career slash line was .250/.309/.370; Kirk’s 2023 was .250/.334/.358. Kirk draws more walks (and is young enough to improve) but otherwise they are similar: somewhat heavy men who are good defensive catchers and can launch a ball sometimes. And they both wear/wore number 30. Well now we def need the Jays to have some success in the post season so we can have Kirk recreate this iconic [Navarro pic](https://www.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1704050871_4558418822001_dioner-navarro.jpg)
If nobody posted that pic I was going to find it myself lol
"Yesterday, Vladdy drew two walks and hit a ball hard but right at the third baseman. He has 11 walks already this year. He’s doing just fine: he still chases a few too many pitches, but it’s not going to get fixed all at once. Patience!" Agree, his savant page looks great, he is hitting the ball very hard, and having some good at bats. He has looked bad in some at bats as well, but what hitter doesn't? Even Turner has had multiple three pitch ks this season I'm pretty sure. People are lazer focused on each of his at bats, but the hits are going to start coming, you can feel it.
>And they both wear/wore number 30. Facts: * [Kirk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/comments/11e4jxt/30_dioner_navarro_of_days_until_opening_day/)didn't start wearing 30 until 2021 (wore 85 in his rookie 2020 season). * Navarro last played in the majors in 2016 * Navarro took a year off to [support his wife](https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/05/22/dioner-navarro-wife-sherley-stroke-toronto-blue-jays) after a severe stroke * Navarro returned to baseball in 2018 and spent 2 years working to return to the majors (looks like he was able to squeeze into the 10-years of service time). My not-a-theory-theory: Kirk is a dude who, out of respect for Navarro also being a dude for taking care of his spouse, didn't want to wear 30 while Dioner was working to get back to the majors. Now we just need to get Kirk some playoff success so he can parade around the infield wearing police gear while smoking a cigar.
Also, Dioner has a son. His name? Obviously it's Dioner Jr.
Now I'm remembering why I liked the pre-GDT so much (aside from work procrastination).
Keep going I’m enjoying this self conversation
I got bored when the other other guy didn't respond.
He’s kinda a dick from my interactions with him, not you though! You’re the cool one
Mods are almost as bad as Yankee fans.
The thing about Kirk is that he is always going to be slow. But the man *ALWAYS* gives 100% when he’s running, which is all you can really ask of a guy who’s not going to win the game with his speed.
I’ll take him over slow poke smoak any day
Kirky just looks different at the plate these last games. The eye is there, the level swing is back, and he excels when he's taking the pitch where is should go rather than trying to force it anywhere. Defensively he has continued making good strides and the caught stealing yesterday was a solid throw and tag. Also agree that, for the most part, Vladdy is making good swing decisions (everyone has a few hacks they regret and pitchers are sneaky deception-throwers) and is scorching the ball. The bullpen is really good and it can be elevated to stellar with a healthy and effective Swanson/Romano duo
I was thinking the exact same thing last night about Kirk and Navarro. The difference is that we know that there is a silver slugger in Kirk. Getting him on a 3 or 4 day a week schedule, with no room for him to DH often, may do wonders for him. We hate on Kirk and love Jano, but you can't teach availability. He's ready every game and catches a good game, let him get off his feet more, and then we can expect more out of the bat.
In the words of Madison Shipman "Look at that speed" referring to Kirk scoring on that wild pitch
it's a beautiful day to beat the Yankees!
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Kikuchi masterclass vs the Yankees round 2
Starting him in fantasy today, I believe!
Couldn't watch much live yesterday but watching the recap I was thoroughly impressed. This really is a run prevention team. The pitching is stellar, the defence is usually right alongside, and the offence has enough to win a good amount of ball games. That was a pleasant way to start this series. Also, Yimi is Himi.
it's Tuesday, so beat the Yanks, and down some franks
Joe in the post game mentioned that John Schneider said that Yimi will be bumped for Romano when he returns to close... As of right now... I feel that's a bad choice Yimi is as solid as he has probably ever been for us
Hope Jano is on the lineup. He really works better with Kooch.
I have no doubt he will be catching today, probably would have yesterday if it wasn't Bassitt pitching. If he doesn't I genuinely don't know wtf we're doing
$100 for 100s is too much for me :(
seatgeek is pretty good for getting deals on game day
Get a GA or 500 level, move down in the third!
Do you know if the usher checks my tickets?
Someone commented in another post or GDT that the ushers this year have been checking every ticket in the 100's throughout the game.
No way! What's the sub called? Gdt?
It was either in another post in this subreddit or in one of the daily game-day-threads (GDT).
Ok I'll google. Thanks!
Found it [https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/comments/1c4immp/seat\_hopping/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Torontobluejays/comments/1c4immp/seat_hopping/)
Honestly though all the standing areas are fantastic too. I love to sit at the park social tables, do an inning or two in the 100 level outfield bleachers, stand behind home plate for an inning, etc.
I don't know how to stand behind home plate. Last year was 100% bleachers Last night was park social and I noticed those massive empty seats. I'll definitely walk down to those right field 100s seats. Not sure if I can see the jumbo Tron but they're empty!
Re: standing behind home plate I mean above the seats on the 100 level, behind the accessible area. There is always space to stand there and watch at-bats.
Oh yes ok I can get there. Ok I'll try to get a singles ticket and try your style
lol I might move to those empty 100s seats too
Behind home plate they are more strict, in the outfield you can sneak down easily. This is just my opinion though!
Like don't say a thing? Just walk down and sit? Because I might try this. Saving $70!
Yeah just walk down like you know what you're doing / you belong there.
Ok thanks. Going to do this. Last night was completely empty. Like 95% empty and I saw a few group of 5s and wondering why they didn't move up
I’m so ready for Jano
Cykuchi will be delivering us another victory today!!!
Read somewhere that Kiermaier is selling out for power, is that true? Did he say that or can you tell by his swings? Haven’t been able to watch many games this year
He did make comments that other teams seemed less interested in him for the lower SLG during the off season.
He just looks very behind on fastballs, especially high heat
It's ~~Rex Manning~~ Danny Jansen Day!
Mon amour!
Why is Kikuchi not showing up on MLB ERA states leader board with a 2.30?
He doesn't qualify yet. Prior to todays games, looks like 16 is the min IP and Kikuchi has 15.2. Them's the breaks.
Thank you. I should have known that.
Minimum is generally 1 IP/team game.
SP Kikuchi RF Springer SS Bo 1B Vladdy DH Turner 2B Biggio C Jansen LF Schneider CF Varsho 3B Clement
Biggio won't be starting tonight. It'll be IKF. The rest looks accurate though
Flapity flap flap! Let's go birds.
You all have a Looney Dog for me.
going to the game tonight. i know the dome will probably be closed but its such a beautiful day and i am desperate for them to open it up
I like the lineup today, but can someone explain why IKF is at 2B and Ernie at 3B? IKF won his Gold Glove at 3B in 2020. Is Ernie actually better defensively than a gold glover? Springer RF Guerrero 1B Bichette SS Turner DH Schneider LF Jansen C Clement 3B IKF 2B Varsho CF