Anyone who watches baseball, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins included, has to have at least some admiration for the game-changing majesty of a big home run.
But in discussing how he sees his offence being retooled (yet again) for 2025, Atkins made it clear that he’s not overly in love with the long ball.
“Power is the low-hanging fruit to add,” Atkins said when asked if adding some thump to the lineup would be a priority this off-season to help return the team to a legit run-scoring threat. “I think in today’s game, you also have to be cognizant of strikeouts whenever you do (add a power bat.)”
Atkins isn’t wrong in some respects, but is he dismissing one of the key ingredients that made the 2021 and 2022 versions of his team more of a threat on a nightly basis? We can only imagine the amount of internal discussion the Jays have on this subject as they try to solve the puzzle of a team that scored just 671 runs in 2024, it’s lowest output since 1997.
That said, Atkins made it sound as though he believes that a power bat becomes muted when baseball turns to October, a reason he doesn’t see it as a simple solution to his team’s benign output.
“I think that’s something that we have been working very hard to understand, what that means in the playoffs, as well,” Atkins said of the overall importance of loading up a lineup with power hitters. “It’s clear that contact is exceptionally important in the playoffs. That’s proven. So, balancing that with power additions is obviously very important.”
Of course, getting to the playoffs is another thing, a topic for another day (or the next 12 months) as it pertains to the Jays. As an organization under Atkins, the Jays place a high value on versatility and that goes beyond the ability to play multiple positions defensively. Atkins explains that those qualities also apply to what he prefers in a hitter.
“I don’t think (fixing the offence) is as simple as just plugging in a power bat,” Atkins said. “If a power bat is also a very complete hitter, right-handed or left-handed pitching doesn’t matter. They’re on base. Their contact rate is high. There are just so many variables and such a complex equation of scoring runs.
“Talking about the complexity of just hitting and offence, I think there’s more to it than adding power bats. But we’re certainly open to adding a power bat.”
With Vlad Guerrero Jr. the only consistent threat in that area. it’s clear the lack of power the Jays had at their disposal this past season was a liability. Their home run output of 156 in the just completed season was their lowest since 2008 and a crazy slide of more than 100 since they hit 262 just three seasons earlier in 2021.
Atkins has already had a response to that with the short-term answer to implode the hitting department by shuffling the coaching staff and starting from scratch with respect to approach.
“This year, we didn’t drive the ball,” the GM said. “Vlad, he did obviously, certainly in the second half, but we just didn’t drive the ball. We weren’t getting into advantage counts as well. Doing damage is where we saw guys take some steps back.
“That’s something I’ve got to figure out and how we’re supporting them.”
That process began with the dismissal of hitting coach Guillermo Martinez the day after the season ended and moving Don Mattingly back to a bench coach role rather than the mystery offensive co-ordinator title.
And has been a steady refrain over recent off-seasons, the Jays believe improvement from within is part of the solution.
“It warrants some real reflection on the way we’re putting the team together and combining talent,” team president Mark Shapiro said of the offensive woes. “I’m watching the same games as (Atkins) is and it’s just as frustrating for me knowing the amount of talent we have and thinking we should be scoring more.
“Certainly, learning from the past few seasons and some of our offensive disappointment is one of the things we’re seeking to do now. We need to be more thoughtful in how we produce runs.”
Interestingly — but perhaps not surprisingly given he’s the guy in the dugout every day — Jays manager John Schneider has a different take on the issue of what is needed.
“I think (power) kind of takes priority over position, defensively,” Schneider said on the final weekend of the season when asked if he felt his lineup needed more explosiveness. “We still have good hitters that are here and need to to perform better and I think power, yes, and overall doing more damage on the fastball as a group (is what’s needed.)”