Toronto Blue Jays: All About Leadoff

Kevin Pillar is set to lead off for the Toronto Blue Jays, but is he the long-term solution atop the Jays’ lineup?

The Toronto Blue Jays have a new leadoff hitter. They had to since the team swapped prototypical leadoff hitter Ben Revere to the Nationals for relief pitcher Drew Storen in a major offseason move.

As manager John Gibbons decided Kevin Pillar is going to try to take the reins as leadoff hitter. I know it’s only preseason, which doesn’t really matter, but Pillar dazzled fans Friday with a leadoff home run in Montreal versus the Red Sox.

To rewind on how we got here, Revere was acquired by former GM (sigh) Alex Anthopoulos last year before the deadline from the reeling Philadelphia Phillies. Revere was paramount to the incredible playoff push the Jays completed. He took over the leadoff spot from Troy Tulowitzki, who clearly is more of a middle of the order hitter. A leadoff hitter is supposed to get on base (and run) for the power hitters behind him to drive him in, and Revere did that very well.

This trade by Atkins is puzzling in the sense there is no incumbent leadoff hitter on the Jays and Revere was perfect in that role. The Jays only went from around .500 to the best team in baseball after Revere’s arrival due in large part to the mass of runs they scored.

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In the question of who else could leadoff, here are a few other potential candidates that were discussed at one point or another.

Troy Tulowitzki: No, he’s just not a leadoff hitter. The Jays won in spite of him in this role until Revere took over. Plus, as said, he’s clearly an RBI hitter, and his numbers suffered when leading off.

Kevin Pillar: Possibly this could work. Pillar, though, seemed most comfortable at the bottom of the order, hitting seventh, eighth, or ninth. He hit .278 last year, which is a solid number. His OBP (on-base percentage) was only .314, which would be very low for a leadoff hitter. However, he has the wheels to steal the leadoff position.

Ryan Goins: Goins was the starting second basemen last year. His second half of the season was remarkable, as he finished with 45 runs. He seemed to also thrive at the bottom of the order with Pillar. With only two stolen bases, Goins does not seem like a great candidate to hit leadoff.

Devon Travis: Okay, here is an interesting proposition… if he’s healthy, which won’t happen anytime soon. Before falling injured last year, Travis hit .304 with a .361 OBP. These are more suitable leadoff hitter numbers. However, last year when Travis hit leadoff, he struggled as compared to other spots in the order. Travis is a young player with good upside if his trajectory stays true.

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Michael Saunders: Saunders was injured last year prior to the season in the infamous sprinkler attack in spring training and missed the entire year. However, over a seven-year career – a decent sample size – Saunders is just a .230 hitter. He hasn’t stolen bases at a reasonable rate since 2012 and 2013 when he stole 13 and 21 bases. Those are not leadoff numbers either. He’s Canadian too, and while the Jays clearly want to make Saunders work, even if he doesn’t hit leadoff, it’s clearly time for Saunders to step up.

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