Toronto Blue Jays: 5 biggest surprises so far this season

5) Pillar adds offence to defence

Kevin Pillar the defensive marvel we’re all used to. Blue Jays fans have become accustomed to regularly seeing him perform his Superman act in the outfield, during his career in Toronto.

However, Pillar the offensive hitting machine is another matter altogether. Where the heck has this guy come from?!?!

Never the best of hitters in general, the 29-year-old had seen a dip in several areas of his game over the past three seasons. Chief among these were his batting average and RBI totals.

However, maybe we should have seen signs that Pillar wasn’t an entirely lost cause at the plate. After all, consider that last season he set career highs for home runs and slugging percentage.

Regardless, the West Hills, California native’s resurgence has been a pleasant surprise this year. Everywhere you look, he appears to be on course for career highs from an offensive standpoint.

This includes hits, home runs, RBIs, walks, batting average, OBP, SLG and OPS. Yes, it’s still early in the season, but this still makes for impressive reading, particularly the batting average and OPS.

So, what led to this increased potency at the plate? As pointed out by Tip of the Tower‘s Jasmine Yen, Pillar was inspired by how teammate Justin Smoak has turned his fortunes around.

As reported by Sportsnet‘s Ben Nicholson-Smith, Pillar recently said: “I’m really focused on getting good pitches to hit and if they don’t show up, then I don’t swing.”

It will be interesting to see if the centre fielder can sustain this level of consistency for the duration of the season and beyond. If he can, the Blue Jays will reap the benefits for the foreseeable future.