Welcome back to Blue Jay of the Week! Where the Jay who has contributed the most along, with two runners up, is acknowledged.
Edwin Encarnacion Has Found His Swing
The Toronto Blue Jays had a fairly successful week, winning four out of their seven games. Most importantly, they took three out of four games from the Baltimore Orioles, shrinking Baltimore’s division lead to just two and a half games. Winning a series against a division rival is a difficult task and you need your best players to be your best players. The Blue Jay of the Week exemplifies this, but the runners up may be surprises.
Runners Up
Kevin Pillar
Kevin Pillar is well known for his spectacular defense, earning the nickname of Superman from the Blue Jay faithful. However, this week Pillar was fantastic at the plate, having himself five multi-hit games. With eleven hits in total, Pillar also had two home runs and five RBI to his name. Pillar has struggled with his bat this season, and was demoted from the leadoff role earlier in the year. His presence at the bottom of the order forces opposing pitchers to challenge him, as they do not want the line up flipped over to all of the big bats at the start of the order. This means that Pillar is seeing more fastballs than he was at the beginning of the year. As Pillar has shown repeatedly he is a very good fastball hitter, evidenced by the performance he put on this week. If Pillar can couple consistent hitting with his consistently fantastic defense, he is one of the best players on this team.
Jason Grilli
Newly acquired reliever Jason Grilli had a stellar week pitching in four games out of the bullpen. He only allowed a single run during his four appearances, while striking out ten. His solid relief appearances also included a save on Sunday against the Orioles. He also closed out another game earlier in the week, showing passion and excitement with his new squad. What made him so good this week was his control; he has a good arsenal of pitches, including a fastball with low- to mid-nineties velocity that seems faster than the speed reads. When he is able to locate his fastball, he is a very good pitcher, as was the case this week.
Blue Jay of the Week
Edwin Encarnacion
Was there ever any doubt? Edwin had a monster week, with big hit after big hit. Even though he only had six hits this week, five of them were for extra bases (two doubles and three home runs), and he contributed eight RBI. Though his line may not be as impressive as it has been in other weeks, it was the timing of his hits that set him apart this week. He had big hits in big situations, including a walk off home run against Baltimore.
With a fantastic week last week and another this week, it looks like he has found the swing that was so successful last season. As a guy that pitchers stay away from, he often finds himself getting only one or two pitches that he can really hit. The difference between Edwin when he is hitting well and when he is slumping is that when he’s on, he doesn’t miss his pitch. Right now, he is being patient up there and is waiting for his pitch, and he isn’t missing it when he gets it. Expect this hot streak to continue as Edwin looks to defend his title of Blue Jay of the Week.
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