As Blue Jays outfielders adjust to one another, adjustment to new dome wall looms, too

DUNEDIN, Fla. – At the start of each go to to a unique ballpark, even ones they’ve been to dozens of instances, John Schneider and Mark Budzinski exit on a reconnaissance mission across the subject. “He’s out there walking it like a madman, hitting balls off the wall,” the Toronto Blue Jays supervisor says of his first base coach, who accepts the barb about his sanity as a worthy trade-off for his diligence.

“John and I both have a thing about it,” says Budzinski, who additionally oversees the membership’s outfielders. “We each prefer to stroll the sector, simply ensure nothing’s modified, no gaps beneath partitions, have they put in cameras up prime wherever simply because the ball can take some hops and the umpires can’t all the time see the whole lot from far-off. So, attempt to get an concept what’s on the market.

“Obviously with the new outfield wall in Toronto, we’re going have a lot of work to do.”

Very a lot so, as not solely should the Blue Jays regulate to new dimensions on the refurbished Rogers Centre, they’ll additionally need to crash course it upon their return to Toronto after a season-opening, 10-game highway journey whereas nonetheless attending to know each other.

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With Schneider and the teaching employees emphasizing consideration to element this spring, that’s meant the prep work is already nicely underway for George Springer, who slides over to proper subject, together with free-agent signing centre-fielder Kevin Kiermaier and commerce acquisition left-fielder Daulton Varsho.

Budzinski has up to now resisted the urge to scour development blueprints for nuggets of data, however “I’ve seen the mock-ups and I’ve seen the distances, the wall heights, things like that.” He’s hesitant to attract any conclusions till he will get the possibility to “literally take a ball, throw it off there, hit it with a fungo off the wall and see what it does.”

“We were just talking in the outfield, we’re not going to see it until we play,” he provides. “We have an off-day (April 10) the day we get back. Whether it’s later that afternoon on the day off or the next day before BP, we’ll get everybody out there to get a feel for it, obviously we want it to be an advantage for us.”

There’s actually a possibility for that as for the primary time for the reason that Blue Jays started play in 1977, they’ll have an asymmetrical outfield wall at house, with slight inward protrusions within the energy alleys and fence heights that adjust from eight ft as much as 14 ft, 4 inches.

Defending in an uncommon house outfield shall be nothing new for Springer, who got here up with the Houston Astros when Minute Maid Park nonetheless featured a 90-foot broad incline on the finish of a 436-foot centre subject referred to as Tal’s Hill. He remembers the odd sensation of “feeling like there was no wall behind you, even though there was – it felt like you could run forever.”

That gained’t be the case at Rogers Centre, though he acknowledges, “it’s definitely going to be a little bit trickier now.”

“Obviously getting there and having an opportunity to walk the track to see how the ball will bounce and to honestly see how the ball will fly, that’s going to be huge for me, especially if I’m playing in the corner,” he provides.

Adjusting to the elite vary of Kiermaier and Varsho after being flanked by Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. the previous two seasons will even take a while and has been one other level of emphasis early in camp.

“It starts with getting out there early and having these conversations of, hey, this is how I like to play, this the way I do it, what works for you, what doesn’t,” explains Springer. “Then, obviously, there’s no experience like getting into games, playing and understanding where he’s going to be or where I’m going to be. It’s all about the reps early and then you get in a game and if you make a mistake, oh well, that’s spring training. The goal is to understand each other so by March 30, it’s a full go and go.”

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An intriguing dynamic is that each one three outfielders are educated centre-fielders, who’re tasked with taking initiative within the subject. For Springer and Varsho, which means studying to defer to Kiermaier, although their intuition could also be to take cost on the ball.

Budzinski sees that as a plus, saying “they know well enough who has authority,” and provides “one of the things I always preach that’s important to me is just go make a play if you can make a play.”

“To have the mentality to go get it, that’s what I want. That’s like a dream,” he continues. “I remember when I first got to the big leagues in 2019 as a coach, Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. (were together in the Boston Red Sox outfield). Those are three centre-fielders, too. It was like, I feel like nothing’s going to fall. That’s what I feel like at this point now. No disrespect to the past or anything, but when you have three centre-fielders out there, you cover a lot of ground and you’ve got to play aggressively.”

Having three elite defenders within the outfield ought to present the Blue Jays with one necessary benefit this season and so they’ll goal to show their new fence dimensions into one other. After 46 seasons of cookie-cutter dimensions at Exhibition Stadium and the dome, their house subject will lastly have some precise character.

“It’s cool that every stadium is different, right?” says Schneider. “Whether you go into Yankee Stadium or Fenway or even Baltimore now just in our division, there’s some little things here and there that you have to get used to and it can be a home-field advantage. At the beginning it’s going to be new for everyone, obviously. But it’s great for the fans, for one, it’s going from a stadium to more of a ballpark, which the experience of the game is going to be night and day. At the same time, it’s our job to get used to it. Playing 81 games there as opposed to a three- or four-game series, we should have a little bit of an advantage.”

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