Kevin Kiermaier looks to be ‘a game-changer out there’ again with Blue Jays

Baseball

Published 15.12.2022

Kevin Kiermaier looks to be ‘a game-changer out there’ again with Blue Jays

TORONTO – Of Kevin Kiermaier’s 914 big-league video games over a decade with the Tampa Bay Rays, 117 have come towards the Toronto Blue Jays, his most towards any single opponent. Inevitably, that constructed lots of familiarity between the centre-fielder and his new membership, every understanding very nicely what the opposite brings to the desk and what they have been searching for this low season.

Sure, the Blue Jays have been excited about an offensive substitute for the traded Teoscar Hernandez, however greater than that, they wanted a dynamic, up-the-middle defender to tighten up an outfield that’s a transparent space of alternative by way of run prevention.

And sure, Kiermaier wished a staff that might give him common enjoying time after August surgical procedure to restore a torn labrum in his left hip, however he additionally wanted a staff that really believed he’d not solely discover his approach again to previous kind, however even perhaps surpass it.

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So, they matched, pairing up on a $9 million, one-year deal finalized and introduced Thursday, a logo of each how severe the Blue Jays are in attempting to patch the small cracks that stored them from being a extra steady complete in 2022 and Kiermaier’s skill to be a part of the answer.

“Especially from a defensive point, I’m a game-changer out there,” Kiermaier mentioned throughout a Zoom chat with media. “And now that my legs are feeling so much better, I know I can get back to my form (from) before and I want them, pitchers, to know that they can attack these guys, throw the ball over the plate and if it doesn’t leave the yard and if it’s in the air long enough, I’m going to catch it. I’m going to limit runners, guys don’t go first to third on me a whole lot and little things like that matter. Run prevention is my bread and butter.”

There’s no debating that, whether or not you need to depend on conventional measures like Gold Gloves – he’s obtained three of them – and the attention check or superior metrics. On all three, Kiermaier’s obtained it coated.

Blue Jays followers like:

"Wait, we're rooting for this guy now? After all he's done to us??"

Yes certainly.

Kevin Kiermaier leads all middle fielders in Defensive Runs Saved since we started monitoring the stat in 2003

And yes- a bunch of these have come towards the Jays!@OkayKiermaier39 pic.twitter.com/Z9Y7W2F7CQ

— SIS_Baseball (@sis_baseball) December 15, 2022

Those abilities ought to have a dramatic impression on the Blue Jays, whose outfielders ranked 18^th within the majors final season at minus-3 Outs Above Average (a range-based metric that counts what number of outs a defender has saved) and minus-2 runs prevented.

Even in a season by which Kiermaier performed simply 63 video games as a result of what he termed “a shredded labrum,” his Outs Above Average was one, after being at 12 in 2021, when the tear in his hip was first found however he managed to play due to “a band-aid” cortisone shot.

The 32-year-old pegged himself at 85-90 per cent roughly 22 weeks post-surgery and feels “phenomenal” proper now as he hits, runs and trains. If he can get again to the place he was in 2021, not to mention 2019 when his Outs Above Average was 19, whereas sustaining his high percentile arm power and jumps, the profit to Blue Jays pitchers might be vital.

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Offensively, the loss will not be as vital because it seems when evaluating Kiermaier’s numbers to these of Hernandez. As colleague Arden Zwelling identified this week, the Blue Jays gave Raimel Tapia, Bradley Zimmer and Jackie Bradley Jr. 614 plate appearances in 2022 and so they mixed to hit .228/.270/.340 with 10 residence runs.

Given that Kiermaier owns a profession OPS of .715 and was barely higher than the above trio on one leg this yr at .228/.281/.369, there’s already some web offensive achieve. If the Blue Jays do the anticipated and add one other left-handed bat, maybe to play some outfield and contribute at DH, it ought to assist cowl extra of Hernandez’s misplaced manufacturing.

In 2021, Kiermaier posted an OBP of .328 and if he’s in that vary on the backside of the Blue Jays lineup, he ought to simply surpass his profession excessive of 62 runs scored. Factor in his pace and baserunning and he has an opportunity to carry a dimension the membership has lacked and lengthy sought.

“We’ve got so much firepower in there one through nine where if I just do my part, get on base, anything I do from there will be like a bonus type of thing,” mentioned Kiermaier. “I haven’t scratched the surface of my offensive potential yet. And now that I’ve got a better idea of what I want to do and (am) a little bit healthier, I think I’m going to have a great year offensively and I’m really excited to prove that. I like my approach. I like my plan and my game prep. But I know I can learn a lot from all these young, great hitters they have and guys who’ve been there and done that. … I’m working on that and I’m going to do everything in my power to back up what I’m saying.”

Such conviction and dedication is one other a part of what the Blue Jays are shopping for, as his clubhouse presence and the kind of teammate he was with the Rays are elements necessary to them.

Consider that early of their discussions Kiermaier requested the Blue Jays to verify George Springer was OK with a transfer to proper discipline as a result of “he played such a great centre field last year.”

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Or, maybe recognizing a few of the threat the Blue Jays have been taking, him vowing that “I’m going to go out there and try to make Ross Atkins look like a genius.”

Or, the passionate approach he promised to “dedicate myself like I never have before,” and “to do everything in my power to whup up on the Rays, as weird as that is right now.”

All of that, alongside along with his defence, presents the Blue Jays some obligatory parts they lacked in 2022. Delivering on that might be sufficient, and possibly, with alternative in hand, Kiermaier will do much more, too.

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