Why Davis Schneider Doesn’t Feature More in the Blue Jays Lineup

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Over the past weekend when the Cleveland Guardians were in town, the Toronto Blue Jays opted to play Davis Schneider twice in a row (Saturday and Sunday) and that bled into the series against the Nationals this week. It was the first time in a month Schneider received that much consistent playing time. Why doesn’t he play more often?

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Why Davis Schneider Doesn’t Feature More in the Blue Jays Lineup

Fans don’t get to see Davis Schneider that often, but when they do he often makes quite the impression. In 13 games he’s hitting .422 with six home runs and 14 runs batted in. That’s probably not a sustainable pace but the 24-year-old clearly has skills.

So why isn’t he on the field more regularly?

“Analytics is my guess. The big part of sports, especially baseball, is that you play the hot hand. When a guy is hot, he’s hot. They’re confident. The mojo, whatever you want to call it.”

As the old saying goes, if something isn’t broken, then don’t fix it. It’s pretty obvious that Schneider is on a role these days, yet his playtime remains intermittent. Enter the famous, or infamous, baseball analytics.

“What happens sometimes with analytics is ‘Well, this guy’s swing doesn’t match up with this pitcher, or this guy…’ For crying out loud, until he cools off, ride that hot hand. Otherwise, the baseball gods punish you.”

As David Bastl points out, when playoff races heat up, September is the last time of year a club should test the baseball gods’ benevolence.

Entering Tuesday’s match at home against the Washington Nationals, the Blue Jays are 72-60, two and a half games out of an AL Wild Card place.