Whit Merrifield’s Offensive Production and the Blue Jays Batting Order

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Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider applied a batting order change as the club headed into its weekend series at home to the Los Angeles Angels. As speculated on last week’s episode of Pitch Clock, Whit Merrifield was at the top of the order. He’s also hitting extremely well since July. What does John Gibbons make of this?

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Whit Merrifield leads Blue Jays’ Batting Order

As David Bastl points out, the second basemen’s offensive production has been off the charts for weeks. At the time of the episode’s recording (Monday, July 31), he had gone 17-for-39 since July 20, hitting .439 in that span, thus bolstering his season average to around .300.

Remembering what was discussed in last week’s episode, “Gibby” jokingly gives credit to whom credit is due.

“I think the guy we need to give credit to is YOU! I thought you were grabbing at straws and sure enough a few days later… I shot the idea down! But you know what, he’s always been a good player, going back to his days in Kansas City.”

The former Jays manager is effusive about Merrifield’s talent and skill set. He can do all the little things right and once in a while surprise opponents with the deep ball (he’s hit nine so far in 2023). However, Gibbons makes it clear that changing the batting order is not an easy decision to make. This brings us to…

George Springer’s Struggles at the Plate

The right fielder has been woefully unsuccessful at the plate since July 20. Even in Tuesday night’s game against the Orioles – which happened after Pitch Clock’s recording – he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. How would John Gibbons handle a delicate situation such as this?

“The key to this whole thing is talking to him instead of just calling him in first thing at the park and telling him they’re doing it (changing the batting order). You gotta prepare sooner than that. ‘Hey, we’re thinking of doing this. Do you have any thoughts on that?’”

John Gibbons goes on to explain that these players deserve some respect for what they have done in the past and what they can do in the future. Announcing to a player, fait accompli, that a lineup change has been made isn’t conducive to success. A head’s up is always the best way to go about such strategy adjustments.