Blue Jays Bench Jesus Sanchez in A’s Series Opener After Another Fielding Error
· Yahoo Sports
The Toronto Blue Jays won’t have Jesus Sanchez in the lineup in their series opener against the Athletics.
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Toronto is coming off a series win over the Kansas City Royals, but lost on Sunday by a score of 6-1. In the loss, Sanchez made another fielding error as he dropped what appeared to be a routine fly ball to left field.
The Blue Jays enter play with a record of 72-72 and are 0.5 games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the final Wild Card spot.
First pitch is set for 10:05 p.m. ET.
Toronto Blue Jays Bench Jesus Sanchez
GettyBlue Jays bench Jesus Sanchez in A’s series opener.Toronto acquired Sanchez this offseason from the Houston Astros for Joey Loperfido in a one-for-one swap. The Blue Jays wanted more power, which is what Sanchez provides; however, he hasn’t lived up to expectations.
Sanchez has been awful in the field, as he’s barely been playable. Myles Straw has seemingly become the full-time left fielder, and after another error on Sunday, Sanchez is back on the bench and won’t start on Monday.
The Blue Jays lineup on Monday is as follows:
- B. Bateman CF
- G. Springer DH
- V. Guerrero Jr. 1B
- A. Kirk C
- K. Okamoto 3B
- N. Lukes RF
- E. Clement 2B
- A. Giménez SS
- M. Straw LF
Dylan Cease will start for the Blue Jays in the series opener.
Sanchez, meanwhile, is hitting .260 with 8 home runs and 35 RBIs and an OPS of .738. However, with how bad the fielding is, Sanchez’s bat needs to be much better, which is why Blue Jays manager John Schneider hasn’t been using him much and instead trusts Straw and his defense.
Defensively, however, Sanchez has committed 3 errors and has a -8 defensive runs saved this season, according to Baseball-Reference. Sanchez could have even more than 3 errors, as some fly balls he’s dropped haven’t been called errors, and have been made some poor throws to the wrong base that haven’t been called errors.
So, due to his poor play, Sanchez seemingly now plays just once or twice a week.
Schneider Sends Message to Sanchez
After the Blue Jays lost to the Royals, Schneider was asked about Sanchez dropping the fly ball. Toronto’s manager felt like Sanchez battled the sun but it is a fly ball he has to catch.
“I think he was battling the sun a little bit, but it looked like he had a beat on it. He kind of just missed it. Got to get better. We’ve got to make sure we’re playing tight. We’ve got to not give anyone extra outs,” Schneider said.
The mistakes continue to pile up for Sanchez in the outfield, and with the Blue Jays battling for a playoff spot, they can’t afford to keep playing him.
So, at this point of the season, Sanchez may just be a DH and a pinch hitter.
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