The Toronto Blue Jays should not be as concerned over their 5-3 defeat at the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night, but rather sense a breakthrough of their left fielder Michael Saunders.
Saunders rocketed a 3-1 dealing from Orioles’ starter Ubaldo Jimenez into the right-field seats for a two-run homer that tied the game at 3-3 during the seventh inning. The lefty bat also ripped a double down the right-field line in the second, but that’s not where the problem lies.
The British Columbia native typically melts down at the plate when he is put on the spot. He slashes a line of .213/.300/.383 with runners in scoring position while striking out 33 times in only 99 at-bats this season. Even though teammate Russell Martin was only on first base before the launching, Saunders may be able to use this performance as a springboard into improving his clutch hitting after giving the Jays a chance at winning the middle game of an imperative series with Baltimore.
Saunders SLAM! @budcanadahttps://t.co/M2H3BSVnzb pic.twitter.com/XX1WclNNV5
— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 31, 2016
Even if he can’t keep it rolling, it’s probable that he will fare well at least for a little while since the Blue Jays will play the Orioles four more times this year and possibly in the postseason. Saunders loves everything about the O’s, hitting .420/.492/.840 in 50 at-bats against them in 2016. He likely wouldn’t mind an away playoff series either, having jacked three home runs for a .417/.481/.917 slashing in 24 at-bats this year at Camden Yards.
But Saunders is just a flat-out solid hitter. His season slash is .268/.351/.500 while lifting 21 homers and driving in 51 runs. It would help his situational hitting greatly if the native Canadian can figure out how to strike out less (131 times in 2016).
Regardless, having lethal batters at any time in superstar Edwin Encarnacion, the red-hot Russell Martin, and the consistent hitting Troy Tulowitzki further assists Saunders, who’s slot is usually sixth in the order. If Saunders starts to produce in key moments, opposing pitchers will give in and toss crushable pitches to this dangerous bunch instead.
Dominick Depole is the Toronto Blue Jays Writer at Outside Pitch MLB.
Follow him on Twitter or contact him via e-mail at Dominickdepole@gmail.com.
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