Toronto Blue Jays: Devon Travis Still a Question Mark

Is the delay in Devon Travis’ recovery just a minor hurdle, or the prelude to another injury-marred season for the Toronto Blue Jays second baseman?

The Toronto Blue Jays have to be encouraged by what they’ve seen on the field so far from 26-year-old second baseman Devon Travis. In two major league seasons, he owns a .301/.342/.469 slash line along with 19 home runs and 85 RBI.

The only problem is that he hasn’t taken the field nearly as often as they would have liked. Travis appeared in a total of 163 games between 2015 and 2016, missing significant time in both seasons.

Travis is once again working his way back from an injury this offseason, and with Spring Training in full swing, it’s unclear when he will be able to return to game action for the Jays. The second baseman underwent offseason knee surgery to remove a flap of cartilage after suffering a bone bruise late last year.

Per Sportsnet.ca, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is unsure whether Travis will be ready for Opening Day:

"“To be honest I don’t know when he’s going to be back and ready to go,” Gibbons said. “It’s one of those things where if it costs him a couple of weeks, or whatever it might be, at the beginning of the season, so be it. As long as we get him back and he can still get a full year in.”“I expected him, to be honest, to be a little further along than he is, but we’re going to be cautious with him,” Gibbons added."

For what it’s worth, Travis himself is confident that he’s not too far away. He’s been taking batting practice and going through fielding drills as he works himself up to game shape.

“Everything’s going good,” Travis said, also via Sportsnet.ca. “I’m just taking it day by day. Swinging feels great and moving around’s starting to feel better and better.”

The Blue Jays will hope that, at the most, Travis only has to miss a little time at the beginning of the upcoming campaign. Darwin Barney would likely fill in at second in the meantime. However, one thing is all too clear: Travis will need to put a mostly healthy season under his belt before the club can truly trust him to be part of their long-term plans.

The clock isn’t ticking on Travis by any means. He just turned 26 in February and is under team control through the 2020 season. But his inability to avoid injury thus far in his young career has certainly been troubling.

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After looking like an early Rookie of the Year candidate through the first couple months of 2015, Travis suffered a left shoulder injury in late May, requiring a trip to the disabled list. He returned for about a month before re-injuring the shoulder near the end of July, cutting short his rookie season at just 62 games.

Travis made his 2016 debut on May 25 and was able to play in 101 games during the regular season. He appeared in two postseason games before succumbing to the bone bruise he is currently dealing with.

If the Jays can take any solace in the situation, it should be in the fact that Travis’ 2016 regular season was more or less uninterrupted once he finally returned. And while any injury is hardly a good thing, at least the second baseman’s latest affliction was not a recurrence of his previous shoulder woes.

The 2017 campaign will be a big one for Devon Travis as he attempts to show the Blue Jays what he can do over the course of a full season. This is a lineup that has already changed significantly with the departure of Edwin Encarnacion. It could change further with Jose Bautista potentially becoming a free agent again if his mutual option isn’t exercised after the season, and Josh Donaldson eligible to test the market after 2018.

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Knowing they can depend on Travis for the foreseeable future would be a relief for a Jays team that aims to compete in the AL East for the long haul, despite the young talent boasted by the rival Yankees and Red Sox. But until he gets back into a game, he remains a question mark.

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