Toronto Blue Jays’ bats now carrying team, not pitching

After only reaching double digits in runs scored during a game twice in April and May, Toronto Blue Jays players’ bats are beginning to pick up where they left off in 2015.

The club scored over a hundred runs — 891 in all — more than MLB’s second highest scoring club last year, the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays led the league in an astounding number of offensive categories elsewhere, including team HR (232), RBI (852), BB (570), OBP (.340), SLG (.457) and OPS (.797). Toronto also finished second in team batting average with a .269 mark.

Through all their heavy swings and big intentions, miraculously, the Blue Jays were nowhere close to striking out more than any other club. They ranked a distant 24th league-wide in that regard. Leading the offense, of course, was last year’s AL MVP, Josh Donaldson.

Fast forward to the end of June 2016. The Blue Jays are comfortably six games over .500, though those same comfort levels dissipate some in the scope of the division. Like Toronto, AL East counterparts the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox are also winning more games than they are losing, largely thanks to explosive offenses.

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The Red Sox lead MLB in hits (789), RBI (413) and AVG (.288). Meanwhile the O’s sit atop the rankings in home runs (123) and SLG (.474). Currently, 5.5 games separate the third place Jays from the first place BoSox.

Production at the plate has really been heating up for the Blue Jays in June. After a recent 14-9 drubbing of the Rockies at Coors Field, the club has now scored double digits in runs seven times in June. They did so only four times in June of 2015, putting up 156 runs total while going 18-9. As it stands now, the Jays have scored 157 times and are 15-11 with one game left on this month’s schedule.

Compared to last year’s production in left field which featured an inconsistent shuffle of 10 different players getting two or more starts there, a healthy Michael Saunders has brought about a noticeable balance to the position. For much of the season, he’s been the club’s most consistent hitter.

Left fielders scored only 46 runs, hit 16 homers and drove in 36 over the entire course of 2015. Thus far in 2016, Saunders leads his club with a .293 average and has scored 41 times while blasting 15 round trippers to go with 34 RBI. In a matter of days he will have surpassed all previous production by Blue Jays left fielders from 2015.

Toronto Blue Jays

Let’s not forget Edwin Encarnacion, either. The 33-year-old designated hitter has blown by fellow DH David Ortiz this month for the league lead in RBI, with 70. He’s slashed .318/.455/.761 in June, picking up the slack for an injured Jose Bautista, who hasn’t played since June 16.

After a downturn with his bat in May, Donaldson too has improved his game. His average dipped to .256 entering June, but has since shot back up to .293 thanks to a 34-for-91 showing this month with 23 RBI.

The Blue Jays need to be better at winning close ball games. They are 8-13 in one-run games, and one-run games occur a lot in the postseason. Whether it’s an inability or stubbornness toward playing small ball in close situations, it needs to be rectified.

Either the emergence or addition of another dynamic arm in the bullpen needs to take place for the Jays as well. Gavin Floyd might be lost for the season with a torn lat muscle, which poses a problem if John Gibbons still hopes to move Aaron Sanchez back to the bullpen at some point this year. Things become even further complicated with Marcus Stroman‘s (6-4, 5.33 ERA) sub-par play in 2016.

As the All-Star break approaches, Toronto Blue Jays fans find their team in a similar spot as last year — over .500 but not leading the division.

Next: Six surging sluggers over the last month

The trade deadline should be an interesting time for this club. Could one of their over-performing bats become expendable to shore up the pitching staff? Only Mark Shapiro and Mark Atkins probably know the answer to that question, for the time being .