Toronto Blue Jays: Randal Grichuk keeping up with the youth movement

With the youth movement in full force for the Toronto Blue Jays, Randal Grichuk is leading the charge as the old man on the team.

The Toronto Blue Jays committed to the youth movement a year ago with the emergence of several young players. Randal Grichuk is young, if not by baseball terms, but he checks in as the second oldest regular on the team at 28.

After a painful 2019 campaign, Grichuk is off to a very solid start for a team that finds themselves in the thick of the wild card hunt.

A year ago Grichuk did hit a career high 31 home runs and drive in a career best 80 runs, but he struck out 163 times and ended with a .232 batting average. He grounded into 20 double plays to boot.

Entering the second year of a 5 YR/$52M deal he signed with the Jays in 2019, some were worried if Grichuk would play like the old man on a young team. He is not. Travis Shaw is.

Grichuk is second on team in home runs and leads the team in both runs batted in and batting average.

The team knew what they were going to get from the core of young players. After the season Grichuk posted last year, the Jays have to be very pleased with his offensive production this year. He has helped put the rebuild ahead of schedule.

With expanded playoffs this year, the Jays are in great position to sneak in, even while playing in one of the toughest divisions in the league. The American League East could conceivably put three teams in the playoffs.

The Jays have put him in a position to succeed and he has rewarded them for their confidence in slotting him in the second spot in the batting order. This team is exciting to watch, and Grichuk has become as valuable to them as any of the young studs.

Hats off to Randal Grichuk for rebounding after a poor hitting season a year ago. If the Toronto Blue Jays make the playoffs, they’ll have the old man on the team to thank.