By RONALD BLUM
DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball teams won’t be quick to copy the Toronto Blue Jays‘ plan for a resurgence that nearly led to a World Series title.
Toronto posted a collective .265 batting average last year and came close to becoming the first World Series champion since the 2018 Boston Red Sox to lead the major leagues in batting average.
“We train to be able to do anything in the batter’s box. It’s not perfect all the time, but we train to be able to advance a runner, get a big hit when we need to, elevate the ball, hit with two strikes, whatever the situation calls for. So I don’t think this is by accident. We’ve worked very hard for it,” said Bo Bichette, who finished second in the majors in batting average and then left Toronto as a free agent to sign with the New York Mets.
Toronto came within two outs of its first World Series title since 1993 before losing Game 7 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 11 innings. The Dodgers were sixth in batting average at .253, but second in OPS at .768, trailing only the New York Yankees’ .787.
Four Blue Jays were among the 25 hitters with the best average: Bichette was joined by George Springer with .309 (fourth), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with .292 (12) and Alejandro Kirk with .282 (24). Toronto’s batting average was seven points higher than second-best Philadelphia
“We’ve always felt that contact would turn into more damage,” said Ross Atkins, who became the Blue Jays general manager before the 2016 season.
Toronto also led the major leagues in hitting in 2022 and was second in 2021.
“The ability they had to make contact and drive the ball, it’s really rare to be able to do that. Something I think all hitters are always working on is finding that ability to combine hitting ability with power,” Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said.
Toronto tied for 11th in home runs last year, but was third in OPS at .761, behind the Yankees and Dodgers.
“They made more contact. They also hit the ball harder. If you’re not striking out and you’re hitting the ball for extra bases like they were doing, that’s a very special combination,” said Tampa Bay Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander.
John Schneider, entering his fourth full season as Blue Jays manager and 18th working for the organization, said the goal is to redouble the focus on contact and hard contact.
A high batting average rarely correlates with titles in 21st-century baseball, which emphasizes power and tolerates strikeouts. Since 2002, the only World Series champions to lead the majors in batting average were the 2018 Red Sox and the 2017 Houston Astros.
Detroit led in batting average from 2013 to 2015, losing in the American League Championship Series, the Division Series and subsequently failing to reach the playoffs.
And hitting for average has become more difficult as power pitching becomes more dominant. The four-seam fastball’s average velocity was 94.5 mph last year, increasing for the seventh consecutive season and up from 91.9 mph when tracking began in 2008.
MLB’s overall batting average has not reached .250 since 2019 or .260 since 2009.
“One of the things we talked about going into last year was reducing our pursuit. It’s getting harder and harder to make contact all the time with the pitching that’s out there,” Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.
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