The Jays have told Randal Grichuk he’ll get plenty of playing time, but his bat is making an argument just in case

ARLINGTON, TEXAS—If the goal was to make himself invaluable, Randal Grichuk has nailed it. And his timing couldn’t be better.

The outfielder’s hitting streak, a career best of 12 games, may have ended at Globe Life Field on Wednesday afternoon, but he’d come into the game hitting .500 — 8-for-16 to start the season, with a home run.

That augers even more significantly now that it’s apparent George Springer won’t be coming off the injured list for Thursday’s home opener in Dunedin, Fla., and possibly no time soon. The Grade 2 strain to his left oblique has been complicated by right quad tightness, experienced after Toronto’s $150-million (U.S.) man hit live pitching for the first time in a fortnight on Tuesday and ran the bases a bit. The bases apparently bit back.

Reeling in the free-agent superstar on a mega contract in January cast an immediate shadow over Grichuk. Manager Charlie Montoyo has vowed to give appropriate playing time — at-bats — to four primo every day outfielders, with Jonathan Davis also arguably earning more than spot duty for his glove in late innings, plus pinch-running cameos.

“In a perfect world, I’d playing alongside George, in right field, if he was healthy,” Grichuk told the Star before the Jays dropped their rubber match to the Texas Rangers in a 2-1 squeaker. “We’ll see. Listen, I was super-happy when George signed with Toronto. But obviously, I didn’t know what my role was going to be.”

Grichuk had stated, earlier, that he absolutely would not sulk over becoming potentially less relevant to the Jays. It has, however, been a jarring reversal of fortune for someone who had his own contract extended in 2019, two years before he was eligible for free agency, rewarded with a honking $52-million stipend for five years. It was a startling commitment from the club, announced on the very day that they traded away Kevin Pillar, who had owned centre field (although he did make those Superman catches look more difficult than they should have been.)

Surely the Jays perceived Grichuk as a core element going forward.

“You would think,” he agreed, wryly.

It’s never a bad thing, having too much of a good thing. But it doesn’t necessarily shake out well for all the protagonists involved. Montoyo assures Grichuk, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez will get their 600 at-bats, shuffling between rest days, different outfield alignments and DH duties. He foresees Grichuk in right field with Springer at centre, when he’s restored to the lineup, as a regular scenario. “For sure that’s going to happen, hopefully a lot.”

How that might impact Hernandez, who has been patrolling right, remains to be seen.

“Teoscar had a great year last year,” Grichuk said. “He deserves to be playing every day too.”

Grichuk prefers right, where he’s played 296 career games. (Centre: 302; left: 117.)

“I think I read the ball off the bat better in right field. I have a better understanding of the angles. And I’m not afraid of the wall.”

But it has been his own bat that has stood out for the Jays, certainly across their first five games. For all the team’s professed offensive prowess, that juicy lineup, they’ve been far from lights out in these budding days of the season, even as they’ve repeatedly gone yard. Until Wednesday, Grichuk had been among a handful of notable exceptions, with a double and five RBIs.

“That’s huge, not only for the team but for Randal, because he’s usually a slow starter,” said Montoyo. “So it’s great to see him get off to a hot start. Hopefully that continues. You know what he’s doing? He’s hitting the ball to right (opposite) field, he’s using the whole field and that’s a good sign.”

Grichuk had not been happy with his spring training. He revealed to the Star that he contracted COVID-19 in January, which knocked him off his feet. “Fever, aches, congestion, the whole thing. I couldn’t move off the couch for a week.”

It took him a while to regain his strength and then hone his approach at the plate. He’s ditched the leg kick, moved his hands on the bat, loaded his body differently on the swing, details refined on the back fields in Dunedin.

“Pretty much I’m trying to simplify things at the plate,” he explained. “Stay quiet, let the ball come to me.”

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Grichuk wants to believe Montoyo, that there will be sufficient at-bats to go around, although it’s not an issue he has to confront at the moment, with Springer still on the shelf. Presumably, when Springer finally gets around to launching his inaugural Jays season, Grichuk will start versus lefties and Toronto will ride his bat if it stays hot.

“I hope that it will be performance-based. But I don’t think you can guarantee anything in this game. I’m going day by day, preparing like I always do and trying to have quality at-bats.’’

DH wouldn’t sit all that well if it was too frequent an assignment. “If it’s here and there, I wouldn’t mind. But I wouldn’t want to do it all the time. You’re sitting there, thinking too much, and you can’t take your mind off your previous at-bats.”

Exhibit A: Rowdy Tellez, who drew the designated hitter spot in three of Toronto’s first five games, with one start at first. He is hitless for 2021, with five strikeouts in 15 bats, and was planted on the bench Wednesday until summoned to pinch-hit in the ninth, with the tying run at first. KO’d on a full count.

Toronto wasted another fine start from Hyun Jin Ryu, as the rotation reset. Ryu went seven innings for only the second time in his reincarnation as a Jay, giving up two run on seven hits, with a septet of strikeouts, surrendering a solo shot home run to Nick Solak leading off the third. Ryu had a tad of trouble in that third and the seventh but he gave his team more than enough to work with, had their bats not fallen so quiet. Except for Marcus Semien, who has arrived just as advertised, cranking his third jack in the leadoff spot that will eventually be relinquished to Springer.

Ryu did his defining thing, mostly keeping the Rangers off-balance, using the fastball and cutter and occasional curve to set up his signature changeup, inducing weak contact. Didn’t walk anybody.

“I feel like I’ve had a pretty good start of the season,” he said afterward through his interpreter. “Both games I’ve pitched so far, I was able to prevent them from scoring more than three runs. That’s what a starting pitcher needs to do … Even when I was behind in the counts, I was still fable to get back into counts. I felt pretty good with my command.”

Montoyo: “Impressive for me, to see somebody pitch like that all the time. He is in trouble, he doesn’t panic. He gets out of trouble facing good hitters.”

There is no panic — way too early for that — over an offence that’s not yet lived up to its billing. A lack of timely hitting, in particular, as with the bases loaded in the fifth, squelched by Cavan Biggio hitting into an inning-ending double play.

“The whole lineup hasn’t been consistent,” the skipper allowed. “I always talk about hitting is contagious. We haven’t had the whole lineup hot at the same time. Just one guy here and there.

“I know and believe we’re going to get hot and that’s going to be contagious.”

Seriously, don’t use that word in the middle of a pandemic.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno