TORONTO – A deep dive into some Statcast data reveals some interesting things about Randal Grichuk at the plate three weeks into the season.

The Toronto Blue Jays centre-fielder has dramatically cut back his chase of pitches outside the strike zone, from 33.3 to 24.2 per cent. He’s swinging at four per cent fewer pitches, too, down to 46.3, and when he does offer at a pitch, he’s making contact more often, as his whiff percentage is down from 28.1 to 21.8 per cent. His strikeout rate is also down, from 25.8 to 22.9 per cent, while his walk rate is up from 5.6 to 10.4 per cent.

Even with small sample size caveats applied, good stuff, all of it, and in theory, all those improvements should add up to a more productive hitter in the box. But to this point, Grichuk has barely delivered replacement-level production, his gains undermined by an alarming drop in average launch angle, from 16 to 4.1 degrees, which in turn has pushed his groundball rate up to 46.6 per cent.

Put another way, as he plugged one hole on his boat, a new leak sprung up somewhere else.

“I’ve been trying to lift the ball more – in a smart way, not in a bad way that’s going to create swings and misses, or foul balls during the game,” Grichuk explained before Saturday’s game was suspended by rain after 3½ innings with the Tampa Bay Rays up 1-0. “I’m trying to let the ball get deep and still trying to put it in the air.

“The exit velo is still there with the chase rate being down, which is a big key thing because a lot of guys can chase less but not hit the ball as hard, by being patient and being passive. I still want to be aggressive, while limiting my chase rate. I think I’ve been hitting the ball hard, just not getting it in the air. Positive game (Friday) putting the ball in the air in three at-bats and we’ll see day-to-day what it looks like.”

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In his one at-bat Saturday before a menacing storm reminiscent of Mordor pounded Sahlen Field and flooded the dugouts, Grichuk beat a change-up from Ryan Yarbrough into the ground for a routine out at short.

He’s due up second Sunday when the game resumes, as the teams will finish off the full nine, followed by a seven-inning series finale in which the Blue Jays and Rays can each add another player.

Anticipating the threat of rain, manager Charlie Montoyo wisely avoided Thomas Hatch, instead using Wilmer Font for an inning behind starter Chase Anderson, who again worked three innings as he builds back up after starting the season on the injured list.

“I didn’t want to lose my long guy, so we switched it, let’s get Font in there, so that way we don’t lose the innings,” said Montoyo. “Now Hatch is a full-go (Sunday).”

Grichuk is intent on getting himself into full-go mode, as well.

Through 13 games he’s batting .273/.347/.341 and when juxtaposed against his career slash line of .244/.294/.480, it illustrates the push and pull of where he’s at right now. The gains in average and on-base percentage are heartening, for sure, but the Blue Jays handed him a $52-million, five-year extension last April for his thump, and the goal is to better combine the two.

“He’s been more disciplined, he’s making more contact, not slugging as much, so I think that’s going to turn into good at-bats and he’ll start hitting for power pretty soon,” said Montoyo. “I see that coming because his approach has been pretty good the whole time.”

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Grichuk has been tinkering with both his approach and his swing since the off-season, when he spoke with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez about how most good hitters have their contact point with the ball more over the plate.

Their thinking was that adapting there would help on multiple fronts.

“Looking at my contact point in previous years, I’ve gone out and got (the ball),” said Grichuk. “Letting the ball get deeper is mechanical but approach-based, too: Understanding how to use the whole field, why you use the whole field, what’s a positive take, a positive swing, late in the count. All that and mechanics-based is why I’m chasing less while still hitting the ball hard.”

Grichuk’s first homer of the season Friday – a 364-foot shot off the bat at 97.6 m.p.h. on a fat Ryan Thompson slider – was also his first extra-base hit of 2020. That swing looks quite a bit like the stroke he used last year when he hit a career-high 31 homers, but he says, “there are some differences.”

“I’m trying to catch the ball a little bit deeper the proper way, not just by letting it get deep,” he added. “I’m trying to let my body move properly to catch it deeper. There is some of that that may be putting the ball on the ground more than I would like, but that’s why I’m playing with it. I played with it in summer camp, I played with it in spring training, I talked about and worked with Dante [Bichette] a lot, I’m still doing that and working with [Martinez], too. Hopefully something clicks mechanically and I can repeat it day in and day out.”

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NOTES:

• The last time the Blue Jays had a rain delay during a home game was July 24, 2003, when a thunderstorm hit in the sixth inning shortly after stadium operators had started closing the roof at the dome. A crowd of 18,348 went scurrying for cover and both teams took shelter in the clubhouse during the 26-minute delay as the lid sealed up and field was readied. The Chicago White Sox ended up winning the game 4-3 in 13 innings as Frank Thomas drove in the go-ahead run.

• More high praise for Bo Bichette, this time from Grichuk: “It’s an advanced approach. He does a good job of being able to hunt pitches, guess pitches and he sticks to them. Obviously his swing is as sweet as a right-handed swing can get, he lets the ball get really deep and he uses the whole field. He has an understanding of how to use the whole field, which his dad probably instilled in him at a young age. I’ve said it for months, since last year, I think he has a very good chance of being the best Blue Jays hitter ever. I know that’s a bold statement but with his approach and his swing at such a young age, it’s next level.”

• As Ken Giles slowly resumes throwing, do the Blue Jays still have a defined closer? Charlie Montoyo wouldn’t say whether it’s still Anthony Bass or Jordan Romano, instead hinting he’ll examine each situation individually, rather than run a more structured back-end. “We know for sure they’re going to be at the end of the game,” said Montoyo. “It all depends on when the game is on the line, but usually it’s going to be 7-8-9 when I use them. They’re both good. Whenever they come in, it’s high leverage. You might see Romano one day, Bass the next day.”

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