Thursday, February 27

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Listen to David Popkins speak about hitting for a few minutes, and you’ll walk away thinking that you could bat .250 in the big leagues tomorrow. 

The Blue Jays’ new hitting coach is leading an identity change, but he doesn’t want to slap a rigid identity on any of this. Tasked with injecting some life into a lineup that’s too often been dormant since that incredible 2021 season, Popkins is preaching a new approach. Good teams can beat you one way, Popkins believes, but great teams can beat you in every way.

“My philosophy is built off of creativity,” Popkins said. “We’re trying to become the most creative lineup at scoring runs in baseball. We do that by practicing all of the different situations and clubs that we’re going to need in the game.”

Clubs. There’s the first metaphor Popkins will mix in. 

Some situations call for a pitching wedge or a seven iron, chasing contact in certain counts or trying to shoot a line drive the other way. Everyone knows it’s all about letting the driver rip, though. Popkins wants his hitters to set themselves up for those moments and take their chances. There needs to be some risk involved.

“When you earn those counts, you have the right to get something off and if you chase a pitch, that’s OK,” Popkins said. “We have to give them forgiveness and tell them where they can fail. If you try to do everything, you’re not going to do anything. When you get in those spots, they probably felt that they didn’t want to chase, didn’t want to make a mistake. If you’re afraid to make a mistake, you lose that attack. If you’re not attacking, you’re getting attacked in this game. It’s about reminding guys that they’re dangerous.”

This has to be music to the ears of Blue Jays fans who have watched this lineup, which broke baseballs in half in ’21, retreat to become more focused on contact and moving runners from base to base. The approach, while less volatile, hasn’t exactly led the Blue Jays to a World Series. There needs to be some balance involved here -- you can’t turn every at-bat into a Home Run Derby -- but that’s where all these sports metaphors keep coming in.

“You’ve got to take your knocks, take your jabs, take your toss to the running back, right?” Popkins said. “You’ve got to break them down and get them to overcommit, then we can go back over the top. That’s how I think of it. Are we always going to work on our damage swings, though? One hundred percent. I love damage.”

This lineup is built for damage. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Anthony Santander are all capable of hitting 30-plus homers. This lineup shouldn’t be sitting anywhere close to where it ended last season, ranked 26th in MLB with just 156 home runs. Less than a homer a game isn’t going to work. 

Popkins’ first task is earning the trust of his hitters, which was a strength of his when he was working with the Twins, most notably star shortstop Carlos Correa. 

When a hitting coach has the trust of a hitter, that’s when the magic happens. The moment a player starts questioning their coaching, that’s when too much comes pouring in. Their offseason hitting coach might have ideas. Their college teammate might have ideas. Their dad might have ideas. It gets noisy, quickly.

“It’s very important,” said John Schneider, who has been thrilled with the hire. “When you’re coming to a new team, you have to go out of your way. What’s that old saying? They don’t care what you know until they know you care. He did that in the offseason. He travelled to see guys. He came up here to hit with Bo and [father] Dante. He stays in constant touch with them. He’s been really good with that and that builds relationships and trust.”

Part of Popkins’ early work has been to simplify the Blue Jays’ pregame reports for his hitters, trying to make all of this information make sense for each hitter in the way they want it. It’s a long process, but the initial buy-in from Blue Jays hitters has been encouraging. 

Popkins’ energy is apparent, even huddled inside a media room for interviews earlier this week, hiding from the Florida rain. It’s been contagious around camp as the Blue Jays talk about doing things differently on offense, which is exactly what this team needs.

Every Spring Training has its unlikely star, that non-roster invitee who hits .500 in the Grapefruit League and forces the organization to make a decision. Rattling off names Wednesday, Schneider was asked if he ever had a big spring himself as a player in the upper Minors.

“My best Spring Training as a hitter was when I had a coaching offer already on the table,” said Schneider. “I had that in my back pocket, so the pressure was off. I raked, man. I raked.”

The spring break rush is slowly descending on Florida as crowds tend to pick up through the early and middle weeks of March. 

If you’re down for Spring Training, you could try to pull off a double dip this Friday when the Blue Jays play the Tigers at TD Ballpark at 1:07 p.m. ET, then play a second split-squad game across the causeway in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

Next week’s standout game at home comes against the Red Sox, who make their one trip north to Dunedin this spring on Thursday, March 6, with first pitch set for 1:07 p.m.

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