TORONTO -- Ever since he was a kid, growing up playing baseball in Tijuana, Jonathan Aranda has had a reputation. “He was always a great hitter,” said Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, a childhood friend. “He always had a good swing.” That reputation followed Aranda throughout his time in the Minor Leagues. Take it from starter Taj Bradley, a teammate in Tampa Bay’s system. “This is him. This has always been him,” Bradley said. “All you knew about the guy around the clubhouse, if you never played with him, was like, ‘He’s just a great hitter.’ That’s the word around the clubhouse.” Now, that’s getting to be the word around baseball. With over a quarter of the season in the books, what Aranda is doing can no longer be considered just a hot start. He’s showing what the Rays believed he could be and what he’s always been. “I think it kind of like doesn't get talked about, just because he's not necessarily a household name, but I think everybody here knew that he had this in him,” starter Zack Littell said. “He's been incredibly impressive, but I don't think anybody here is surprised, if that makes sense. We've all seen him just tear the cover off the ball for stretches like this, and it's just fun to watch him.” |
Consider this: Aranda entered Thursday’s game against the Blue Jays ranked fourth in the Majors in wRC+. The three qualified hitters ahead of him? Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani. He also owned the Majors’ sixth-highest batting average, third-best on-base percentage and a top-10 slugging percentage. And the underlying metrics show that his performance has been no mere fluke. The 26-year-old entered Thursday with a 58.2% hard-hit rate, sixth-best in baseball, and a 94.4 mph average exit velocity matching that of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto. According to Statcast, his expected numbers are among the top 5% in the game. “I'm feeling good right now. Feeling a lot of confidence,” Aranda said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “I'm just looking for that pitch that I can drive, and that's what I've been doing.” Maybe the most impressive part of Aranda’s long-awaited breakout is that he’s been driving every pitch. Heading into Thursday’s series finale, Aranda was hitting .318 with a .545 slugging percentage against fastballs this season. Pretty good, right? Well, he was also hitting .448 and slugging .690 against breaking balls. Think offspeed stuff was getting to him? Wrong, because he was batting .269 with a .462 slugging percentage against the softer stuff. Aranda is hitting the ball everywhere, too. He’s pulled all six of his home runs to right or right-center field, but nearly 40% of his batted balls have gone back up the middle, and he’s picked up his share of opposite-field singles and doubles, too. |
“He's really balanced. And I think even when he gets off balance, or the timing gets messed up, he keeps his hands and the barrel in the zone a long time where he can get out on his front foot and just push a ball the other way,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We saw him do that a handful of times on the [last] homestand. That's a sign just of a really good hitter that's seeing the ball well.” After seeing him get infrequent playing time in the Majors in 2022-23, then miss out on a golden opportunity for playing time due to injury last year, the Rays started to see this version of Aranda as he got some regular playing time down the stretch last season. He’s been given an even more stable job as the Rays’ regular first baseman this year, and he’s doing what he’s always done. “I think Jonny just needed the opportunity to have that mindset and that confidence that he could transition from Triple-A performance to the big leagues,” Cash said, “and he's done that really seamlessly.” We’re still two months away from the All-Star Game, with plenty of time for slumps and surges between now and then. But the way he’s producing, Aranda could earn a new reputation -- not just as a great hitter, but an All-Star. “Of course, it would be a great thing. You always dream to be an All-Star as a player,” he said. “Right now, I'm not thinking [about it], and I'm not paying too much attention to that. I just want to concentrate on what I'm doing right now. But if the opportunity comes, I'll be happy for it.” |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
• Josh Lowe came back from the injured list and made an immediate impact. Read more>> • A lack of run support and “one mistake” did in Ryan Pepiot and the Rays on Wednesday night. Read more>> • Junior Caminero silenced the Rogers Centre crowd with his first big league grand slam on Tuesday night. Read more>> • Yandy Díaz missed the series in Toronto due to a passport issue. Read more>> |
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You might have noticed there was quite a standoff after the national anthems on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre. Ben Rortvedt has stayed on the line following the anthem before virtually every game he’s started on the bench this season, but he finally found some worthy competition in Toronto. Blue Jays starters Bowden Francis and Kevin Gausman remained on the line, unmoving, even as Chris Bassitt made his way to the mound to warm up. The video board inside the ballpark cut to Rortvedt and the Toronto pitchers, and the crowd got into their extended duel. Rortvedt tried to call for a truce, but he wound up conceding. “I got pretty nervous, because they're two starting pitchers, and they're not throwing -- and I'm on the bench as a position player,” Rortvedt said, grinning. “So I knew I was going to kind of take that fall, because I can't … put the team in a position where we lose a player. It's just a little fun. That's actually the first time that someone really stood out there with me, so my anxiety kind of spiked up a little.” |
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