BALTIMORE -- For as desolate as this 2019 Blue Jays season may be thus far, moments like
Throughout the young slugger’s recent slump, what has pained him most has been his habit of pulling balls. According to Statcast, 23 percent of the lefty Tellez’s batted balls in 2019 have been to dead right -- up six percent from 2018 -- while his percentage of balls driven to the left side of the field has dropped off. \n\n“Just focusing on what I’m really good at, which is being able to drive balls to all fields,” Tellez said of adjustments. “… I went into batting practice today, and I just wanted to hit hard long drives all over the field mainly. Didn’t want to pull much.”\n\nBut, of course, his grand slam was pulled over the right-field wall.\n\n“That’s how it works,” he laughed.
Tellez was joined by stellar nights from
“We do have a good core of young guys who are going to be the future of the \\[Blue\\] Jays, but our veterans are really what set the tone for us,” Tellez said. “Around 13 of us have less than a year of service time, so we look to these veterans to help us out and point us in the right direction when we are scuffling. So a guy like \\[Jackson\\] who has been around for 17 years … they are guys who point the way for pitcher and hitters for us to follow along.”\n\nMontoyo’s decision to showcase Toronto’s inaugural opener was rooted in Jackson’s rough showings in the first innings this year -- seven earned runs in five first innings pitched. And it appears to have worked out -- at least for now -- for a club hesitant to hop on the opener bandwagon.\n\n“I wasn’t opposed to it, necessarily,” Jackson said of playing behind an opener in the first time of his career. “… With the managerial changes and switch-ups, it’s all about the team at the end of the day, and I’m a team player.”\n\n“The opener worked out pretty good,” Montoyo said.
Around Canada-native