Team Analysis After The First Game

The Jays might've won the game 8-6, but it wasn't a great game by any means. It was more of a lucky win than anything, as the team didn’t look too good as a whole. In their first game since spring training was suspended, the team looked rusty.

- Pearson wasn't good. He had terrible control throughout the game, and gave up four runs in the first as a result of pitches missing over the heart of the plate. This is concerning as it wasn’t just a pitch or two that got away, but rather several pitches per inning. His well known velocity didn't really make an appearance, as he primarily sat in the 95-97 range. Lots of hard contact against him, but he got better in his later innings. Had some great sliders with good location and great break, but didn’t look like his usual self other than that.

- Teoscar looked great on offense finishing with a three hit game. Nearly every swing was a hard hit ball, even his lone out came off the bat with a bang. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come from him this season. Defensively he misplayed a catchable ball, but it's nothing fans aren't used to from him.

- Jansen had a really solid game. From hitting, to base running, to defense, he was a key player for the team. Didn't stand out, but was one of the better players for the Jays. Other than a few questionable pitch calls (especially with Borucki), he had a great game.

- Bichette had a bad game, period. Defensively he looked a little lost. Although he made the routine plays, the more difficult ones were a struggle due to poor decision making. His offense wasn't any better, as he continually chased out of the zone, and was unable to make hard contact all game. Even his double was a poorly hit pop up down the right field line that was just out of reach.

- Borucki looked strong to start with some excellent pitches, but his appearance quickly took a turn for the worst. He had some incredible individual pitches, but also left some right over the plate, and those mistakes killed him. Can't put all the blame on him however, as some of Jansen's pitch calls were quite surprising, and ultimately backfired. Borucki's bread and butter pitch is his change up, and Jansen just wouldn't call for it on two strike counts (other than on Pillar, where it worked like a gem). That led to increased pitch counts (walks and fouls), and fastballs over the plate (mistakes).

- Tellez and Fisher hit homers, but it wasn’t because they did everything right. Tellez's homer came on a bad pitch, and a worse swing. It hardly got over the wall. It showed his pure power, as no other hitter in the lineup would’ve been able to hit that out. For Fisher, he capitalized on a mistake, which is exactly what professional ball players need to do. However, he had a really poor game up leading up to that, and his plate vision was awful. Swung at pitch after pitch out of the zone, and had no real mindset heading into each at bat.

In general, it was a bad game despite the W. The pitchers left pitches out over the plate all game, and it felt like every time the Red Sox swung the bat, it would be a line drive hit, or a loud out (which isn’t good). On the flip side, the offense looked rusty as well. Pitch selection was sub par, as the hitters one through nine kept swinging out of the zone just to make poor contact. Defensively the team wasn't horrible, but some questionable decisions and misplays (ie Hernandez, Panik, and Bichette) prove that it is still an area that needs work. The team looks far from playoff baseball in 2020 after this game.

Ryan Weber pitched a fantastic game for Boston. All of his pitches were working and he looked like an everyday major leaguer out there who had been in the rotation for years. He outplayed the Jays pitchers by hitting his spots, and the movement on each pitch was significant. Even though his high 80s fastball won't blow most guys away, he managed to get many late swings on it as he kept the lineup guessing, looking a lot like Marco Estrada out there. The lineup might’ve had a bad game, but the great start by Weber is also a contributing factor to the team’s lack of success.

The Jays really showed their youth and inexperience during the game. Pearson might’ve just given the Jays a reason to keep him off the opening day roster, and the lineup seemed really slow right off the bat. In a 60 game season where every game counts, this isn’t the start that they were looking for, and will be working towards a better beginning on Friday.