Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins spoke out about the controversial pitcher replacement.
Atkins held a season-ending press conference in the press conference room of Rogers Center, his home stadium, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the 8th (Korean time).
The format was a season conclusion press conference, but in reality it was a hearing. Most questions asked why Jose Berrios, who was pitching well in Game 2 of the last wild card series, was suddenly removed.
Atkins said, “I didn’t know like you all. “I was surprised too,” he said, making it clear that it was not his decision.
He said, “It was a meeting conducted by director John Schneider. He prepared for the game as usual. “The field coaches, not the front office, attended that meeting,” he said, insisting that the pitcher replacement was a decision made by the field, not the front office.
In response to the point that the site made the decision with the front desk in mind, the response was, “I am 100% confident that the front office would not have felt any pressure.”
However, he said he supported the director’s decision, saying, “I don’t believe in any speculation or consequential criticism.”
The strategic background explained by Atkins was as follows. “The idea of the Toronto bench was to bring up Yusei Kikuchi, a different-handed pitcher than the starter, to force the opponent to pinch-hit right-handed hitters, and to have these right-handed hitters deal with our team’s strong right-handed bullpen, such as Jordan Hicks, Eric Swanson, and Jordan Romano.” It was a strategy.
“The strategy ended up being effective,” Atkins said. This is because they prevented the opponent from conceding two goals. “If someone had told me before the game that we would hold the opponent to two points today, I would have thought that our team would have a chance to win,” he said, emphasizing that the Berrios quick hook was ultimately a successful strategy in that it suppressed goals conceded.
“I think we did a pretty good job of suppressing goals,” he said. “The problem was that we didn’t score,” he said, adding that the bigger problem of being eliminated from the wild card series was poor offense.
Toronto ranked 6th in the American League this season with a batting average of 0.260 and 7th in OPS with 0.730. The number of RBIs in scoring range was also 8th with 351 RBIs. It is true that for a team that advanced to the postseason, offensive productivity was low.
As an individual, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s poor performance was disappointing, with a batting average of 0.264 and an OPS of 0.788, showing the lowest production since his debut season.메이저사이트 He only had 1 hit in 7 at-bats in the postseason.
Atkins said, “The methods that worked in the past did not work this year,” and commented that it was a result of not properly responding to the opponent’s adjustments. “We have had success in the past in terms of goal production. I am confident that a solution can be found. “We have to find a better way to support our players,” he said, adding that he would look for ways to improve.
Coach John Schneider will continue to coach in the 2024 season. The rest is undecided. “We started working on the composition together with Director Schneider. “We will know more next time,” he said, adding that it is still in the planning stage.