Blue Jays' carefully cultivated depth pushes win streak to 9 games

New York Times

08-07-2025

CHICAGO — Joey Loperfido slid down the depth chart as the Toronto Blue Jays vaulted into first place in the American League East. He watched the team start 10 outfielders before his big-league call finally came. But there's an aura of inevitability around the Blue Jays right now. No matter whom they turn to for a big swing or clutch pitch, they come through.
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On the South Side of Chicago, Loperfido got his moment. A day after his big-league promotion, the young lefty launched a home run and drove in three as the Jays toppled the Chicago White Sox on Monday 8-4. Loperfido became Toronto's latest unforeseen champion, highlighting the revamped depth that is lifting the 2025 Blue Jays, who improved to 53-38. Their win streak rose to nine.
'The way we're playing so far, everyone's been contributing to the team,' José Berríos said. 'To every game, to every win.'
The expected stars have delivered their win streak moments — George Springer's five homers, Bo Bichette's many doubles and lockdown saves from Jeff Hoffman. But the team's hot streak has come on the back of unforeseen contributions from the likes of Loperfido. It's a carefully cultivated supporting cast that's fueled the rise.
Joey Loperfido is back with a BANG 😤 pic.twitter.com/8yRs86p1lX
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 8, 2025
Loperfido is the 14th Blue Jays hitter to record a hit during Toronto's winning streak. The 2023 Blue Jays had just 20 players record a hit all season. The Jays have the fifth-highest payroll in baseball with four players making over $20 million in 2025, but it's a shifted approach to developing big-league depth that's powered a season-altering hot streak.
In player development, manager John Schneider said the Blue Jays are focusing on the skills that role players will need when they get to the majors. Toronto already rosters Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bichette. The lineup stars are set, so the 11th outfielder on the depth chart — guys such as Loperfido — needs a narrow focus in Triple A. The Jays still want to produce big bats, but Triple-A manager Casey Candaele asks those future depth players to bunt more, steal bases and learn how to pinch hit, too.
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'It's kind of, how are you gonna help the team win?' Schneider said. 'If you're not one of the 13 here, and you're one of the extra five or six in Buffalo, we're gonna ask you to do those things. I think we've kind of flipped our process a little bit.'
It's not all sacrifice bunts and pinch hits when the prospects arrive in Toronto, but that's part of the path. The Blue Jays are in winning mode, not future obsessed, with Toronto sitting 15 games over .500. Any player who arrives in the big leagues must help the Blue Jays keep winning.
There was no situational awareness or specific skill needed for Loperfido in the fifth inning Monday as he hammered a fastball to the bleachers with the bases empty for his first homer of the season. But Loperfido knew his task an inning later, with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth. A fly ball or pulled grounder would, at the very least, score an insurance run. On the first pitch, the 26-year-old yanked a slider down the first-base line, bouncing it over the White Sox defender to put the Jays up 7-1.
THREE RBI for Joey Loperfido tonight 👏 pic.twitter.com/Z24bCUGl10
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 8, 2025
'We put a huge emphasis on him kind of making more contact this year,' Schneider said. 'And he's aware of that.'
The approach to developing MLB help appears on the pitching side, too. The rotation veterans still carry the load for Toronto, with Berríos delivering six innings of one-run ball in Monday's victory. But part of the Jays' revamped pitching development emphasizes pitchability — understanding what level of aggressiveness and which pitches are best for the moment.
'I think we can make really good pitchers on a sheet of paper,' Triple-A pitching coach Drew Hayes said. 'If you just look at their raw stuff, you can do that. Whether or not that guy can go pitch in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium in a tight game, whatever he can do on paper doesn't really matter that much at that point.'
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That focus on pitchability over raw stuff showed up Saturday in Lázaro Estrada's four innings after Max Scherzer's early exit against the Los Angeles Angels. The Blue Jays had a lead and needed efficient innings to spare an exhausted bullpen. Estrada threw 70 percent of his offerings in the zone and earned the first-pitch strike on eight of 14 batters faced. He saved the bullpen and bridged the gap to Braydon Fisher, who finished off the win in extra innings.
These moments are easy to overlook. Four innings of rookie relief and a yanked groundball that skitters into the outfield won't make the highlight tape at the end of the season. But the 2024 Blue Jays called on depth, too, and it wasn't up to the task.
This year, Toronto's supporting cast is ready, carrying the Blue Jays on a win streak that hasn't ended yet.
(Photo of Joey Loperfido: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)