Blue Jays vs. Tigers: The power of the platoon, plus injury updates

Hamilton Spectator

25-07-2025

DETROIT—The platoon-happy
Blue Jays
are in Detroit for a cross-border series with
potentially major playoff implications.
No, it's not the mid-1980s, despite
Jays catcher Tyler Heineman
walking to the plate to
Stevie Nicks' 'Edge of Seventeen.'
It just feels like it.
Jays fans might fondly remember the catching platoon of Ernie Whitt and
Buck Martinez,
and Mulliniorg (Rance Mulliniks and Garth Iorg) at third base. But there were also platoons at designated hitter with a rotating cast of characters, and in the outfield with Jesse Barfield and Dave Collins for a while. Heck,
manager Jimy Williams
even platooned Fred McGriff and Cecil Fielder in 1987.
Guests: Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, former Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion, New York Yankees
Everything old is new again, as the current edition is once again leaning heavily into the platoon game, though these days they call it a 'line change.'
Nearly half the team plays half the games all the time, with
Addison Barger
and two of Joey Loperfido, Nathan Lukes and Will Wagner swinging the bat against right-handed pitchers but often giving way to Leo Jiménez,
Davis Schneider
and Myles Straw when a left-hander is on the mound.
'If you're not starting, you're probably playing,'
manager John Schneider said
before Thursday night's series opener against the Tigers.
The Jays routinely use 11 or 12 of their 13 position players in each game. The last time they made it through a full game with no substitutions (other than pitching) was July 11 in a
7-6 win over the Athletics in Sacramento
.
'One of the hardest things to do in baseball is to come in halfway through the game,' Lukes said in the Jays clubhouse in Detroit. 'But the more we do it, the easier it is. It's not easy by any means, but just slightly easier. We know what's going to happen, so we're preparing ourselves earlier on in the game to do that.'
It's not just about offence. In fact, it's mostly about the defence. Lukes, Loperfido and Straw can handle all three outfield spots, Barger moves between third base and right field, Wagner bounces from corner to corner in the infield and Ernie Clement is all over the dirt, playing anywhere they're not.
'Ernie's kind of the key to it,' said the manager. 'Just going everywhere and having a really, really good defender anywhere you put him.'
Straw, a teammate of Clement's in Cleveland in 2021 and '22, isn't surprised by how important Clement has become.
'I've known that's who he is all along,' said
the speed-and-defence specialist
. 'He's unbelievable on the field. He can even play left or right field if we needed him to. It just allows them to give guys days off at second, third, short, first.
He's one of the most valuable guys on the team, for sure
.'
Shortstop Bo Bichette, who has never had to worry about being a platoon player, has a ton of respect and admiration for the part-time Jays.
'I think that in a lot of ways they're the heartbeat of the team,' said Bichette. 'Obviously I don't have that experience, but I think just buying in and not complaining about it is the biggest thing, and they've done an amazing job with that.'
With the Jays in first place in the American League East, helped by turning the clock back to the platoon days of Buck and Ernie, there's nothing to complain about.