The Toronto Blue Jays just clinched the AL East division to end the longest playoff drought in the majors. Despite a good offseason of acquiring Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin, and others, the predictions of how the Jays will do in 2015 were still scattered, but even those who thought they had a chance at the division title, didn’t think they would end up dominating the way they have. Not surprisingly, Toronto’s offense has been the best all year, but the pitching staff had had question marks from the offseason to all-star break.
Up until the mid-Summer classic, the Jays had been right around .500, on the edge of bursting out. All they needed was some more pitching, so that is what they did, as they acquired David Price from the Tigers to be the ace. But, Price hasn’t been the only reason for that the pitching staff going from a high 4 ERA to 3.77. There have been numerous young guys on the staff that have come up big, and the main reason for it, could very well be due to the man behind the plate, Russell Martin.
The veteran catcher that they had signed a 5 year contract during the offseason has not only been valuable with the bat (22 homers, 74 RBI’s), but maybe even more astonishing behind the plate. It wasn’t a surprise that Martin’s arrival in Canada would be helpful to the pitching staff, considering that he has been praised for his work with young pitchers before, but him being a big part of a division title may had been to much to ask for.
Martin has been a great mentor and plate framer for young pitchers such as Marcus Stroman and Roberto Osuna, who have become vital parts of the Jays road to a low second half ERA. There was no doubt that the Jays had some good pitching prospects and some guys already on the major league roster with lots of potential, but all they needed was the right man calling the game.
With Russell behind the plate, the team’s ERA is 3.86, and 98% of the balls that Martin fielded resulted in outs. Also, the connection between him and the pitching staff has been impeccable, as they had the right signs to throw out 44% of potential base stealers (league average was 32%). The pitching staff may get all the credit on paper, but the truth behind the Jays great second half run with the pitching staff having a great turn around, may not had happened if it wasn’t for Russell Martin.
