ARLINGTON, Texas – In a game for the Toronto Blue Jays to forget, Spencer Horwitz enjoyed a big-league debut to remember.
The 25-year-old singled and scored in his first at-bat, drove in a run with a groundout in his second time up and then walked in his final two trips up, delivering the quality plate appearance that’s carried him to the majors during Sunday’s 11-7 loss to the Texas Rangers.
“The day as a whole was a dream come true,” said Horwitz. “Obviously you want to win, that’s why I’m here, I’m here to help the team win. But taking a step back for a second, fulfilling a dream of mine, that’s what I did.”
Horwitz was recalled from triple-A Buffalo, where he batted .300/.421/.405 in 57 games, on Friday, when the Blue Jays optioned outfielder Nathan Lukes. His stay isn’t expected to be long with Brandon Belt, who felt good after running on the field Sunday, eligible to come off the injured list Wednesday but likely to be activated Friday when the Blue Jays host the Oakland Athletics.
Still, the left-handed hitter picked in the 24th round of the 2019 draft out of Radford University has a chance to make an impression during this stint, with Sunday’s showing a good start. He looked to be unfazed by the stage and in control of the strike zone right from the hop, starting with the single he ripped to right field off Jon Gray.
“I was on deck and I was trying to take it all in and trying to look around. Then, after a pitch to (Santiago Espinal), that’s when I was like, OK, now it’s time to get ready and get in my approach and get ready for my at-bat,” said Horwitz. “I knew I hit it pretty hard too and I was just happy with that. As long as I’m hitting the ball hard, I’m pretty happy to see it go through and it was a dream come true. My teammates when I came into the dugout were amazing. I’m going to remember that for a long time.”
Adding to the occasion was that his family was on-hand for the game and Horwitz gifted his dad David the special blue-themed Father’s Day hat in use Sunday.
“He introduced me to baseball,” Horwitz said of his dad. “My first word was ball, he took note of that and let me run with it. He gave me every opportunity when I was younger and did everything he could for me to make sure I had everything I ever needed. I’m so grateful and love him so much.”
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Andrew Heaney’s turn didn’t come up over the weekend, preventing the Blue Jays from getting a first-hand look at the left-hander they’ve pursued aggressively in free agency the past two off-seasons.
But their courtship of him left a positive impression on the 32-year-old, who signed a two-year deal with the Rangers that guarantees $25 million and also includes an opt-out after the first season, after taking an $8.5-million, one-year deal two winters ago with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“It’s funny, you think of it one way as a player, you can be callous, it’s a business, but they had people get on a Zoom, people take time to put together information, take the time to sit down and talk with me and I appreciated that,” said Heaney. “And both times, my wife afterwards would be like, ‘I feel bad, you sure you don’t want to play in Toronto? It’s like two years in a row that you didn’t go there that they were sort of runner-up.’ Those guys are pros. But that’s definitely a feeling we had. It was really, really close and it just kind of never happened.”
Heaney, who has a 4.05 ERA in 66.2 innings over 13 starts this season with 70 strikeouts, was one of the Blue Jays’ primary pitching targets last winter. There was a lot of disappointment after he signed with the, but they quickly transitioned to Chris Bassitt, whom they landed with a $63-million, three-year deal.
The Blue Jays’ pitch to Heaney included “a little bit of everything – here’s why we think you’re good, why we have interest, here’s how we think you can be better, here’s why we think we’re the team that can do that for you,” he said. “Everybody approached it from a little different angle. It was interesting. I would say there were a couple of teams that had one specific thing that they were kind of harping on. Then a couple teams had another thing. So there were three things, but how the teams approached it and which teams did it was always a little different.”
The Rangers’ pitch ended up holding sway, but not before the Blue Jays made him think long and hard about heading north.
VLAD HEATING UP?
The Blue Jays are too deep into the season to find much solace in silver linings but an early six-run outburst in Sunday’s 11-7 loss to the Rangers was important for an offence that had scored only nine times in the four games prior.
“I believe that’s who we are,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr., speaking through interpreter Hector Lebron, said of the way the Blue Jays jumped Jon Gray. “We were very aggressive, attacked early in the game, scored some runs. Obviously, things are not happening the way we would like them to, but we’ve just got to continue doing that, being aggressive and keep attacking.”
The same applies for Guerrero, who went 1-for-4 with a walk Sunday and over the past week is batting .308/.379/.308. He opened the season strong, posting a .318/.389/.530 line with seven homers through his first 33 games, but since needing a couple days off in Pittsburgh with wrist discomfort, is hitting just .250/.323/.343 with two homers in the 37 games since.
Still, the past week has him believing he’s about to turn the corner.
“Definitely feels that way,” said Guerrero. “I’m feeling very uncomfortable right now, still doing my routine, coming to the field very early, following my plan. I’m feeling pretty close.”
KEEP DAD IN THE GAME
Father’s Day marked the end of the 27th Home Run Challenge fundraiser run by Major League Baseball and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. From May 20 to June 18, each homer hit in the majors raised money for research into prostate cancer, which impacts one in eight American men, and one in four for those with a family history of the disease.
The partnership and “Keep Dad in the Game” concept is the brainchild of Michael Milken, the founder and chairman of the Prostate Cancer Foundation who in 1993 fought off an advanced form the disease and has since worked to support and promote cutting-edge treatment research.
Key to the program with Major League Baseball is creating awareness about prostate cancer and the ease through which screening is done.
“The first test is a simple blood test,” Milken said during a visit to Rogers Centre earlier this month. “A finger test would be after that blood test shows something, or getting an MRI. It’s no different than getting your cholesterol checked. And there’s something called PSMA, these are proteins that only attach to prostate cancer cells. So it tells you whether you have them in your body or not. If you’re going to have your cholesterol checked, there’s no reason to not have your PSA checked.”
Among the leading recipients of the PCF’s financial support are researchers at the University of Toronto and other labs in the city, as well as researchers at the University of British Columbia.
Over the past 30 years, “there have been fundamental changes,” in prostate cancer treatments, said Milken. “One is immunology, the ability to energize your immune system. Two, you can sequence your own DNA, you can sequence your microbiome, which is your gut, you can sequence your disease. So today, technology plays an enormous role that it didn’t play before. There will be a day that you can walk in a doctor’s office, they will sequence you and then using AI, tell you what is the best treatment that you should be taking that matches your disease.”
