DUNEDIN, Fla. – For a few innings, the left field scoreboard wasn’t working and for some reason the home team was wearing grey pants, but this was still a professional baseball game, the first one Joey Votto had played in five and a half months.
A few minutes after 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, Votto made his way to first base wearing No. 37 on his blue uniform top. He warmed up his fellow infielders with a few practice ground balls ahead of a minor-league spring training game against triple-A players from the Detroit Tigers. Then, on the first pitch of the game, the ball found him as a Tigers minor-leaguer ripped a triple inside the first base line past a diving Votto.
Later, Votto would bat twice, making legitimately hard contact both times. His first at-bat ended in a line drive to first base, while his second at-bat ended with an impressive catch on a ball Votto sent to deep right-centre field. Now one step closer to playing in a Grapefruit League game, his day was done.
The Blue Jays tentatively plan for Votto to play in another minor-league Thursday, on the way to a Sunday appearance in one of the Blue Jays’ split-squad Grapefruit League games.
“Whether that’s home or in Clearwater, we’ll have to let the adoring public in Canada know,” manager John Schneider joked Wednesday morning.
Sunday will also see Yariel Rodriguez make his spring debut, as the Cuban right-hander’s ready for game action following a successful live batting practice session Tuesday. He’s slated to pitch two innings with plans to build up further as spring progresses – ideally to the point that he’s pitching five innings or so.
Over on the major-league side, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. returned to the lineup against the Pirates, after missing three days with a left knee contusion, and went one for two with a single and a walk. But he’s approaching full strength again after running the bases, taking live batting practice against Rodriguez and going through defensive drills at first base.
“Don’t anticipate him (needing) anything different in camp moving forward,” Schneider said. “He’s good to go.”
Meanwhile, the biggest development in the AL East came from nearby Yankees camp where news of Gerrit Cole’s latest setbacks created questions for the team many consider favourites to win the division. According to Jon Heyman and Mark Sanchez of the New York Post, the defending Cy Young winner will miss one or two months with an elbow injury – news that weakens New York’s rotation considerably.
When Schneider was asked about Cole Tuesday morning, he essentially offered a ‘no comment’ before the question was even finished, but of course teams monitor each other closely, especially in a contested division where four of the five teams finished above .500 last year.
This much, the Blue Jays will say: they may have Yusei Kikuchi pitch in a minor-league game Saturday instead of having him face the Yankees, since it’s highly likely the left-hander will face them in a game that counts sometime during the third series of the season. Better to keep him away from the Yankees hitters for now, just in case.
So of course the Blue Jays are aware of what’s happening in Yankees camp, just as the Yankees have surely been monitoring the setbacks for Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah within the Blue Jays’ rotation. And while Cole’s injury is by far the most significant, recent injuries to Kyle Bradish of the Orioles, Taj Bradley of the Rays and Lucas Giolito of the Red Sox have depleted pitching depth elsewhere in the division.
Where it all leads is impossible to say on March 13, but after a successful minor-league debut, Votto’s one step closer to doing damage against whoever takes the mound once games start for real.
