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CHICAGO — It can be stated that the hiring of Gene Tenace to revitalize the stagnant Toronto Blue Jays offence has been a really big hit.
Since Tenace was brought on board by the American League club as the team's batting coach under new manager Cito Gaston, the Blue Jays have slowly, but consistently, been transformed into the solid offensive unit many envisioned they should have been from the beginning of the season.
Under Tenace's guidance through the first 68 games of his employment, the Blue Jays team batting average is .271 – 13 points higher than it was under former manager John Gibbons and hitting coach Gary Denbo, who were both fired on June 20.
The league average on the season is .267.
Toronto's slugging percentage has risen dramatically by almost 50 points over what it was under the former regime to .422 and the Blue Jays have also improved their offensive production in home runs, hits and runs a game.
Across the board, players have shown marked improvement at the plate, some in dramatic fashion such as Alex Rios, whose .566 slugging percentage is almost .240 higher since Tenace took over.
“If you're aggressive, that's what they want and it's fine with them,” Rios said. “So that's what I'm trying to do. It gives me the confidence if I swing at a pitch and pop out, it's going to be okay because it was in the strike zone.”
Rios has also hit 10 home runs with Tenace as the hitting mentor. He had three before that.
“From what I hear they [Blue Jays hitters] were trying to work the pitcher, they were trying to get the on-base percentage up,” the straight-shooting Tenace said the other day while standing – bat in hand, of course – near the Blue Jays dugout at U.S. Cellular Field. “You know what? That's all right if you've got guys that can hit behind in a count.
“Not everybody can do that. Not every hitter's built that way. Not everybody has the same hand-eye co-ordination; not everybody has the ability to hit with two strikes.”
Under Denbo, the hitters were encouraged to try to hit to all areas of the field and to remain patient at the plate and wait to get the pitch they wanted to try and drive.
On-base percentage was a statistic that was frequently mentioned and with Denbo on the job the Jays were a decent .336. The league average is .335.
Under Tenace the Jays' OBP is .331, but the team is scoring more and hitting for better power.
“We'll gladly trade on-base percentage for slugging and batting average,” Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays' assistant general manager, said. “When there's a runner in scoring position a walk is not going to score that run.
“It's not that we don't value on-base percentage. It's just that the concept of scoring runs is a little more important.”
Earlier in the season, strong hitters like Rios more often than not looked lost at the plate and he in particular was placing too much weight on his back leg when he swung, which was robbing him of much of his power.
Tenace noticed that and Rios was advised to distribute his weight better and the results have been solid.
Lyle Overbay, normally a doubles machine, was encouraged to try to hit to the opposite field and instead was rolling over the ball and hitting into frequent double plays.
“I think I'm just feeling better at the plate,” said Overbay, who is hitting .337 with six home runs and 19 runs batted in over his past 23 games. “I'm going to be more aggressive if I'm feeling good at the plate, if I get a pitch to hit, that kind of thing.
“It seems like I'm not fouling those good pitches off now where I was earlier in the season.”
With Tenace, the batters are being encouraged to take a rip at the first pitch they see that it is to their liking.
“Be aggressive; be ready to hit,” Tenace said. “I think that was another thing we weren't real good at, we were walking up there not ready to hit. They were in the take mode right from the get-go.
“I guess the league found out about it so pitchers were coming right at them and right away it's strike one. And that's the way it was going. And once you get in a little rut like that it is tough to turn it around because it's just a different mindset.”
The former major-league catcher was one of the first people that Gaston turned to when the Blue Jays came to him in June, offering him the manager's job to try to right a sinking ship.
Gaston wanted to bring Tenace along as batting coach; the Blue Jays agreed and the returns have been strong.
One of the biggest improvements has been with Toronto's situational hitting.
Toronto was hitting just .231 with runners in scoring position when Gibbons was relieved of his job, at the time the second-worst average in the major leagues.
With Tenace overseeing the hitting, Toronto's RISP average has risen to .279 – 10th best in the majors over that that period.
“One thing Gene talks about is having that approach mentally when you go up there,” centre fielder Vernon Wells said. “In your mind you already guarantee yourself that one run on third, but you want to do more than that.
“Gene always says that first runner is a gimme, you should be able to come through in pretty much every situation like that. And then you try to do more damage than just that one run.”
The only regret the Blue Jays have is that they didn't start to hit like this earlier in the season.
With the Blue Jays pitchers leading the AL with a 3.49 team earned-run average, a consistent hitting attack would have undoubtedly kept the team at or near the top of the standing in the East division.
