The Blue Jays went into the off-season with a clear need to improve their offence and gave just one position player a multi-year contract in free agency聽鈥 and it wasn’t one who packs a particular punch with the bat.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa signed a two-year, $15-million (U.S.) contract in late December, adding another versatile glove-first athlete to a team that won 89 games with a pitching-and-defence-first philosophy last season but suffered a quick and painful playoff exit, scoring only one post-season run.
The 28-year-old Kiner-Falefa, who has played every position but first base over his six years in the majors, is a career .261 hitter with 26 home runs. His OPS+ is 81, with 100 being average.
He brings outstanding defence and a high-contact bat, striking out at about聽two-thirds the average rate, but not much thump, and at the moment he’s the leader to replace Matt Chapman (and his 58 extra-base hits last season) at third base. Kiner-Falefa had 19 extra-base hits, albeit in 220 fewer plate appearances.
“I don’t know exactly what my role is going to be here,” Kiner-Falefa said in an interview last week that will appear on a future episode of “Deep Left Field,” the Star’s baseball podcast. “I’m just looking forward to helping the team. Saw an opportunity to be on a very good team with really good players 鈥 It’s a great team, great clubhouse. I feel like, for the most part, everything’s here.”
That attitude stands in opposition to what many observers feel about the Jays, who struggled to get big hits in big spots for a large part of last season, with several regulars 鈥 including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk 鈥 posting the worst full-season numbers of their careers.
“I think offence is inconsistent around the whole league, for the most part,” Kiner-Falefa said. “You go through a whole season, guys are going to struggle.
“The one thing that can stay consistent is defence 鈥 defence and pitching. The way the Blue Jays were able to win a bunch of games last year shifted their focus and I think that’s actually a big thing. Playing that type of baseball is going to take you a long way.”
The 2020 Gold Glove infielder questions the notion that the Blue Jays had a bad year in 2023.
“Sometimes it’s not flashy,” Kiner-Falefa said. “But to win 89 games in a supposedly down year on offence, I mean, is that really a down year when you’ve won that many games? It’s exciting for us because I feel like everybody in that clubhouse feels like the sky’s the limit.”
Centre-fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who returned to the Jays as a free agent the same week as Kiner-Falefa signed, is a big fan of his new teammate.
“I like IKF a lot, I like his game,” Kiermaier said. “He does not swing at balls ever.”
He also advises not to be fooled by Kiner-Falefa’s pedestrian offensive statistics.
“You see certain guys who sometimes at certain points might not have the best numbers,” Kiermaier said. “But this dude, he competes. He’s a hard-nosed dude聽鈥 he’s a head-down, play-hard type of guy. He’s got some pop, I think he hit an (opposite-field) homer against us last year.”
He did indeed, off Kevin Gausman on May 16 at the Rogers Centre, but obviously it’s not power the Jays are looking for from a hitter who has averaged seven homers per 162 games over his major-league career.
They would like to see more of who he was in the middle of last season, though. Kiner-Falefa hit .291 with a .764 on-base-plus-slugging percentage from聽May 24 to August 14.
The right-handed swinger is looking forward to staying in the American League East after spending the last two years with the Yankees.
“It’s a gauntlet,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I feel like it brings the best out of players. It’s tough, but that’s what we play for.”
The big-city life is a plus as well.
“Being from Hawaii, we’re used to having a lot of diversity in our culture,” he said. “Toronto’s very, very similar, on a different scale. Growing up in paradise, you get used to paradise so you want to go have adventures and learn new things about different cities.
“When people go to paradise and they’re mind-blown, that’s how I feel when I’m in 海角社区官网or New York. In big cities, I feel like it’s just a big playground.”
And when he’s not exploring the city the next two years, Rogers Centre will be his playground, whether it’s at third base, where he looks to share time with Cavan Biggio and Justin Turner, backing up Bo Bichette at shortstop or spending time in the outfield against left-handed pitching.
It’s not likely to be behind the plate, though. Kiner-Falefa has caught 73 games in the majors, though none since 2019. Varsho, the best defensive outfielder in the game, has caught 82 games, 31 of them as recently as 2022.
“He actually mentioned it to me,” Varsho said. “He goes, ‘Hey, you can take that third catcher’s spot. It doesn’t really bother me .”
Kiner-Falefa. who played seven positions last season, confirmed Varsho’s story with a smile.
“He did it more recently than me, so I told him he could have it,” Kiner-Falefa said. “But if they ever need it, it’s in my back pocket. If it’s ever necessary, it’s a tool that I have.”
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