The human touch sets Charlie Montoyo apart. He loves the Jays, misses his family … and will bunt whether you like it or not

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This article was published 02/04/2021 (1682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK—On a day off, a bunch of Blue Jays went to the ballpark anyway for on-field workouts. Including the top three in the batting order who’d gone 0-for-14 collectively on opening day.

Marcus Semien, Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette.

That put a smile on their manager’s face. Even as he excused their unproductive at-bats against, Charlie Montoyo emphasized, one of the premier pitchers in the game: Gerrit Cole. Which is why the skipper didn’t put much stock in an offensive output held to eight hits, actually quite a gaudy number with Cole on the mound. Yet Montoyo was pleased to see the trio’s dissatisfaction converted into extra labours. Notwithstanding that Yankee Stadium is among the few destinations permitted under COVID mobility restrictions. The Big Apple has shrunk to a gnawed core.

“That’s just who they are. They weren’t satisfied about what happened (Thursday). They were hitting in the cage and taking ground balls. Which is great to see. There aren’t that many days off and they were still: Hey, let’s go. That’s the type of team that we have.”

Montoyo takes a bead on Biggio, who struck out looking twice. And so much, perhaps, for being more aggressive in the box, although it was only one game and Biggio had decent spring training stats.

“The one thing I love about that kid, every day at spring training, every morning at 8:30, he and Luis Rivera were taking extra ground balls. He was a really good second baseman. To his credit, he said: OK, I’ll move to third, no problem. So now he wants to be the best third baseman he can be.”

Amidst the drama of their 3-2 win, Biggio nabbed a bow-string grounder by Aaron Judge to start an around-the-horn double play.

Montoyo is always pumping his team’s tires. Rarely does a negative word cross his lips, even when warranted. At least not for public consumption. He’s endlessly encouraging, accentuating the positive. Of course, there’s much to be positive about with this roster content, as long as the assessing eye skims over the starting rotation, sketchy even before injury woes accumulated in the past fortnight.

Some managers browbeat. Some scald with a sharp tongue. Some intimidate merely with a glare. After 35 years in the game, none of that is Montoyo’s style. Though loath to dissect his own assets, Montoyo speaks in generalities about the qualities he believes become a good field manager.

“Constant communication is the key to managing in the big league, making sure that everyone is on the same page. I knew going in that was going to be big, but now that it’s my third year, I realize even more that the number one job for a manager is to communicate with the players, so they know where they’re standing.”

GM Ross Atkins gave chops to his manager in a Friday Zoom session with reporters.

“Charlie has been incredible in being collaborative with the players, with our coaching staff. All the information he’s asked for has always been very thoughtful. It’s a combination of objective and subjective information, like most baseball decisions, where you’re trying to put guys in the best positions to be successful and to complement one another.”

Whether by genuine belief or to boost his bona fides with metrics-facing employers, Montoyo has embraced the analytics that drive baseball today, if often to its blinkered detriment. Yet he simultaneously describes himself as “old school.” Hence, as an example, his anachronistic attachment to the bunt. That was evident Thursday — and roundly scolded on social media — after directing Danny Jansen to bunt in the 10th inning after Randal Grichuk had stroked an RBI double.

Jansen botched it twice, then bunted through a pitch in the dirt, striking out.

No apologies from Montoyo. “It was the right tactic. After we hit the double, I wanted to get (Grichuk) over to get the next run, knowing the top of the lineup was coming up. On the road, you always feel like you need to get two runs. So no, I have no problems putting the bunt down there.”

The Jays had the third-most bunts across baseball last season. It’s not going away. Montoyo will continue to justify its deployment when engaging with his critics, and the bunt is certainly an object of ridicule among many in the press box.

It sounds almost comical, given how distrusting the corporate organization is of media, but Montoyo says he misses the daily thrust-and-parry with reporters. Pines for the meandering chat sessions in his office, the gabby scrums, the patter around the batting cage — impossible under COVID distancing protocols.

“I’m comfortable talking to the press because I’ve never done that before. I don’t want to use the word suck. But what sucks about these last couple of years is that I haven’t had that constant communication with the press. That’s one of the best things, that you get to know me more, off the record. I was enjoying that.”

On the record and for the record, that taut triumph Thursday was Montoyo’s 100th career win in The Show, tying Buck Martinez on the Jays list, four behind Bobby Mattick.

Baseball is a garrulous game: shooting the breeze, telling stories. Montoyo is of a particularly amiable nature. And while managing is a 24/7 job, these are especially lonely times for a fellow who hasn’t seen his wife and kids since early February and is, at best, hoping they can at least be temporarily reunited by midsummer, depending on how the coronavirus rolls.

Older son Tyson is now attending school four days a week, back in Tucson. Younger son Alex is still doing online classes. Alex, as is well known, was born with a serious heart defect and underwent multiple surgeries. Though the tween is healthy now, Montoyo and wife Samantha are understandably worried about exposing the boy to COVID infection. The pandemic has been very personal.

“Because of my son, he’s not going to travel, until everybody gets vaccinated or close to it. I knew the moment I left home that I wasn’t going to see them until things got much better. All last year, from June, I didn’t see them again until I went home in October.

“It’s the hardest thing, but my kids are used to it. It’s like, there goes dad. I’ll see you when I see you.”

Though hardly long in the tooth at age 55, Montoyo brings a paternal dimension to the job, given how young most of the players are. And, just to remind, that youthful corps — Biggio, Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., several of the moundsmen — is only now entering its first start-to-finish full-length season.

He’s keen to see what next steps they’ll take.

“Almost everyone is expected to go to the next level. I’m looking forward to seeing them get better and better. With Vladdy, the expectations at the beginning … I’m not going to say they weren’t fair because he was so good in the minor leagues, but he was still a kid. I think now he’s more respected (in the clubhouse). The way he worked this off-season, coming to camp in great shape, had a great spring training. Not only me, I think the whole team is looking forward to seeing him take the next step.”

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Montoyo’s fiercest desire is that everybody will be able to witness, in person, from the stands at the Rogers Centre, a team coming into its maturing own, a contender to be reckoned with in the American League East, as “rebuild” recedes in the rear-view mirror.

The Jays will play at least three home series in Dunedin before probably shifting to Buffalo until they get the all-clear — fingers crossed — to venture across the border and home. Where the team hasn’t been since summer camp nine months ago.

“That’s the one thing about making it to the playoffs last year, not being in Toronto,” says Montoyo, regretfully. “That would have been awesome.

“Honestly, everyone is hoping …”

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno