Blue Jays takeaways: The other way proves to be the right way for Corey Dickerson

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This article was published 28/08/2021 (1515 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 3-2 win in 10 innings in Detroit on Saturday:

DETROIT—With the proliferation of the infield shift comes the frustration of those who throw their hands up at the inability of major-leaguers to just get the bat on the ball and hit it the other way.

It’s understandable. “Hit it where they ain’t” has been a thing in baseball since well before Wee Willie Keeler immortalized those words around the turn of the 20th Century.

It doesn’t seem to be that easy, though. Notable recent Blue Jays like Justin Smoak and Colby Rasmus have said that trying to hit around the shift takes them out of their rhythm at the plate. Not so Corey Dickerson.

The left-handed hitter faced the Ted Williams overshift each of the first four times he came to the plate Saturday night, and every time he put the ball in play, he hit it the other way.

Dickerson hit a hard line drive to left his first time up, chased down nicely by Tigers rookie Akil Baddoo in the second inning. Seeing the Tigers in the shift again his next time up, Dickerson simply hit a routine ground ball to third. There was nobody there and the inning continued thanks to the two-out single. The 32-year-old led off the eighth inning with the game having just been tied 2-2 and did it again. Nothing special, not hit hard, not tight to the line, just a routine ground ball to third. Base hit.

The first Dickerson grounder had an expected batting average of .110, the second one .080.

In the 10th, Dickerson came up with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on second, so the Tigers had to keep their third baseman near the bag. Dickerson still hit the ball the other way, flaring one into shallow left to drive in Guerrero with the eventual winning run.

The three hits for Dickerson, not a single one of them hit hard, got his average as a Jay up to .292.

• Cleaning up: The Jays shook up their scuffling lineup on Saturday, flipping the top two hitters with Marcus Semien moving up to leadoff and Bo Bichette dropping to the two-spot, but more interesting was seeing who filled the cleanup position.

With Teoscar Hernandez having been given the day off as a starter, rookie catcher Alejandro Kirk was tabbed to hit fourth.

“He’s swinging the bat well,” said manager Charlie Montoyo before the game. “Our lineup is struggling right now, (and) he’s one of the ones having good at-bats and that’s why he’s hitting cleanup today (with) Teo off.”

The 22-year-old, who had never hit anywhere above sixth in his career until batting fifth Thursday, rewarded his team’s faith in him in the sixth inning, breaking up a 0-0 game by hammering an 0-1 cutter from left-hander Tyler Alexander 412 feet to left for a two-out solo homer.

It was Kirk’s seventh extra-base hit in 62 at-bats since coming off the injured list in late July — he’s hit .306/.348/.452 since he’s been back, outpacing even the strong .267/.362/.383 line put up by fellow backstop Reese McGuire over the same span.

There’s no question that Kirk can hit, and if he can continue getting in shape — he’s down 16 pounds since the injury — and improve behind the plate, the Jays will have one of their “catchers of the future” come through for the first time since, who, Pat Borders?

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• Manoah magnificence: Lost in the wake of the Jays’ offensive woes has been a lot of incredible work by the starting pitchers.

That continued Saturday as rookie Alek Manoah took a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning, dominating the Detroiters with seven strikeouts and facing just one batter over the minimum.

It was another eye-popping performance by a freshman who has defied all expectations, coming to the major leagues after only 35 professional innings pitched and posting a 3.15 ERA and silly WHIP of 1.06.

On a hot and humid evening in Motown, Manoah pitched into the seventh, where he got nickel-and-dimed by a pair of soft singles leading off the frame. After striking out Miguel Cabrera for the third time in the game, he finally gave up a hard-hit single, driving in a run, and he was done.

As early as the 23-year-old was called up, had he made it to the majors sooner, he’d be the front-runner for American League rookie of the year.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness