The Blue Jays are signing outfielder Wynton Bernard to a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). The 32-year-old will be in big league Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
Bernard has spent over a decade in the professional ranks. Initially a 35th-round pick of the Padres in 2012, the Niagara product landed with the Tigers on a minor league deal a couple seasons later. He’s typically hit well enough in the minors to continue to find opportunities, landing subsequent depth roles with the Giants, Cubs and Rockies. He continued to bide his time in search of an MLB look.
At long last, he earned that desired call late last summer. Bernard had mashed at a .333/.387/.590 clip through 108 games with the Rox’s top affiliate in Albuquerque, connecting on 21 home runs and stealing 30 bases in 35 tries. The Rockies brought him up in mid-August, where he got some limited runtime in the outfield. He appeared in 12 MLB games, hitting .286/.286/.310 over his first 42 trips to the plate. Colorado ran him through outright waivers at the end of the year, sending him back to minor league free agency.
While it was a brief first MLB call, it no doubt served as some vindication for the San Diego native. Bernard’s 2022 showing was aided to some extent by the Pacific Coast League’s extremely hitter-friendly environment, but he’s typically performed at an above-average level throughout his time in the minors. He’s a career .289/.350/.424 minor league hitter, sporting a .273/.328/.435 mark through parts of six Triple-A campaigns.
Bernard is an excellent runner who’s capable of covering all three outfield spots. He’ll slot in behind Nathan Lukes — who was added to the 40-man roster at the start of the offseason — as a speed/defense depth outfielder. Bernard figures to open the season with Triple-A Buffalo. He still has two option years remaining, so the Jays would be able to shuttle him between Toronto and Buffalo if he claims a 40-man spot at any point.
Who knows, he could be playing LF in August if Kiermier stinks up the place and Varsho takes over CF
Yeah Kiermier has already said he has something to prove. Also on a one year show what you can do contract
@Jaysfan1981
It is for that reason, or injury, the Jays should be trading or signing for a capable OF option; preferably right handed. As it stands right now, OF depth is Merrifield, Biggio, then Lukes.
How can you not root for a guy with a name like that!
Dick Pole is the GOAT of player names.
Rusty Kuntz disagrees.
Pete LaCock is in the discussion as well.
A 20/30 guy with a .977 PPS at AAA last year? What a stud! Even if it is just a 1 year fluke, that’s extremely impressive. Jacoby Ellsbury 2011-type impressive
Rockies had no choice but to call him up with that production, but the reward for the most part was sitting on the bench. This guy WILL produces at the major league level. I’m surprised MIA didn’t pick him up.
This is one of the many guys I want Texas to pickup.
Blue Jays are bringing the fences in to generate more offense…. That’s going to be an interesting stadium for the ALE to play.
That is a false belief.
The redesign of the fences is a happy coincidence. The fences need to be moved to make room for the new Bullpens and has been planned for about 2 seasons now.
Trading one of the best HR hitters for a reliever is counter intuitive to the conspiracy theory lol
Jaysfan, there’s another way to look at it. Bringing in the fences would be helpful to the Jays hitters with somewhat less power than Teoscar.
The walls are also going to be higher in spots which should counteract the shorter distances to some degree.
I don’t think the renovations were designed to juice offense at the dome, but we won’t know how it’ll play until the actual games.
Well, if a team is bringing in the fences, especially when you have a power alley of 366, I don’t see how it’s false to say it’s to generate more offense. It may also serve as a bullpen position, but to think they didn’t have more than one purpose for moving in the fences is illogical, imo.
Vlad is a RH home run hitter. They know exactly where he hits them, exactly where they land. Same for Bichette and others.
The thing you’re not factoring in, is both teams get equal 27 outs.
Bringing the fences in not only aids Jays hitters, it helps opposing hitters rocket some HRs as well.
The additional 5 feet of height to the walls is a way to try balancing the effect of the shortened length
Yeah, I wasn’t suggesting it wasn’t fair or it only benefits the Jays in any single game. It wasn’t an attack on the Jays, just an observation about what they’re doing.
According to Scott Mitchell of TSN, here’s how the fence distances in Toronto will be changing in time for the 2023 season:
The center field fence distance will be reduced from 400 feet to 397 feet.
The left-center power alley fence will move in from 375 feet to 366 feet.
Most substantially, the fence in the right-center power alley will come in from 375 feet all the way to 357 feet.
In terms of raw distance from home plate, those are extreme changes. However, those alterations will be partly offset by an increase in fence height of varying dimensions. For example, Shi Davidi recently reported that the fence height at the corners in front of the bullpens will increase from 10 feet to 15 feet. That said, on balance the changes figure to help the many power hitters in the Blue Jays’ lineup.
According to Statcast, Rogers Centre over the last three seasons has played basically neutral when it comes to run-scoring levels. However, at the same time, it’s inflated home run rates by roughly 8 percent. More specifically, it’s notably benefited right-handed power hitters while actually working against those who hit from the left side. The far more friendly dimensions in the right-center power alley should be of particular benefit to offseason additions like Daulton Varsho, Brandon Belt, and Kevin Kiermaier — all of whom bat lefty
It should be a fun year !!
Considering the previous dimensions were perfectly symmetrical, with a dome to prevent wind influence (even when it’s open it blocks almost all the wind), I’d don’t buy that it was favoring righties and hurting lefties. The stats saying so have to be a fluke (perhaps an artifact of the Jays’ good hitters all being righties lately), or an indication that the rest of the league’s dimensions abnormally favor lefties.
I would say our lineup having no lefty power threat is a big reason why our park had not played favorable to lefties. Being that we didn’t have thr lefty bats to exploit that advantage.
Yankee Clipper, when you phrase it that way, it suggests creating the offense is the motivation. But the reality is that bringing the fences in creates more revenue generating space beyond the fences. That’s the motivation. They’re calling them “neighborhoods” but are essentially non ticketed social spaces with food and drink (especially drink for raking in more cash).
Okay, that’s fair, Kamkid. I didn’t intend for it to read that way but I do believe it’s an obvious factor in their decision making.
I’m just offering the more cynical take that much of what is done by baseball teams is less about baseball and more about money. But I do think there is some element of baseball here. Largely that they want to put a stamp on that place as a ballpark. It was one of if not the last multi use venues and as a result, very bland. They seriously considered a whole new park and people were pretty excited at that idea. But they opted for the reno instead so I think adding some asymmetry to the field dimensions is an attempt at creating ballpark charm in a space that has some real limitations for creating it in other ways.
Yeah, I agree with you , Kam. Money is the primary motivating factor for every team, imho, and any decision they make.
Underrated deal.