AL East Positional Rankings: Baltimore Orioles’ Jonathan Schoop Joins Long List of All-Star Second Basemen
By Nate Wardle
4. Toronto Blue Jays
Second basemen: Darwin Barney, Devon Travis, Ryan Goins, Rob Refsnyder
I said before the season that I thought that Travis would emerge, if healthy. Well, the problem there, he wasn’t healthy again. Travis only played in 50 games and started off downright cold before heating up.
Travis hit .130/.193/.195 in March and April. It wasn’t good. Then, in May, Travis hit .364/.373/.646 with 16 doubles in the month. That was much better. But after just a few days in June, Travis suffered a season-ending knee injury.
As for Barney, the utility player’s offense dropped off significantly in 2017. He hit .232/.275/.327 in129 games in 2017, after hitting .269/.322/.373 in 2016. Maybe it was overexposure, I;m not sure. Barney added six home runs, 14 doubles, 34 runs and 25 runs batted in from the bottom of the lineup.
Barney started 58 games at the position, and his defense was pretty good, only making two errors.
Goins also played 42 games at the position, with his offensive numbers better than Barney. Goins, typically a defense-first utility layer, hit .237/.286/.356 with nine home runs, 21 doubles, 37 runs and 62 runs batted in in 143 games, the most he played in his career. In 143 games played, Goins started at second base 42 times.
As for Refsnyder, the former Yankee started 12 games and was mostly ineffective at the plate, hitting .196.
Travis is the Blue Jays second baseman of the future, but he has to prove he can stay healthy first.