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Yohendrick Pinango Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider reacted to rookie outfielder Yohendrick Pinango’s defensive miscues in the outfield.

The Blue Jays faced the Miami Marlins on Monday night. Despite a strong start from Trey Yesavage, the Jays lost 8-2, with much of that being due to poor defense from Pinango.

In the sixth inning, with the game still in hand, Pinango made a mistake when he let up on a shallow fly ball to left field that he thought infielder Andres Gimenez would get to. Since the outfielder has the easier route to those types of shallow fly balls, that’s on Pinango to get that ball. Instead, it dropped, leading the Marlins to keep the inning going.

Then, two batters later, Pinango misjudged a fly ball that went over his head in the outfield, once again leading to the Marlins extending their inning and scoring several runs. Since it technically was not an error, Yesavage was tagged with several earned runs that he truly did not deserve, and the look on the pitcher’s face was not one of a happy camper.

In addition to Yesavage throwing more pitches than he had to, his final pitching line also read as him giving up 5 ER in 6.2 IP, but anyone who watched the game knows that the box score didn’t tell the true tale of his pitching performance.

John Schneider Reacts to Yohendrick Pinango’s Defensive Issues

Speaking to reporters after the game, Schneider was asked what he thought about Pinango’s defense, and the Blue Jays’ skipper told the truth.

“Just the fundamentals of baseball, outfielder always has priority over the infielder. You learn from it, hopefully, and move on. Those plays can obviously change the trajectory of the game pretty quickly,” Schneider said (via MLB.com).

Had Pinango made the play, then Yesavage would have ended the night with a 1.41 ERA. Instead, the inning continued, and he ended the night with a 2.25 ERA instead. His manager knows that the defense hurt his rookie pitcher, and admitted as much after the game.

“He deserved a lot better than what we gave him tonight,” Schneider said of Yesavage.

Blue Jays Have a Decision to Make on Yohendrick Pinango

When third baseman/outfielder Addison Barger returns from the IL, the Blue Jays will have a big decision to make with Pinango: do they keep him on the big-league team, or do they send him back down to Triple-A Buffalo?

On one hand, Pinango’s bat has been solid for the team, as he carries a .307 BA and a 107 OPS+ through 76 plate appearances with the Blue Jays. On the other hand, his defense has been shaky, and the Jays simply need him to be better in the field if he wants to stay in the majors.

Since Pinango has options remaining, he very well could be the player who gets sent back down when Barger comes off the IL, especially since his defense is a work in progress. But with the Jays struggling to score runs these days, it could be a mistake to send down one of their more consistent bats.

We’ll see what the team ends up doing, but either way, Pinango simply needs to be much better in the outfield, or else his major-league run won’t last very long.