Kiermaier finds new spark with Blue Jays

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

It took two minutes to see what Kevin Kiermaier can do for the Blue Jays.

In their spring home opener against the Yankees on Feb. 26 in Dunedin, Fla., Kiermaier came up firing with a throw in the first inning. Willie Calhoun was rounding third and trying to score on a single, but Kiermaier delivered a strike to Rob Brantly to cut him down.

“I got back to the dugout and I said, ‘This is why you guys brought me here, right?’” Kiermaier said.

Kiermaier knows exactly who he is and what he brings to the table. At 32, with his 33rd birthday coming in April, he’s a veteran of 10 Major League seasons and has spent that decade earning a reputation as one of this era’s best defensive outfielders. He’s earned three Gold Glove Awards along the way, burning himself into the minds of Blue Jays fans by stealing dozens of base hits from Toronto players over the years as a member of the Rays.

There’s a newness to Kiermaier now, though, an excitement that can only come with change.

For the first time since Tampa Bay selected him in the 31st round out of Parkland College in the 2010 MLB Draft, he’s putting on a new uniform. The spring opener was also his first baseball game since July 9, 2022, because his season ended prematurely due to hip surgery.

Changing teams has to be jarring for an athlete. There are new teammates, new coaches, new training staff, new facilities and new ways of doing things. When Kiermaier is standing in center field, baseball is baseball, but he’d grown very comfortable with Tampa, where he was one of the faces of a franchise that so often turns over its roster.

In Toronto, he doesn’t need to be the face of much. As Kiermaier spoke to media recently at TD Ballpark, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched a home run. Kiermaier peeked his head out from the small crowd of reporters to cheer on his new teammate, repeating how happy he was to be on Guerrero’s team.

“I know my role,” Kiermaier said. “I’m going to be hitting 7-8-9. I want to get on base for the big boppers like Vlad to drive me in. Whether I score from first on a double, a homer, a single, I don’t care. My game is to go be the best center fielder I can be.

“Offensively, I don’t want to be a slouch by any means, but I want to get on base and I want to draw more walks. Throughout my career, I’ve always tried to hit for a bit more power, because I know I have it, but I’m at my best when I’m trying to hit singles and line drives all over the field.”

Kiermaier is a career .248 hitter with a .308 on-base percentage, and it’s that latter number which matters. If Kiermaier can reach base at a clip closer to his .328 mark from 2021, then his speed can only help the Blue Jays from the bottom of the lineup. This roster is athletic from top to bottom, and to a man, they’ve all said they want to be more aggressive on the bases.

It’s all a style that should fit Kiermaier. Knowing his body, the veteran uses these early weeks to ease in, so you’re not going to see him trying to steal three bases in a game just yet. That will come in the final week or two, when he likes to ramp up, though the excitement in Kiermaier’s voice is already impossible to miss.

There’s the excitement of a young player getting a new opportunity, but also the experience of a man who understands what this opportunity means.

“I’m honored,” Kiermaier said. “It’s a great privilege to play for such a great organization and for a country. No other team in the big leagues can say that. I’m thrilled. I can’t wait to show everybody what I bring to the table and what I offer. I promise you, I’ll care more than anybody in that clubhouse. I’ll do whatever it takes to win. I want to pop a bunch of champagne.”