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The two most important Toronto Blue Jays this season are Aaron Sanchez and Josh Donaldson.

If not for Donaldson’s multiple stints on the disabled list with a calf injury or the lost season for Sanchez due to blister problems on his pitching hand, the Jays would have surely been in the wild-card race last year.

I had a chance to catch up with both players last week in Dunedin, Fla., and came away convinced they’re primed for big seasons.

Sanchez is the most confident shy player I’ve ever met. The 25-year-old right-hander isn’t overly confident when he is interviewed but he says things that scream confidence. He described himself as an outlier and he is right.

There is no other starter in Major League Baseball that does what he does: throw a 97 miles-per-hour sinker ball. Others throw sinkers, but none as hard. There are some who throw harder than him but they don’t feature a sinker. The Jays need him to stay healthy because he is dominating and offers a different look than the rest of the rotation. 

The other remarkable thing that came out of the interview with Sanchez is how he throws his hard-boring sinker. I had him demonstrate how he grips his two-seam fastball (sinker) and curve ball – his bread-and-butter pitches – to better understand how the troubling blisters formed on his right middle finger last year. 

He does grip the ball on the seams, which certainly can play a role in the blisters.  But he believes the issue was the nail on his finger growing into the skin, which led to friction and caused the blistering. 

I further questioned Sanchez about whether his manipulating the baseball with his fingers while to trying to create movement on his extraordinary sinker may have been the cause of the blisters. He told me something I had never could have imagined was true: The movement on his sinker is natural and that he does nothing to manipulate the baseball. He doesn’t apply more pressure on the ball with his fingers to generate the movement. It seems impossible. In fact, his effort to manipulate the ball differently in the past to avoid the blisters caused a strained ligament in his finger.

Sanchez is confident that the blister issue is behind him, but certainly understands why so many people hang on every pitch. He is just that important. 

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Donaldson only played in 113 games last year but still hit 33 homers and had a .944 OPS. If he had been able to stay healthy he almost certainly would have been in the running for American League MVP with Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge.

A calf injury caused the lost time a year ago, which is why everyone panicked when he felt cramping in the same calf earlier this spring. I asked him if he understands why it caused such a stir. Donaldson said he understood but it seemed like it was still a bit annoying to him. 

In my interview with the Jays’ third baseman, I was most surprised by the response he gave me when I asked him about this past off-season with regards to free agency. He’s the only player that I’ve heard say the players were treated fairly.

So much has been made about the collective bargaining agreement, analytics, the non-competitiveness of more teams and the Scott Boras factor, but Donaldson didn’t buy into any of that for the most part. He very respectfully used J.D. Martinez as an example of the fairness of the market. Donaldson pointed out that being a DH affects Martinez’s value and that since David Ortiz, the greatest DH ever, made less ($16 million in 2016) than Martinez’s $22 million year average salary on his new deal that there was no reason to complain. 

It’s always interesting to see how players feel about their peers. I asked Donaldson about Baltimore Orioles infielder Manny Machado, who has moved to shortstop this season but has been a third baseman for most of his career. Machado is just 25, but will also head to free agency after 2018 in the same class as Donaldson.

I wondered if Donaldson knew his stats compared to Machado. He is well aware. He also offered an interesting perspective on the perception that Machado may get a 12-year deal as a free agent because of his youthfulness, while many clubs seem to be afraid to invest in older players like Donaldson who will head to free agency at 33 next year. Donaldson also said the idea that every young player will keep improving is flawed, pointing out that opposing pitchers learn something about hitters the longer they are around.

One thing that is clear is that Donaldson will not be paralyzed by his pending free agency.  He is motivated by it. I pointed out that I don’t think there is another individual more important to his club than Donaldson is to the Blue Jays. I asked him how he deals with that pressure. He said he thrives on that pressure. He welcomes it. 

Donaldson understands the age concerns but doesn’t think it applies to him. Plus, if players deteriorate with age, their value depends upon how quickly one anticipates that decline will occur and from what level the player is starting. It seems clear to him that he is starting from a very high level and he anticipates his decline will be slow.

Josh Donaldson is an elite player – one of the best in the game. He is a tenacious competitor and a leader. He will have a great season this year. As he gets older he will start to decline in performance, just like everyone else, but he is in great shape.  He is committed to his career and conditioning. If I had to bet, I’d put money on him playing for another six or seven productive seasons. For whom and for how much money remains to be seen.

Will it be in Toronto?  It seems unlikely.

Note: Steve Phillips' interview with Josh Donaldson will air on TSN and tsn.ca on Wednesday.

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Shohei Ohtani became a household name this off-season. Twenty-seven teams made a sales pitch to the Japanese star to join their organizations. He chose the Los Angeles Angels and has been marketed as the most unique player since Babe Ruth. Ohtani is both a pitcher and a hitter. 

This spring training has not gone well for the Japanese star in his transition to the majors. He is just 3-for-28 (.107/.219/.107), all singles, at the plate. He has been consistently beaten inside by fastballs. The early book is out on how to pitch him.

Ohtani has struggled on the mound as well. In two regular spring training games, he has allowed nine runs on nine hits, including three home runs, in just 2.2 innings. He has thrown better in a couple of B games or intrasquad games, but hasn’t been anywhere close to as dominating as expected.

There has been speculation that he might start the season in the minor leagues. He is on a minor-league contract and the chatter has grown louder since Angels GM Billy Eppler said there was no commitment made to Ohtani that he would start in the majors.

Every indication recently has been that the Japanese phenom will break camp with the major league club. It’s absolutely the right decision in my opinion. Spring training performance is always difficult to judge, even for the most veteran players. Guys are working out the kinks from the winter, they are working on their deliveries and mechanics and the results don’t always matter.

As an evaluator, we tend to discount the bad performances if we like the player and believe the good performances if it defends our preferences. My belief has always been that what I think about a player when he reports to spring training shouldn’t be swayed by spring training at-bats or innings.

Despite his struggles Ohtani is exactly the same player the Angels believed he was before spring training. They have too much invested in his acquisition.  They have built collateral with their fans in L.A. and Japan based upon the excitement. There is a level of respect that has to be shown to Japanese stars when they come to the States. I wouldn’t send Ohtani to the minors unless he struggles miserably at the major-league level during the regular season. 

A former teammate of his in Japan, Anthony Bass, said Ohtani never looked good in spring training but when the lights turn on in the regular season he shines.  So stay tuned.

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Ohtani is a young player who had a horrible spring but should start in the majors. The Atlanta Braves have a young stud outfielder who has had a great spring but will start the season in the minor leagues. Baseball can be bizarre.

The Braves outfielder is 20-year-old Ronald Acuna Jr. He moved through the Atlanta farm system last year, playing in A, AA and AAA. He ended his year hitting .344/.393/.548 in AAA.  He hit .432 in major-league camp with four homers this spring.  He is going to be a perennial all-star, but he will start the season in the minor leagues for at least 16 days.

The MLB season is 162 games played in 187 days. In order to qualify for a full year of major-league service a player must be in the majors for 172 days.  The Braves will start Acuna Jr. in the minor leagues and will only bring him to the majors once he is only able to accumulate at most 171 days of service this season. 

The Chicago Cubs did the same thing to Kris Bryant a couple of years ago.  Major league players can become free agents after six seasons in the majors. After this season and then five more, Acuna Jr. will have five years and 171 days of service, making him one day short of being a free agent. This sort of roster manipulation on the front end will gave the Braves another full season with Acuna Jr. He will finally be a free agent after six years and 171 days of service. 

This kid will be a star for years to come. He is the next version of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. He will be an elite player, but you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to see him.