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DUNEDIN, Fla. - The defensive struggles Teoscar Hernandez went through last season made it easy to forget the work he did at the plate.

In his first full big-league season in a Blue Jays uniform, a 107 wRC+ and 22 home runs, many of them of the tape measure variety, in 134 games revealed a power-packed bat that plays well in American League East ballparks.

But even Hernandez knows the left field defence has to improve for him to stay in the lineup, so he went back to the Dominican Republic over the winter in search of his confidence.

“I’m trying to not think about it, but it’s always there,” Hernandez said. “When you get the chance to make a good play and your mind goes back and you’re thinking about the errors, that’s when you make another error. I try to keep my mind strong and try to not think about and just keep playing.

“For me, in this game is always how your confidence is. When you get your confidence back, it doesn’t matter where you play or how you’re going to make the play, you’re going to make it if your confidence is high. I think that’s what I got when I went down to D.R. and played winter ball - I got my confidence back in defence.”

In Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener at Dunedin Stadium against the Detroit Tigers, Hernandez had an early opportunity on a towering flyball to left. He took an interesting route, but made the play. Then, in the bottom of the first inning, Hernandez showed why he’s still a potentially intriguing piece to the rebuild puzzle, scorching a double off the the centre field wall, before adding a single in his second at-bat.

“It seems like every time I see the kid, he hits balls like that,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Good approach. As long as he doesn’t chase bad pitches, he’s going to be alright.”

In addition to trying to improve defensively, Hernandez wants to do just what his new manager said, improve his pitch recognition, which will help drop a strikeout rate that sat at 31.2 per cent last season, including a jump from 26.2 per cent in the first half, compared to 39.5 per cent after the all-star break.

“One of them is plate discipline, trying to not miss the pitches that I’m supposed to hit, pitches that are in the middle of the plate, and trying to not chase those pitches out of the zone,” Hernandez said of his goals.

With relatively little outfield competition in camp, Hernandez is locked into a job, but the amount of at-bats stolen away by Billy McKinney and others will be determined the defence.

A Kendrys Morales trade wouldn’t hurt, either.

BORUCKI ADDS WEIGHT, VELOCITY UP IN OPENER

After averaging 91.5 mph on his two-seam fastball last season, Ryan Borucki showed up pumping 95 in Saturday’s opener against the Tigers.

Even the soon-to-be 25-year-old was surprised by that, even if the Dunedin Stadium radar gun may not be the most accurate source.
“I didn’t see 95 very often last year, so it’s pretty good,” said Borucki who spun two scoreless innings, allowing a pair of hits and a walk. “I gained a couple pounds this winter, so hopefully that stays there but we’ll see.”

Now up to 220 pounds, Borucki hopes the added five to eight pounds will help him get through a long season.

The development of his slider will be the key progression for the lefty, as the change-up is already a weapon.

“Threw a couple really good ones and threw one bad one, but it was where I wanted it to be,” Borucki said of his breaking ball. “It’s going to be a work in progress the rest of this spring, just tightening it up and getting more consistent with it.”

While Borucki hasn’t been handed a rotation spot and manager Charlie Montoyo says he’s competing, it would be a major upset if he doesn’t start the season in the rotation.

“Right now, it’s open,” pitching coach Pete Walker said. “There’s a lot of competitive guys and guys who are hungry to pitch at the major league level. You have spring training to sort things out and I’m not pencilling anyone into any spot right now. Let guys go out and compete and show what they can do and, I think, it’ll all take care of itself.”

Another pitcher in the mix, lefty Thomas Pannone, was blown up for five hits and four earned runs in his debut Saturday.

LINE DRIVES

- Elvis Luciano made his spring debut, throwing a scoreless inning. The 19-year-old Rule 5 pick allowed a hit and a walk, touching 95 mph on the gun.

- Earmarked for a key bullpen role this season, lefty Tim Mayza fired a scoreless inning in his debut, giving up a pair of singles and striking out one.

- Right fielder Randal Grichuk won’t play until Tuesday due to a flare up of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The Jays don’t think the injury is a big deal.