1 Blue Jay at Each Position for a 10 Game Win Streak

 The first 10 game streak since 2015! Last night's game was a bit cheap given that it got rained out in the 6th inning, but they were up 6-1 against the White Sox at that point so I'll take the bullpen rest day. They've got a shot to tie the franchise record 11 game win streak today at 2pm, but before then I thought it'd be fun to name 10 Jays in honour of them winning 10 straight. Since there are 10 positions if you include the DH, why not go around the diamond and name my favorite Jay off the top of my head at each spot. 

P - Marcus Stroman 

I'm going to probably have such a heavy 2015 bias on this list because that's when I peaked as a Blue Jays fan. I really hope that this super fun season is doing for kids and teens what that team did for me! Stroman was a dawg in Toronto. I still remember at the start of 2015 Stroman tore his ACL in spring training, a devastating blow to the Jays already thin rotation. In September, he miraculously was ready to pitch again after the fastest ACL tear recovery I've ever seen. He started 4 games to end the year, and was lights out amazing. He then got to be in the playoff rotation where he was awesome once again. This is a guy who was never the best pitcher in the game, but he had a thing for big moments and always showed up when we needed him. He embraced Toronto as much as any athlete ever did and for that he's my favorite pitcher in Jays history. 

C - Alejandro Kirk

I really thought hard about doing Russell Martin here, Canadian, 2015 player, but I need to balance this list out and give a shout to someone who's really grown on me. Initially, I didn't like Kirk. He looked funny being short and stocky, but to me he was just a fat guy hitting singles and clogging the base paths. He's grown into one of the best catchers in baseball now and I think that's really cool. Behind the plate, Kirk is amazing. He's one of the best pitch framers in the league probably stealing a couple of strikes per game for his pitching staff. He ranks 3rd on Baseball Savant's caught stealing above average stat, which I can't really explain but it sounds really good so we'll put it here. Offensively, he's doing a little bit of everything, Kirk is slashing .303/.359/.412. He's getting on base a ton and keeping innings going for this Jays team that's full of hitters just like that. I'm sorry I was a hater early Alejandro, you are awesome. 

1B - Adam Lind

Yeah Vlad Jr is going to miss my list! Enough people talk about him and I've talked about him a ton anyway, he'll survive. Lind is the name I think of when I think Jays first basemen for some reason. He had a long and weird career, mostly with the Blue Jays during some very mid seasons. I don't have very many specific memories of Adam Lind, I just remember going to the ballpark as a kid to watch the Jays and noting that Lind was one of our best hitters. A lefty bat with some power, Lind made everyone dream big after he hit 35 home runs and 114 RBIs in 2009. He went on to have some lackluster seasons before finding a groove again just in time to be shipped off to make room for emerging talent. I'll always remember him as an athlete from my childhood and he's the first baseman on my 10 game win streak honours list. 

2B - Ryan Goins

I really struggled to pick someone for this position. It was a debate between Goins, Marcus Semien and Aaron Hill. Given that Semien only played 1 (very awesome) season here and Aaron Hill played so long ago that I'd have to give him another Adam Lind type paragraph of basically just remembering he was nice but nothing else, I decided to go with GoGo. I distinctly remember Goins' first couple of games with the Jays when he was compared on the broadcast to Derick Jeter. He played both short and second base and was a wiz with his glove. Obviously he didn't end up being Derick Jeter, but he was a pretty fun player on some of the best Jays teams of my lifetime. Not the best hitter, but on a stacked 2015 Jays offense his glove ended up keeping him in the lineup. If you go back and watch the Bautista bat flip, you'll see Ryan Goins in the background absolutely HYPED rounding third base, it really adds to the entire scene. Goins carved out a decent career and likely won't be remembered by non-Jays fans, but I'll always remember him. 

3B - Addison Barger

Honestly this one for me was between Barger and Josh Donaldson with no other 3rd baseman coming close to my heart. Given the fact that Donaldson was a bit of an A-hole, I decided to give some love to the Jays new emerging star Addison Barger. Nobody expected Barger to be doing what he's doing this year. Not only is his bat amazing with an .842 OPS so far this season, he's played awesome defense at both 3rd base and RF due primarily to his cannon for an arm. Barger's baseball savant page has him in the 100th percentile for arm strength, meaning they see him as having the best arm out of any fielder in the MLB. For the Jays this season he's been essential. I said to start the year that I thought 3rd base was a major weakness for this team. Barger's emergence means they don't need to spend resources on a 3rd baseman at the deadline and can instead address their pitching staff without worries. Barger's biceps are as big as my legs, he seems to always come through in clutch situations and he plays a stellar 3rd base. If he keeps this going, we might be looking at our 3rd baseman for the foreseeable future and that's exciting enough to get on my list.

SS - Munenori Kawasaki 

So many ways you could go with this one, we have one of the best short stops in franchise history playing for the team right now. My favorite team that I keep giving honours to had both Jose Reyes and Troy Tulowitzki on it for various periods. There's even feel good stories like John MacDonald that you can't help but love. I even have distinct memories of Yunel Escobar and Marco Scutaro. Short stop is important, I guess these guys tend to stick out. You can't have a favorite Jays list without Kawasaki though, especially one that's in honour of a big winning streak. Kawasaki was called up in 2013, in the middle of a miserable season, and immediately shifted the vibes for that team. Kawasaki wasn't the best hitter, he was average in the field, but he was a pure vibes injection that simply couldn't be replicated. The Jays won 11 in a row after calling him up simply because he made everyone 50% happier with his presence. A goofy guy who could barely speak English, his interviews became must see TV. I will never forget the time he got a walkoff hit and got the post game interview. The interviewer asked him something like how does it feel and he responded "my name is Munenori Kawasaki, I am from Japan, I AM JAPANEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!" Legendary, belongs in the pure vibes hall of fame. I don't think we'll ever get a player like this in sports ever again, it was something to cherish. 

LF - Melky Cabrera 

Like most teams, the Jays have had a ton of left fielders. It's generally the position you stick your worst defender or rotate various guys to when needed. Melky Cabrera really fit the bill of sticking your worst defender somewhere to get a bat in the lineup, but he was one of my favorite parts of some really disappointing Jays teams in 2013 and 2014. Melky didn't have a ton of power and he wasn't a great fielder but oh boy could he hit. I still remember in high school how I would track the batting average of every player on the team and Melky's was the most fun because he always seemed to hit above .300. Not a ton of key memories stand out with this guy, but he just seemed to always get on base and his name is Melky which is really fun to say so he makes my list. 

CF - Colby Rasmus 

CF might be the hardest one to choose because of how many really good center fielders the Jays have had. Daulton Varsho was the best defender in baseball last season in center field and he'd be a great choice here. Vernon Wells was my entire early childhood in the summer and I was really sad when he was finally traded. Kevin Pillar was so exciting to watch on those really good Jays teams with all his diving catches. Then of course there's guys in the 90s that I never got to watch like Devon White and Lloyd Mosby. I might've chosen one of the least memorable to the general public in Colby Rasmus, but I don't care. Colby was a really good defender in center field. I remember when he had his long hair I had the same and people remarked that we looked similar in a baseball cap. Colby was a lefty who would go on hot streaks where he looked like one of the best players in baseball. He'd also go on cold streaks where he looked like he didn't belong in the major leagues. I love how baseball has players like this that are either feast or famine. I still remember playing fantasy baseball in highschool, my girlfriend at the time was in our league and liked Colby Rasmus because we had the same hair. I made sure to draft him to her disappointment so that I could leverage her emotions and swing a lopsided trade later in the season. I ended up winning fantasy baseball that year, thanks Colby!

RF - Jose Bautista

Couldn't be anyone else! A key member of the last 2 Jays teams to win 10 in a row and one of the best Jays of my lifetime. Jose's 54 home run season in 2010 is what officially got me into baseball as a kid. I still remember tracking each home run so that I could recite his total off the top of my head. Of course everyone remembers the bat flip in 2015 when Jose hit a massive home run in a contentious 7th inning to give the Jays the lead in the ALDS against the Rangers. My favorite part about Bautista is when you pissed him off, he always seemed to respond with a dinger. So many games against division rivals where he'd have a ball thrown at him then he'd lock in and mash one to the second deck. An all time clutch performer and the easiest choice in RF ever. 

DH - Edwin Encarnacion 

My favorite Jay of all time and just like RF, the easiest choice at DH. I could've put him at 1B, but I needed to give my childhood a shout out with Adam Lind and honestly I'm not sure who else I'd have at DH. Edwin joined the team as a 3rd baseman, and he was terrible. His first few years he could hit a little bit, but his defense at 3rd gave everything back, it looked like the Jays might be ready to move on. Then in 2012 the Jays called up Brett Lawrie to play 3rd and moved Edwin to first base and DH, and Edwin's career took off. Eddy hit 42 home runs that season and didn't hit fewer than 30 again until his age 37 season in 2020. He was a notoriously slow starter but then I remember in May he would go on these stretches where it felt like he was good for a home run every game. In 2015 I'll never forget when he had 3 home runs in a game, the fans being accustomed to hat tricks in hockey rained their caps down on the field after his third and he was so cutely confused at what was going on. In the locker room someone explained hat tricks to him and he proclaimed that he was going to give all the hats back to their owners, so sweet! Edwin trotted the bases with his arm out as though he had a parrot perched on it and that became his thing, he would hit a home run and walk the parrot. I'll never forget in first year university when Edwin Encarnacion ended the wild card game against the Orioles with a walk off home run. We screamed in the room we were watching in much to the anger of the people studying nearby. Edwin was one of the best hitters in franchise history, I have his bobblehead in my apartment and it's one of my prized possessions. On top of that, it just seems like he was a really nice and down to earth guy. I love seeing him hanging around the clubhouse as a consultant this season, it's always good to have Edwin around!

That's that! This was fun, so many Jays have made my memories, and so many from this team will be remembered by kids forever as well. Lets make it 11 today boys! I'll be sneakily watching at work.