The Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider will departure in 2024, according to General Manager John Schneider, who made his resignation known.
General manager Ross Atkins announced on Saturday that Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider will return the following season following an early postseason exit.
With Charlie Montoyo sacked in 2022 following a dismal start, 43-year-old Schneider assumed management of the Blue Jays.
Toronto finished the regular season 46-28 under Schneider and made it to the postseason. The Seattle Mariners swept them in the wild-card round.
This season, the Blue Jays maintained their upward trend of play, going 89-73 in the American League East and taking third place in the division.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ season ended in a two-game wild-card series sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins after the team qualified for the playoffs as the sixth seed.
There were doubts over Schneider’s decision to remove Game 2 starter Jose Berrios in the fourth inning.
After pitching three innings without giving up a run, Berrios was lifted in the fourth inning due to a walk. After scoring twice in the inning, the Twins went on to win the series 2-0.
Atkins said to reporters on Saturday, “John Schneider made that decision,” adding, “Yes,” in response to a question on Schneider’s potential return for the upcoming season.
After the 2022 season concluded, Schneider signed a three-year contract, of which he is now in the second year. There is also a club option in the deal for a fourth season.
Chicago right-hander Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates is already creating history in just two starts during his major league debut.
The rookie made his big league debut on the road on Friday at Wrigley Field, where he struck out the first seven Chicago Cubs players he faced en route to a 9-3 Pirates victory.
Skenes, who made his major league debut against the Cubs as well, attributed his improvement to having improved fastball command.
The 21-year-old claimed, “I had my pitches working for me a lot better than last time.” “Regardless of your identity, it’s extremely difficult to compete without fastball execution. Today was much better.”
In the fifth inning, Skenes, 21, walked first baseman Michael Busch after retiring the previous 13 batters in a row.
Pitching six hitless innings on 100 pitches, Busch was the only runner to reach base off of Skenes. All told, he struck out eleven times.
Derek Shelton, manager of the Pirates, remarked, “He went right after them.” He took advantage of every pitch he had.
The fact that he could alternate between pitches and return to the fastball when necessary, even though doing so at 100 mph somewhat alters the dynamic.”
After striking out Michael Tauchman three times in the game, Skenes delivered his 100th pitch at a velocity of 100 mph.
Tauchman stated, “The fastball command was good today.” “And after that, he managed to tunnel that splitter, or sinker, as he prefers to call it, off of it. and toss things in a competitive manner.
He performed well while dealing with someone who commands such speed and agility and forces you to make snap decisions.”
When Skenes turned in a 6-inning, no-hit, 11-strike-out performance in his first road start at storied Wrigley Field, people asked if he could comprehend the magnitude of the occasion.
“In the coming days, I’ll be even more grateful for that,” he remarked. “I love Wrigley so much. I’d heard great things about this place and the day games at Wrigley. It was quite cool.”
In the seventh inning, with two outs, Christopher Morel knocked an opposite-field single against right-off reliever Carmen Mlodzinski, giving the Cubs their first run.
Skenes’ seven strikeouts to start a game tied a record for a Pirates pitcher and were second most in MLB history for the longest streak by a rookie, trailing only Jim Deshaies’ eight straight in 1986 and Jacob deGrom’s eight in 2014.
It also tied the record for the fifth-longest run in big league history; Mickey Welch (1884) and Pablo Lopez (2021) share the all-time record of nine.
In his first two career starts, Skenes has struck out more batters than any other Pirates pitcher, tying Nick Maddox (1907) with 18 through his Cubs outings.
In a commanding outing on Friday, Skenes fired 12 pitches at 100 mph or more while sprinkling in his secondary pitches.
During the mound’s extension in 1893, he became the fifth rookie pitcher to record 10 strikeouts and no hits allowed in a game.
That reminded him later that that’s what big league baseball is all about.
