DUNEDIN, FLA.—Blue Jays manager John Gibbons believes his young second baseman Devon Travis can become one of the best hitters in baseball — if he remains healthy. And staying healthy, of course, has been Travis’s biggest problem.
Over the course of his two big-league seasons, after being obtained from the Tigers for outfielder Anthony Gose, Travis has missed 161 games while playing just 163. His longest streak of consecutive games has been 28, in August and September last year.
After a fabulous first month with the Jays in April 2015, the then-rookie suffered a left shoulder injury in Cleveland. When he returned, he re-injured the shoulder, underwent exploratory surgery in September and surgery to stabilize an extra bone in his shoulder that November. He began 2016 on the disabled list again, returning to the active roster at the end of May.
The Florida native then managed to remain healthy for four months, before suffering a knee injury in Game 1 of the American League division series. He returned in time for Game 1 of the AL championship series, but aggravated the knee, ending his season.
Travis has been slowed this spring by the lingering effects of a bone bruise surrounding the right knee, a fallout from yet another arthroscopic surgery in November. He is expected to be fine by opening day.
“I think that the biggest thing that they try to remind me is just to be smart,” Travis said Saturday. “It’s early. I’m always go, go, go and trying to push the envelope. Sometimes you can end up in a bad situation. The biggest thing they preach me is just to take it day by day. There’s no rush. The goal is opening day.”
You would think Travis would be downcast, with all the physical hardship that has marked his career. But he keeps on smiling. It’s part of his personality. The smile became even bigger when informed of Gibbons’ praise.
“That’s so cool to hear,” Travis said. “To me it doesn’t really make sense. I just come to the park every day and I try to get better. I try to learn from these guys. I’ve got a lot of work to do but hearing that come from Gibby, who’s seen so many hitters come through here, that’s real special to me.
“I truly don’t think of my potential in terms of comparing it to other people. I just try to do whatever I can myself and maximize my potential. I do everything I can to help the team win and at the end of the year, wherever those numbers, my goal is just to win.”
One of the reasons Travis wants to get back on the field as soon as possible, is this is the first full season — if he remains healthy — in which he can pair with shortstop Troy Tulowitzki as the Jays’ everyday double-play combination. Travis understands he has much work to do, but he also knows he has an excellent mentor.
“Devon is someone I’m going to constantly be doing early work with,” Tulowitzki said earlier in the week. “You’re going to see me on the field with him putting in work, because he wants to get better. He needs to get better in that area. But with his work ethic, he’s going to get better, no doubt.”
The 25-year-old second baseman clearly wants to absorb as much information and attention to detail as the 32-year-old Tulowitzki can offer.
“Not even just defensively,” Travis said of the lessons he gets from hanging with Tulowitzki. “He always speaks in a general term, but his biggest thing is every move you make is calculated. Whether it’s one groundball you take when you’re tired and you do one thing wrong when you’re practising. If you expect the most out of yourself and you’re hard on yourself, when the game rolls around, those little things take care of themselves.”
Tulowitzki is not just the wise old man with the beard, sitting cross-legged on the mountain-top with his followers listening in rapt attention. Travis explains how Tulo leads by active example as well.
“It’s awesome,” Travis said. “It’s honestly crazy when I sit back and think about it. This off-season I had time to reflect a little bit. For me, it’s like everybody as a kid grew up watching Tulo. The big swing, the jump throws, the throws on the run. It’s something you look up to. To be able to learn from him now is special.
“He’s out there. We went and took groundballs the other day. He did more work and he was sweating harder than I was. He’s intense, man. It’s crazy to see. It’s motivating. He’s obviously a veteran in this game now. He still is just as intense and puts in just as much work as the younger guys. I want to be like that.”
The first thing Travis must do is to remain on the field and be smart about his body, knowing when it’s time to step back and be conservative about his health, his play on the field. If healthy, he will bat leadoff.
“I think the biggest thing is me being able to handle whatever’s going on in there,” Travis said, referring to the knee. “If I’m pain-free, that means that the bone bruise is gone. I don’t know the really correct answer to that, but hopefully it’s gone. There’s still certain things that I haven’t done, but I’m not in pain. I feel like I can move. I feel like I can really do everything that (the trainers) put me up to do . . . I look forward to that next challenge.”
That will include playing 140-plus games, listening to Tulowitzki and fulfilling a hitting prophecy of his cheerleading manager.
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