Blue Jays stars have already had success at Sahlen Field

Sahlen Field will serve as the Blue Jays home away from home for 27 games this summer, but of course the ballpark will not be an unfamiliar one for many of their players.

Between their active roster and their taxi squad, the Blue Jays have 19 players who played at Sahlen Field as a member of the Buffalo Bisons. That group has combined for a total of 551 games played in the home of the Herd with 1,792 at-bats and 151 innings work of work in downtown Buffalo.

With that in mind, here’s a look at the players that will look to continue the success they’ve already had playing at Sahlen Field.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that when it comes to average, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the leader among the returning Blue Jays with a .397 average in his 17 career games at Sahlen Field. Of his 23 hits in 58 at-bats in the park, five left the yard. Four of those blasts came in consecutive games, August 8-11, 2018.

The other young stars on Toronto’s roster have also had success at the plate playing at Sahlen Field, including Cavan Biggio’s .333 average in 21 games as well as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (.296, 33 games) and Bo Bichette (.295, 26 games). But the hitter that is second to Vladdy in career average at Sahlen Field is Santiago Espinal, who splashed onto the Triple-A scene in 2019 with a .368 average and a .526 slugging percentage in 15 games at the ballpark.

For career ballpark totals, the list starts with Rowdy Tellez. The slugging first baseman has 20 doubles, 13 home runs and 56 RBI in his 120 career games at Sahlen Field from 2017-2019. In a smaller sample size, Danny Jansen had 21 extra-base hits (13 doubles, 7 home runs and a triple) in only 57 games in Buffalo. The backstop must see the ball well in Buffalo too with 10 more walks than strikeouts (34-24) in his time at Sahlen Field.

With all those other great hitters mentioned, the person who has found home plate the most at the ballpark is outfielder Anthony Alford. He has scored 50 times in his 89 games at Sahlen Field with an impressive 27 extra-base hits to go along with 21 stolen bases in only 27 attempts.

While the mound is getting a little love from the grounds crew right now, they might not want to change it too much. The seven pitchers on the Blue Jays roster/taxi squad have combined for a 2.98 ERA with six of the seven posting more innings pitched than hits allowed. The best numbers belong to Ryan Borucki, who made a spot start in 2017 and a rehab appearance in 2019 around his 2018 Triple-A season. In six starts in Buffalo, the southpaw is 4-1 with a 1.43 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 37.2 innings of work.

Anthony Kay was 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA in his two Buffalo starts last season and Nate Pearson struck out seven in six innings in his lone Sahlen Field appearance in 2019. Wilmer Font (1.72 ERA), Sam Gaviglio (2.20 ERA), Jordan Romano (2 wins, 3 saves in 14 appearances) and Jacob Waguespack (48 strikeouts in 46.2 innings) have also all found success on the mound at Sahlen Field.