TORONTO – When the Toronto Blue Jays dressed for batting practice ahead of the first game of their final homestand of the season, they sported a new look.
To a man, the Blue Jays were wearing blue t-shirts with an emoji of a baby on the front and “TRAVIS 29” on the back, an homage to second baseman Devon Travis, to the surprise of all observers.
“It’s awesome,” said the sophomore second sacker. “It’s awesome. It caught me off-guard today, so I guess I’m just embracing it. It is a little bit weird, but it’s pretty cool to be able to have fun this time of the year.”
So the question is, why Travis and a baby emoji?
It turns out that Travis has a standing breakfast date on the road with fellow Blue Jays infielders Ryan Goins and Troy Tulowitzki, and he often cancels on them because he’d rather sleep.
“He’s pretty much like a baby,” said Goins. “All he does is eat, sleep go to the bathroom … and get hits.”
Getting hits is certainly a big part of Travis’s game. You could argue he’s the best pure hitter the Blue Jays have. He’s certainly the only one in the lineup whose batting average begins with a three. Travis had a 17-game hit streak snapped in Wednesday afternoon’s extra-innings loss to Seattle, a run over which he hit .392.
Recently, though, Travis has had a rough time defensively, leading to some calls for Goins, an elite defender, to replace him at second base, with Travis moving to designated hitter.
Goins was asked if part of the t-shirt fun was the team showing support for Travis, given his recent defensive slump.
“No, it has nothing to do with that,” insisted Goins. “He’s a great player, he knows that. I think everything that’s been said in the media and by fans is a little overblown. I mean, this guy’s going out there playing every day, playing hard and leading our offence. I think everybody needs to just sit back, relax, watch this guy play and enjoy it.”
As to the suggestion the he should take over at second base for Travis, Goins scoffed. “He deserves to be out there playing second base every night and he shows that every day.”