Kevin Pillar's Role with Blue Jays Still Unclear Despite Early Success

Nine games into the 2015 season, the biggest surprise for the Toronto Blue Jays has arguably been the performance of left fielder Kevin Pillar.

Hitting in the bottom part of Toronto’s lineup, the 26-year-old Pillar has accumulated an impressive slash line of .314/.314/.486 with one home run, four RBI and eight runs scored in 35 at-bats.

Pillar’s strong offensive production has provided some much-needed support to Toronto’s lineup, which has struggled to start the season.

Offense aside, Pillar has also been terrific defensively in left field. He has made several highlight-reel plays, including this catch, where he climbed the left field wall at Rogers Centre to rob a home run from the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tim Beckham, courtesy of MLB.com.

Baseball-Reference.com already credits Pillar with 0.5 dWAR, an impressive figure considering that the season has just started.

Despite the early success, though, it’s still unclear what will happen to Pillar once outfielder Michael Saunders is ready to return.

Keep in mind that Saunders was slated to be the Blue Jays’ Opening Day left fielder until he suffered a knee injury during spring training, which required a stint on the disabled list (DL). This opened the door for Pillar to take the job.

But Saunders is nearing a return to the majors. According to Shi Davidi of SportsNet.ca, he has dealt with some hamstring soreness while working on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues. However, he is slated to resume playing games within the next couple of days. If everything goes well, he could be activated from the DL within the upcoming week.

If that’s the case, it’s hard to envision Pillar keeping his starting role in left field. Saunders is expected to be an everyday player, and his left-handed bat brings some balance to a Blue Jays lineup that predominantly consists of right-handed hitters.

Once Saunders returns, the most likely scenario here will have Pillar shifting to a fourth outfielder role.

With center fielder Dalton Pompey hitting just .176/.243/.412 to start the season, it’s also possible that Toronto platoons Pillar with Pompey in center field.

The Blue Jays also don’t have an established designated hitter, so the team could try to create a rotating role for their four outfielders using the DH and three outfielder spots.

It’s extremely unlikely that the Blue Jays will send Pillar to the minor leagues. He’s a career .315 hitter in Triple-A and has nothing left to prove there.

Pillar’s hot start to the season has definitely given Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos something to think about. But at the end of the day, fans shouldn’t be worried. This is a good problem to have.

*All stats are from MLB.com