Our report cards have shifted to the outfield, and these are looking like ones you won’t want to take home to your parents. It’s a very talented defensive outfield, arguably the best in the league, but offensively is where a lot of the negatives are found.

Grade: D+

It’s been a tale of two first halves for Springer, but one stint lasted significantly longer than the other. Springer was one of the most disappointing players in the entire league for close to three months to begin the season, slashing an abysmal .188/.278/.281 with a .559 OPS between the season’s start and June 24th. As a result, Springer was stripped of his leadoff duties and spent time starting at a few different spots within the batting order.

Although frustrating to see Springer continuously roll over into double plays or strikeout on a middle-middle fastball, John Schneider kept him within the middle third of the batting order, confident that Springer would turn a corner. Once the calendar flipped to June 25th, Springer turned said corner, slashing .369/.438/.708 with a 1.146 OPS, 5 homers, 19 RBIs, and 5 doubles between that day and the end of the first half.

That stretch, as beautiful as it was to see, brought his slash line to just .225/.310/.366 on the season, highly indicative of how poor he had been swinging the bat to start the year. What may be just as frustrating is that he’s stayed relatively healthy and it still isn’t correlating to results, and he’s only in year four of a six-year, $150 million deal. Springer’s taken complete ownership of how he’s played this year, telling Keegan Matheson of MLB.com in mid-June, “At the end of the day, results are key. I understand that. I will own the fact that I have not held up my end of the bargain.”

I planned on having him and Bo Bichette in the same grade category, but Springer’s plus defence in right field coupled with an ability to flat-out show signs of figuring something out at the plate earned him the “+” advantage. Hopefully, Springer can continue to swing the bat well and finish 2024 on a much higher note.

Grade: C+

Varsho’s had his ups and downs this season. His ups have included an uptick in power and extra-base hits; he’s already eclipsed his career-high in triples (many thanks to last weekend in Arizona), and he’s got a good shot at hitting a career-high in doubles. Varsho had a very impressive 13-game stretch in April in which he tore the cover off the ball, slashing .368/.455/.947 with a 1.402 OPS, six homers, 13 RBIs, and four doubles. On top of that stretch, his clutch splits have also been very good, posting a 1.200 OPS in Late & Close games, a .904 OPS with 2 outs and RISP, and 1.176 OPS in high-leverage at-bats. Finally, Varsho has had his Gold Glove revenge season in a big way, making multiple “Catch of the Year” level plays in the outfield.

On the other hand, however, Varsho has still been inconsistent at the plate. The stats I highlighted above have been impressive and have led to Blue Jays wins, but at the end of the day, his season slash line is .202/.285/.408 with an OPS of .693, and his strikeout rate is as high as it has been since his rookie year. The power has been welcome to this team without a doubt, but I don’t think he’s tapped into the best version of Daulton Varsho offensively yet.

Grade: C+

Like Varsho, Schneider has also had some big moments this season. He crushed a go-ahead home run in the 9th inning in Houston against Josh Hader on April 2nd, went 3-for-4 and spearheaded a comeback effort on May 11th against the Twins, and he hit his first career walk-off home run against the Pirates on May 31st. Schneider was performing at such a high level to start the year that he replaced Springer at the top of the order and made 27 starts at the leadoff position.

Between April and May, Schneider slashed .245/.354/.470 with an .824 OPS, 7 home runs, 29 RBIs, and 13 doubles. Everyone knew it would be an incredible feat for Schneider to replicate the start he got off to last season, but this was still a welcome sight to start 2024.

Schneider took a couple of steps back in June and July, however, slashing .178/.246/.280 with three home runs, seven RBIs, and two doubles in those months. That’s where the C+ grade comes into play, as the latter two months have offset that former two. Nonetheless, Schneider has only been in the league for less than a full season. The league is starting to adapt to him, and now it’s time for him to adapt to the league.

Grade: D-

You can argue the fit with this year’s Toronto team, but I don’t think it’s wrong to say that Kevin Kiermaier earned the contract he was given after last year’s career season. With that being said, he has severely underperformed this season, and it ultimately led to him being placed on revocable waivers last week.

Through 73 games, Kiermaier is hitting .189/.234/.306 with a .540 OPS, four home runs, 18 RBIs, and five doubles. He’s had only one month in which he hit over .200, and that was in May when he played only 14 games. Hilariously enough, Kiermaier went 3-for-11 including a grand slam during the three games after he was announced he was placed on waivers.

Baseball Savant still loves his fielding numbers and his speed on the base paths, and the value he possesses there is what Toronto is hoping can form a potential trade before the deadline. While it may not mean anything to some people, at least from the fan’s eye, Kiermaier has handled the last week with a significant amount of class and professionalism. Hopefully, he ends up on a contender and can make some spectacular catches in the playoffs for someone.