Toronto Blue Jays' Davis Schneider: 'still fighting for a job', not taking anything for granted
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The Toronto Blue Jays have now locked in their 26-man roster ahead of Friday’s season opener against the Oakland Athletics, and the final bench decision came down to Davis Schneider, who isn’t letting the moment change his mindset.
Toronto Blue Jays infielder/outfielder Davis Schneider secured the last available spot among the position players, but he’s approaching the opportunity with a sense of urgency rather than comfort.
Speaking the Toronto Sun's Rob Longley, Schneider emphasized that staying hungry is essential, regardless of what you’ve accomplished before.
“For me, going into every year, I feel like having that mindset of security is never a good thing,” Schneider told Longley in an interview during spring training. “In my opinion, I feel like you should always be fighting for your job, always put the work in, making sure your job is never going to be taken from you.”
Spring Training numbers aside, Blue Jays trust in Schneider
While Schneider ultimately made the roster, his spring training showing wasn’t particularly good.
Still, the organization chose not to weigh those exhibition numbers too heavily when making their final call.
“Obviously, you never know what decisions are gonna be made,” Schneider said. “But I don’t think I’ll ever have that mindset of my job being secure. Just gotta go out there and make sure I’m competing for a job. “That will never change for me. Because you never know what people are thinking up (in the front office). You’ve just got to make sure you’re not giving them a reason not to be on the team. So yeah, just still fighting for a job.”
His poor performance during Grapefruit League action—where he managed just five hits in 38 at-bats across 17 games—created some doubt about whether he’d make the cut.
That opened the door to speculation that Leo Jimenez could overtake him for the final roster spot.
In the end, however, Toronto opted to stick with Schneider. On the pitching side, Rule 5 Draft pick Spencer Miles claimed the final bullpen role.
In other roster notes in advance of Friday’s opening day, four pitchers were placed on the 15-day injured list – starters Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios and Trey Yesavage as well as reliever Yimi Garcia, meanwhile, Leo Jimenez was designated for assignment.
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