MLB PLAYER NEWS

Travis taking advantage of opportunity with Blue Jays

The Sports Xchange

April 23, 2015 at 3:03 am.

Devon Travis is playing well for the Blue Jays. (Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)

TORONTO — It would have been understandable if second baseman Devon Travis started the year at Triple-A Buffalo.

After all, he had not played above Double-A in the Detroit Tigers organization. After he was acquired in an offseason trade that sent center fielder Anthony Gose to Detroit, Travis was among the contenders for second base, where the Blue Jays had a dire need.

Travis ran with the opportunity and won the job at spring training and has not looked back.

His defense is better than expected and so is his power.

The 24-year-old hit his fourth home run of the season on Wednesday in a 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The two-run shot on a 3-for-4 game that also included a stolen base had him batting .388 with 14 RBIs.

He is as surprised by the power as anyone else.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “That’s just a blessing because I don’t know where the heck that’s coming from.”

“He does have a great approach,” manager John Gibbons said. “He’s got a great idea of the strike zone. I can’t say that that’s surprising because we heard that when we got him. He’s got that short stroke, y’know. He’s a line-drive guy. His timing’s going to be more consistent than most guys with the bigger swings. He’ll get out of whack every now and then like anybody else, but we haven’t seen it yet.”

He has shown other qualities. He can turn the double play quickly and he brings energy.

And he seems to be resilient. After coming out of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning with a bruised rib on the left side, he was able to return on Wednesday and play a superb game. With an off-day in the schedule on Monday, he missed only Tuesday’s game.

He praised the team trainers for getting him ready.

“George Poulis, Mike Frostad, I’ve got to thank them first and foremost,” Travis said. “We ran through treatment after treatment after treatment over these past 72 hours. I definitely owe them all the credit for tonight. I wouldn’t be in there if it wasn’t for them.”