Toronto Blue Jays, Munenori Kawasaki providing unexpected spark

Who would have thought that a little-known minor league depth piece was just what the Toronto Blue Jays needed?

Yes, after the team’s 4-6 start, and the devastating injury to star shortstop Jose Reyes, there was a whole lot of pessimism going around and perhaps a sense of deja vu that well, this team might end up being bitten by the injury bug again one too many times to really accomplish what they were built to do.

Out of that doom and gloom, however, came Munenori Kawasaki, a former eight-time NPB All-Star who couldn’t cut it with the Seattle Mariners in 2012, and who was hanging around in the Blue Jays organization on a minor league deal as a depth piece destined for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

With the team scrambling for help in the infield, the Japanese veteran finally got his chance, and boy, has he really gone and run with it.

He added another memorable chapter to his growing era on Monday against the Chicago White Sox, hitting a triple — his first extra-base hit with the team — in the fourth inning and scoring what wound up being the winning run in the 4-3 Blue Jays victory, and then starting a slick double-play at the top of the fifth to eliminate a potential threat.

It’s no big secret that Toronto is a city who makes fan favourites out of its workman-type role players in sports franchises, and with each play that he makes, Kawasaki’s legend is quickly growing with the Blue Jays to John McDonald-like proportions.

Say what you will about team chemistry, but the Blue Jays are 2-1 since he came up a few days ago. Kawasaki has been a shot in the arm, and perhaps just the right player for the team and fans to rally around after the myriad of disappointments to start the season.

Perhaps it’s the fact that’s contributed to the board in some way in each of the three games he’s appeared in. Perhaps it’s the bowing that’s quickly becoming the stuff of Twitter legends (he’s even got folks like Melky Cabrera doing it too).

Or perhaps it’s just the fact that on a team that was suppose to be down, here’s a player whose style of only seems to know one direction — up.

Sounds a bit like another Toronto shortstop who is on the shelf right now?

via Toronto Blue Jays, Munenori Kawasaki providing unexpected spark.