Blue Jays commit breathtaking act of fielding butchery

It should be impossible for Ji-Man Choi to get all the way around the bases on any hit that doesn’t clear the wall.

The Rays first baseman is listed at 6’1 and 250 pounds, and doesn’t look any less than that. His sprint speed is 25.3 ft/second, a 21st percentile mark. He is the physical embodiment of station-to-station baseball.

On Monday, however, he was able to effectively score an inside-the-park home run, although it wasn’t scored that way for good reason. What looked like a routine opposite-field single quickly took a turn.

The first mistake belonged to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Tommy Pham was running hard on contact with two outs and there was no chance to nail him at the plate, but the converted infielder threw the ball there anyway. That was a one-base blunder.

More troubling was Luke Maile’s decision to try and hose Choi out at second to erase the previous misstep. Once again, the chances of getting a guy even moving at his leisurely pace was slim to none.

While the decision was questionable, the throw itself was an outright disaster. It sailed into the gap in right-centre, looking like a perfectly-placed double. Right fielder Randal Grichuk wasn’t even in the frame when it passed the infield, his throw to cutoff man Freddy Galvis was strangely light, and the shortstop couldn’t drill Choi at the dish.

The whole sequence was an absolutely absurd confluence of questionable intention and even worse execution, and it put the Rays up 4-0. Even worse for the Blue Jays, it piled on to a tough MLB debut for undrafted right-hander and objectively good story Jacob Waguespack who - like any other pitcher who could have stood on that mound in that moment - deserved far better.

Considering the 2019 Blue Jays are floundering on almost every level and approximately one Vladimir Guerrero Jr. away from rock bottom, the ordeal was somehow as unsurprising as it was seemingly impossible.

More Blue Jays coverage from Yahoo Sports Canada