DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Offensive identities don’t come easily in baseball. Like a good nickname, they need to come naturally. You can’t just choose your own and force it.
The 2025 Blue Jays found one. For the first time in years, you could watch a handful of games and describe exactly who the Blue Jays were, how they scored and why it all worked. Hitting coach David Popkins has been integral to this, along with assistant hitting coaches Lou Iannotti and now Cody Atkinson, who is replacing the departed Hunter Mense.
Typically, a hitting coach is like an NFL punter. If fans are talking about them, something has probably gone terribly wrong. Popkins has earned praise from every hitter on this roster, though, and as the Blue Jays work to recapture the magic of 2025, Popkins and his staff are being tasked with maintaining that identity, which is just as hard as establishing one in the first place.
Before games began Saturday in Dunedin, Popkins offered his thoughts on five of the Blue Jays’ most important hitters.
Okamoto has a “pretty deliberate cage routine,” manager John Schneider said, so Popkins has been standing back and observing in these early days, working to understand the Blue Jays’ new Japanese star.
Popkins: “He has a really good flow. He has the ability to adjust and hit off his lead leg. He has power. He can really do a lot of things. There’s always a bit of an adjustment period timing-wise, but he’s looked great so far. I love the way he works. I’m looking forward to seeing him loosen up and letting it rip.”
Over 18 games in the 2025 postseason, Vladdy launched eight home runs with a 1.289 OPS. How can he carry that into ‘26?
Popkins: “His confidence is really high, and it’s contagious. He’s having fun and he’s laughing with the guys. I think he knows what he’s capable of at any given moment. If anything feels off, there’s no panic with him at all. He just continues to grind through, and at any point, things can line up and he can go off and carry us for as long as he wants. He’s in a great place. I can’t wait to see him this year.”
A year ago, Springer was coming off an ugly 2024 season and about to bat .108 in Spring Training. Nothing looked encouraging -- then it all came together for a dream season. Now, Springer enters the final year of his six-year, $150 million deal.
Popkins: “He’s a lot more confident now. The belief in himself is obviously high. Even when he doesn’t feel good, he knows that it’s one swing away. He’s launching balls out everywhere. Before, sometimes you can have those days or those moments where you’re like, ‘Do I still got it?’ He knows he’s still got it. He’s one of the best hitters in baseball. He’ll be great.”
With a .367 average and an 1.024 OPS in the playoffs, we saw the best of Barger.
Popkins: “I thought in the playoffs, we saw the complete version of him. He was doing everything. He was backing the ball up and launching the ball. Teams didn’t really know what to do with him. They would try to pitch around him, and he would go the other way. They’d try to go after him, and he would hurt them. Getting the stamina and endurance from last year playing the full season, that’s one thing I was tough on. He got a little fatigued in the middle and end, as most guys do when they’re here. I’m glad he got through that, and that experience is going to be huge for him. He looks actually incredible right now.”
Sánchez came over from the Astros in the Joey Loperfido deal with big tools and some tantalizing potential. There are some real Barger parallels here.
Popkins: “He went over to Houston, and they had some ideas for him to change some things and I think they didn’t quite resonate with his personality and who he is as a hitter. It kind of went more towards weakness prevention than his strengths, so we’re shifting him back more towards, ‘We want you to do what you do well.’ Let’s start there, then we can go elsewhere. We’re just trying to see him have rhythm again and get his swing off. We’re excited. He’s had some good days the last couple of days.”