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'Both Sides Are Happy': Tellez Returns To Toronto In Good Spirits
TORONTO – Rowdy Tellez remembers a time back in his early minor-league days when the Blue Jays took a drastic measure. The club wanted the young slugger to become better at first base, so the Jays forced him to play only defense in games for six weeks.
For over a month, it was all glove, no bat — not even any swings in the cage. For a guy who thought he’d hit his way to the big leagues, this was a travesty.
“I wanted to quit so bad … but it worked out, and it helped me out,” Tellez, now with the Brewers, said. “It got me here.”
Those were trying times for Tellez, but that dreadful stretch eventually became one of many moments that shaped his time with the Blue Jays organization. And the big fella is happy to be back. Since the COVID pandemic relocated the Jays to Buffalo for all of 2020 and parts of 2021, Tellez’s final season before he was traded, he hadn’t played a game in Toronto in four years.
So, the first thing on the docket? A stop at his favorite steakhouse and then a visit to manager John Schneider’s office in the early afternoon. Those two go way back.
“I was his first manager,” said Schneider. “He still calls me coach. [I] met him as a young strapping lad in the Gulf Coast League [in 2013]. [I] got him for a while. He knows my wife. He knows my boys. I've seen him grow up, kind of just like I have some of the guys in the clubhouse. Awesome dude.”
When the Blue Jays skipper first evaluated Tellez as a player, the hit tools stood out. The first baseman was always big, powerful, and had a knack for using the whole field, though the defense lagged behind (hence the six-week glove-only exercise). Eventually, the glove came around, and in Tellez’s final years with the Jays, he even tutored Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the art of playing first base.
“I had Justin Smoak that did the same thing for me,” Tellez said, “and kind of led me into playing first and taught me a lot … I think Vlad really took to what I had to say, even though it wasn't much, and he worked really hard.”
And, as Tellez, pointed out, Guerrero grew into a Gold Glove winner, snagging his first award last season. But the 24-year-old’s rapid success also squeezed Tellez out of Toronto. The Jays traded Tellez in July of 2021 because he wasn’t a strong positional fit. With Tellez stuck behind Guerrero at first, it made more sense to deal him for pitchers Trevor Richards and Bowden Francis.
Tellez understood his predicament, and now he’s happy in Milwaukee.
“When you play the same position as the best first baseman in baseball, it's tough to split time or even justify to yourself,” he said. “So, I think [the Blue Jays] got what they wanted in their trade, and I think Milwaukee got what they wanted in their trade. I'm really happy to know both sides are happy.”
Things have worked out quite nicely for Tellez, too. Thanks to a vicious left-handed power stroke, the 28-year-old has carved out a spot in the meat of the Brewers order. Since the start of 2022, Tellez has homered 47 times, tied for the seventh-most in baseball during that span.
Some current Blue Jays will certainly be rooting for Tellez – he laughed it up with Danny Jansen, Bo Bichette, and others before Tuesday’s game – but not until he exits Rogers Centre after Toronto and Milwaukee conclude this three-game series.
