St. John’s baseball: Joe Paink on cold streak at wrong time for Blue Jays

Former St. John’s baseball standout Joe Panik has reached a cold streak at the wrong time for the Toronto Blue Jays.

There weren’t many players hotter than Joe Panik at the beginning of September but the former Red Storm star has hit a cold stretch as the regular season comes to a close.

After bumping his batting average up from .196 at the end of August to .273 mid way through the month of September, Paink’s average has since dipped back down to .232 following his latest 0-for-11 stretch.

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The bad string of at-bats has stretched four games for the utility infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, but his team has not missed his offensive production in its last two victories over the New York Yankees in which the team posted 11-5 and 14-1 victories.

In a total of 112 at-bats this season, Panik has 26 hits, one home run, and seven RBI but the right hander has scored 16 runs this season thanks to 19 walks but he has struck out 26 times in his first year with the Blue Jays.

However, with the expanded playoffs in the 2020 MLB season, Toronto should be clinching a postseason berth very shortly with a magic number of one.

With a win on Thursday night over the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays would secure its first postseason berth since the 2016 season as a Wild Card team.

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The 2016 Playoffs is also the last time Joe Panik reached the postseason with he was a member of the San Francisco Giants who lost to the eventual World Series Champions in the Chicago Cubs.

Toronto could rely on its veteran in the postseason as Panik is a career .267 hitter in the playoffs with a home run and ten RBI as he also won a World Series in 2014 with the Giants.

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Can the Blue Jays officially get back into the postseason on Thursday night?

Find out with first pitched scheduled for 6:37pm EST at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York.