The Blue Jays’ offence has been a shadow of what it was a year ago, but when you are a veteran with a career track record like Russell Martin, Edwin Encarnacion or Troy Tulowitzki, managers will let you play your way out of an early slump.

But when you are relatively young — like 28-year-old Ryan Goins, with less than two years of major-league experience — managers yank you from the lineup and want you to re-discover your groove in the cages with the team’s hitting coaches. Not easy.

When spring training began, Goins was the starting second baseman, an important part of a returning starting lineup that produced a major-league high in runs scored the season before. Defence was his signature, and with the rest of the lineup producing as they were, it allowed manager John Gibbons the luxury of one bat that contributed only an occasional big hit while stealing enemy hits with his glove.

There was no early sign of trouble when it came to Goins repeating and perhaps even improving. He hit .325 in 40 spring at-bats and was sitting at .321 through April 13. It seemed like he had it made. But beginning April 14, heading into a series against the Yankees, Goins was 9-for-91, .099, with two homers, six RBIs, five walks and 21 strikeouts. It seems opposing pitchers made adjustments to Goins — which is what they do with all hitters — but he has not yet made the adjustments back.

Can that be done away from the spotlight, in the cages under the Rogers Centre stands?

“He can, he can refine it, but it’s in the game where it counts, and a lot of times mentally a kid that’s struggling is chasing after hits,” Blue Jays batting coach Brook Jacoby said.

“He wants hits. But he’s a pretty strong kid, mentally. He’s remained positive for the most part and I have faith.”

That faith was rewarded, at least temporarily, when Goins launched a solo shot off Yankees starter Ivan Nova in the fifth inning Monday night at the Rogers Centre.

For his part, Goins downplays the slump being the result of a change of seasons or a change in approach, or the loss of any edge that may have occurred at spring training this year.

He believes it’s just a matter of time.

“It didn’t disappear in the winter, I had a good spring, I had a good start to the season, the first two weeks or so,” Goins said. “Everybody’s gone through it. Everybody in their career, if you’ve played this game long enough, you’ve gone through a time where you don’t put up the numbers that you want.

“If I would have kept going and went through this type of slump in July, August, when the at-bats are up pretty high, you probably wouldn’t even notice a dropoff. So it’s one of those deals where it’s early in the season and I’ve only had 115-120 at-bats and it can show.”

That logic is straight out of the Russell Martin playbook of explaining early season slumps. But the most important person Goins must impress is Gibbons, and with a team winning percentage that has bounced back and forth around .500 and with veteran bats off to slow starts, he chooses to sit Goins.

What complicates the situation for Goins is that Devon Travis — last year’s second base rookie sensation before he got hurt — has returned to the major-league roster. And even with Troy Tulowitzki headed to the disabled list, Gibbons has chosen to ride former backup infielder Darwin Barney while his bat is hot.

But Goins has confidence in himself, which is important to regaining his spot in the lineup.

“I’ve proved that I can hit at this level,” Goins said.

“I proved that last year helping this team get to the playoffs, and I know when I go out there, no matter where I’m playing, shortstop or second base, I’m one of the best defenders in this league at either position. Personally, I feel that way. I don’t know what anybody else feels. I think I’m if not the best, then one of the best. I just have to go out there and prove that. It’s about taking your at-bat and when your at-bat’s over, you’ve got to go out there and show why you are the defender that you are.”

Even though the results of making those off-field batting adjustments can’t possibly be known unless you’re playing, Goins refers back to last year’s lessons learned in working with Jacoby as inspiration moving forward today.

“When I made my adjustments last year, they all came in the cage,” the Texas native said. “I just bought into it and took it into the game. It’s something that we work on in the cage every day, working back to try and get to where I was last year and work on some of the things that made me successful.”

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The next big middle infield decision for Gibbons and the Jays will be what to do when Tulowitzki comes off the DL in mid-June. He and Travis are the likely starting combination up the middle, and Barney is signed to a one-year guaranteed contract.

Goins has an option remaining and needs plate appearances. But such situations in baseball often somehow take care of themselves.

Bottom line? It will be impossible for Tulowitzki, Travis, Goins and Barney to co-exist on the same 25-man roster.

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