TORONTO — Torey Lovullo believes the role comfort can play in an athlete’s success “is a real thing,” and he factors that into his lineups, even if “it’s probably more of a personal mind game” and objective data might suggest a different alignment.

“I have that with Ketel Marte,” said the Arizona Diamondbacks manager. “He likes to hit second against righties and first against lefties. I’ve asked him to hit third many times and he said, ‘I don’t like it.’ He’s one of the best players in baseball and I’m going to listen to one of the best players in baseball. I feel like if we were to put Ketel third at all times, he would probably have the same type of year. For right now, it works, and I want him to hit first or second, for sure. But it’s a real thing. Players get into that head space a little bit, and once you’re there, it’s hard for a player to get out of it, believe it or not.”

To wit, Marte’s career OPS after the Toronto Blue Jays beat his Diamondbacks 8-1 is .860 in 1,137 plate appearances when batting first, .877 in 1,993 plate appearances when hitting second and .754 in 463 plate appearances out of the three-hole.

Logic suggests that where someone hits in the lineup should have no meaningful bearing on performance, as it’s not like it changes someone’s swing or the way they see the ball. But through an agnostic lens, while it may not be something, it’s probably not nothing, either. 

The Blue Jays, of course, are faced with precisely such a strange split with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when he hits second or third, which he did for a second straight game Wednesday while walking three times, adding a two-run double in a break-it-open sixth and an RBI single in the seventh.

Addison Barger’s emergence is making it possible and his three hits, including an RBI double in the sixth, and a walk reinforced manager John Schneider’s decision to stick with him between leadoff man Bo Bichette and Guerrero, even against lefty Eduardo Rodriguez.

Whether it’s signal or just noise may not matter as if it’s producing the right results, well, that’s what the game is all about.

“If hitting third makes his timing better, great, you can hit third as long as you want, Vlad,” is how Schneider joked about it before the game.

The difference it makes for him?

“The only thing that changes is that I feel I have more time, I guess, to prepare myself. I don’t feel rushed anymore,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “They’re still pitching me the same. Other than that, nothing changes. I get more time to analyze, to prepare myself, to see the pitcher more. But it’s just one more batter, that’s it. They keep pitching me the same way.”

Now, finding ways to optimize the roster in the coming weeks is vital as teams enter into the process of internal evaluation ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Already this season, the Blue Jays have run through 19 position players and 24 pitchers, and it’s worth remembering that Barger was among the spring’s final cuts before pushing his way up into the two-hole.

Similarly, lefty Eric Lauer wasn’t in the mix for any of the final spots on the pitching staff as spring ended but has become an indispensable part of the team in helping paper over Max Scherzer’s absence. But after throwing a season-high five innings of one-run ball against Arizona, his ERA is 2.29 in 35.1 innings over 10 games, four of them starts, while striking out 36 batters.

“It’d be really tough,” Schneider replied when asked what the Blue Jays would have done without him. “The fact that he’s flexible, the fact that he’s come out of the ‘pen, he’s started, he’s been around a little bit, I think is a little bit different than kind of what we had in the past (for the role). He’s taken an opportunity and run with it a little bit.”

Holding down a potent Diamondbacks lineup while striking out eight against four hits and a walk may be his best outing yet. He now projects as part of the rotation after Bowden Francis hit the injured list and with Scherzer on the cusp of returning — he struck out eight in 4.1 shutout innings during his latest rehab start for triple-A Buffalo at Worcester — the Blue Jays could be whole again on that front by next week.

“I know Max did really well today and we got to see how he is (Thursday) when he gets back with us and take it a couple days at a time,” said Schneider. “But if you can have the luxury of using guys in different ways a little bit, in the one spot instead of two, as long as Max is good, I think that does a lot for us.”

As does what’s on offer from Lauer, who’s regaining his big-league footing after a couple of seasons lost to injuries and struggle that included a reset in the Korean league at the end of last year. Signed to a minor-league contract during the off-season, he arrived at Blue Jays camp late because his son Landon was born 16 days past his due date, but has worked to make up for lost time since.

The Blue Jays selected his contract April 30 when the pitching staff was in disarray and now he may be forcing himself into a steadier role.

“Consistency is good,” he said. “It just allows guys to kind of fall into a rhythm and I think rhythm is big in this game. You see it with hitters. You see it with pitchers. You see it with defences. Things are streaky. I’ve been kind of fighting back and forth, I’m a starter, I want to be a starter. The fifth spot is kind of like up in the air. I go out there and I try to take that fifth spot every time I go out.”

It’s a mindset that’s working, that’s made him an important part of the Blue Jays’ puzzle.