Santiago Espinal

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Santiago Roman Espinal

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Biographical Information[edit]

Infielder Santiago Espinal was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2016 amateur draft. On June 28, 2018, he was the player traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in return for OF/1B Steve Pearce, who would go on to be the MVP of the 2018 World Series. He was still playing in Class A at the time, with the Salem Red Sox of the Carolina League. He then played for the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League before finishing the year in AA with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Eastern League. Between the three stops, he hit .297/.356/.44 in 124 games. In 2019, he played 94 games with New Hampshire, then earned a late-season promotion to the AAA Buffalo Bisons, where he hit .317 in 28 games. Overall, his slash line was .287/.347/.393 in 122 games with 7 homers and 71 RBIs.

He earned a job as a back-up infielder with the Blue Jays at the start of the 2020 season and made his debut as the starter at third base in the team's second game, against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 25th. He went 0 for 2 with a strikeout. The next day, he was the first "designated runner" in Jays history as he pinch-ran for C Danny Jansen to start the 10th inning on second base. He proceeded to steal third base on a close play and score on a sacrifice fly by Lourdes Gurriel, but the Jays still lost the game when Tampa rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. He got to play often when SS Bo Bichette missed a month of the shortened season with an injury, filling in along with Joe Panik and trade acquisition Jonathan Villar, although he was clearly the better fielder of the three. After Bichette's return, he twice served as an emergency pitcher in the span of a week, on September 11th and 15th, in a 18-1 loss against the New York Mets and a 20-6 beatdown at the hands of the New York Yankees, respectively. In both cases, he pitched the final inning, giving up one run both times, in order to save a badly battered bullpen. He ended up hitting .267 in 27 games but did not appear in the postseason.

In 2021, with the keystone combination of Bichette and 2B Marcus Semien starting just about every day, he had to go to third base to get his playing time and eventually outperformed Cavan Biggio, who was learning the position and struggled both offensively and defensively. In contrast, Santiago hit .311 in 91 games, with 2 homers, 32 runs and 17 RBIs, and in spite of his limited power still managed an OPS+ of 113. By the second half of the season, he was the team's regular at the position, but the Jays missed the postseason by the thinnest of margins. In 2022, the tandem of Biggio and Espinal slid over to second base, following the departure of Semien via free agency, and the acquisition of 3B Matt Chapman in a spring training trade. Once again, Espinal outperformed Biggio, especially in the first half, to the point that he was a surprise addition to the American League roster for the 2022 All-Star Game. There was not very strong competition at the position in the league that year, and he did hit .271 with 6 homers and 37 RBIs in the first half. He cooled down after that, to the point that the Jays felt compelled to acquire veteran Whit Merrifield to help out at the position for the stretch drive. Santiago finished the year at .267 in a career-high 135 games, but hit only one additional homer in the second half and had 51 runs and as many RBIs in total, his OPS+ ending up at 99. In the postseason, he started the second game of the Wild Card Series at home against the Seattle Mariners on October 8th and had a good game, going 2 for 4 with a double and two runs, but the Jays still lost the game, 10-9, and were swept in the series.

In 2023, it was Merrifield's turn to have a strong first half that landed him an unexpected spot in the All-Star Game, while Biggio and Espinal struggled when they got to play. Biggio picked up the slack in the second half to be one of the team's most productive hitters in a season when many of the team's big names struggled to produce. In Espinal's case, he hit .248 in 93 games, but only 230 at-bats, as many of his appearances came as a pinch-hitter (21 times) or late-game defensive replacement at all three infield positions. His OPS+ fell to 80 and more ominously, two players called up from the AAA Buffalo Bisons because of second-half injuries, Ernie Clement and Davis Schneider, both played well, with Schneider displaying unexpected home run power. Espinal did go 2 for 2 after coming in as a pinch-hitter in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Minnesota Twins on October 4th, but it was not enough to inject life into a listless Jays offense, as they lost the game, 2-0, and were once again swept in two games.

Heading into spring training in 2024, it was always going to be a struggle for Espinal, even if Merrifield and Chapman had both left via free agency. The Jays had added Isiah Kiner-Falefa to start at third base, Bichette was not going to move off shortstop, and second base was Biggio's job to lose. But worse, he had strong competition for the utility infielder job with Clement and Schneider both in camp. He lost out in the competition and on March 21st was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in return for minor league pitcher Chris McElvain.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • AL All-Star (2022)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Julia Kreuz: "Blue Jays acquire RHP McElvain from Reds for INF Espinal", mlb.com, March 21, 2024. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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