Spencer Horwitz

Spencer Elliott Horwitz

Bats Left, Throws Right
Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.
School Radford University
High School St. Paul's School (Brooklandville)
Debut June 18, 2023

Born November 14, 1997 in Timonium, MD USA

Biographical Information[edit]

OF/1B Spencer Horowitz played for the Israeli national team before making his major league debut.

He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 24th round of the 2019 amateur draft out of Radford University. In his first pro season in 2019, he hit .307/.368/.440 in 60 games between the Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League and the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League. He was named to the Appy League All-Star team - the last in the circuit's history as it would soon be eliminated. After sitting out the 2020 season because the minor leagues were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, he came back in 2021 with Vancouver, now moved up to the High-A West, and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Double-A Northeast for a handful of games. In 110 total games, he batted .294/.400/.462 with 30 doubles and 12 homers. He was named the top prospect in the High-A West and was a league All-Star. He started 2022 with New Hampshire but some strong hitting earned him a promotion to the Buffalo Bisons of the AAA International League. In 114 games, he hit .275/.391/.452, with 33 doubles and 12 homers. He also scored 77 runs and drove in 51, having now reached the ranks of genuine prospects and being added to the Jays' 40-man roster for 2023.

He played for Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and in its opening game on March 12th against Nicaragua, he had a key hit, a run-scoring single in the 8th that tied the score, 1-1. Garrett Stubbs followed with a two-run double to give Israel a 3-1 win. While he went hitless when Israel was the victim of a perfect game by Puerto Rico on March 13th, he got the team's lone hit in a 10-0 loss to the Dominican Republic national team the next day, a 3rd-inning single off Roansy Contreras. That made him the only Israeli batter to reach base in 15 innings over the two games.

He was called up to the big leagues for the first time on June 16th, when he replaced Nathan Lukes, who had hardly received any playing time as a back-up outfielder with the Jays, and as a result needed to have some game time in AAA in order to shake the accumulating rust. As a result, it wasn't clear whether Horwitz, a player with a similar profile, would do more than sit on the bench as Lukes had done. At Buffalo, he was hitting .300 in 57 games, with 2 homers and 34 RBIs. He made his major league debut as the Jays' DH against the Texas Rangers on June 18th, batting 8th. He singled off Jon Gray in his first big league at-bat. He then drew a couple of walks and drove in a run with a ground out for a successful big league debut. After returning to Buffalo, he was the position player called up when major league rosters expanded on September 1st. The next day, he struck out as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded to end an 8-7 loss to the Colorado Rockies. However, he redeemed himself on September 3rd when he went deep off Chase Anderson at Coors Field for his first major league homer; he added another RBI later in the game, a 7-5 Toronto win over Colorado. Overall, he hit .337 in 107 games and also slugged .495, while in the majors, he hit .256 in 15 games.

He was back at Buffalo to begin the 2024 season and continued to hit very well. After 57 games, his slash line was .335/.456/.514, and with the major league team facing problems scoring runs, it was just a matter of time before he would be given a chance in the Show. He had been playing second base in addition to first base in order to increase his potential value to the big league team. The question was who would be sent down to make room for him. On June 7th, the answer came and it was Cavan Biggio who was sacrificed, being designated for assignment to provide a roster spot for Spencer. His promotion paid immediate dividends as in his first start for the Jays on June 8th, he drew a walk against Luis Medina of the Oakland Athletics in the 1st inning, then eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Danny Jansen to break a streak of 30 games in which Toronto had failed to score a run in the opening inning. He was quickly slotted up to the lead-off spot, where the Jays had struggled to find production all year, with both George Springer and Davis Schneider having failed to ignite the needed spark, and early indications were that he could be the man for the job. After being held hitless in his first start after his call-up, he had at least one hit in his next 10 starts, and in nine of those games he reached base twice or more via hit or walk. On June 23rd, he had the first multi-homer game of his career, connecting for his first two long balls of the season in a 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. Unfortunately, as good as he had been playing personally, it was not the case for the team as that was the Jays' sixth straight loss and they were in danger of falling completely out of the postseason race. The team did fall out the race by the All-Star break, but this also led to plenty of opportunities for youngsters like Spencer to show what they could do at the big league level as the Jays traded away a number of veterans at the deadline. He was one of the most impressive of these youngsters. On September 7th, he reached double figures in homers with a great night against the Atlanta Braves in which he homered twice off namesake Spencer Schwellenbach, doubled and singled, driving in three runs in a 9-5 win. It was the first four-hit game of his career, and he tied a Blue Jays rookie record with his 11 total bases.

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