Santiago Espinal
Espinal with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2020
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 5
Infielder
Born: (1994-11-13) November 13, 1994
Santiago, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 25, 2020, for the Toronto Blue Jays
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.273
Home runs11
Runs batted in99
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Santiago Roman Espinal (born November 13, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft.

High school

Espinal was born and grew up in the Dominican Republic until age 13, when he moved to the US.[1] He attended Lyman High School in Longwood, Florida for four years.[2] He then moved to New York and graduated through Penn Foster High School.[2] Espinal attended Seminole State College of Florida, and then attended Miami Dade College on a scholarship and played college baseball for them in 2016.[2][1]

Professional career

Boston Red Sox

Espinal was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round, 298th overall, of the 2016 MLB draft.[3]

Espinal played for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Red Sox in 2016, hitting .244/.330/.267 with 10 runs batted in (RBI). He played for the Class-A Greenville Drive in 2017, hitting .280/.334/.358 with four home runs and 46 RBI.[1] Espinal began the 2018 season with the Advanced-A Salem Red Sox.

Toronto Blue Jays

On June 28, 2018, Espinal was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Steve Pearce and cash considerations.[4][5] Espinal split the remainder 2018 between the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays and the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, hitting .297/.356/.444 with 10 home runs and 60 RBI between the two teams and Salem.[1][6][7] He played for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League (AFL) following the 2018 season.[8]

Espinal split the 2019 season between New Hampshire and the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, hitting a combined .287/.347/.393 with seven home runs and 71 RBI.[9][10][11] Espinal was added to the Blue Jays 40-man roster after the 2019 season.[12] On July 23, 2020, he was added to the Blue Jays active roster to begin the 2020 season, which had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] On July 25, 2020, Espinal made his MLB debut. Three days later, on July 28, Espinal got his first hit in the Major Leagues against the Washington Nationals. Overall with the 2020 Blue Jays, Espinal batted .267 with no home runs and 6 RBIs in 26 games.

On July 3, 2021, Espinal hit his first career major league home run, a two-run shot off Tampa Bay Rays reliever Matt Wisler at Sahlen Field in Buffalo.[14]

Overall in 2021, Espinal batted .311/.376/.405 with 2 home runs, 17 RBIs and 6 stolen bases in 92 games. He led all qualifying AL third basemen with 16 total zone runs and a 3.13 range factor.[15]

Espinal began the 2022 season expected to platoon at second base with Cavan Biggio but by mid-May was receiving acclaim for his impressive offensive numbers and game-changing defence while Biggio was optioned to the Triple A Buffalo Bisons after going 1-for-23 in 13 games with Toronto.[16][17] Blue Jays' General Manager Ross Atkins declared Espinal "an everyday player" after he was one of only five Blue Jays' players to appear in all of Toronto's first 17 games.[18] Espinal was selected for the 2022 All-Star Game as a replacement for José Altuve.[19]

On January 13, 2023, Espinal signed a one-year, $2.1 million contract with the Blue Jays, avoiding salary arbitration.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shi Davidi (October 16, 2018). "Santiago Espinal an interesting fit on Blue Jays depth chart". Sportsnet. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Michael Martinez (April 1, 2016). "Freshman Infielder Providing Offensive And Defensive Punch For Sharks". The Reporter. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Six MDC Baseball Players Drafted in 2016 MLB Draft". Miami Dade College. June 13, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  4. ↑ Michael Silverman (February 21, 2019). "Santiago Espinal, traded by Red Sox for Steve Pearce, happy for everyone". Boston Herald. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  5. ↑ Thomas Lott (June 26, 2018). "MLB trade news: Red Sox acquire Steve Pearce from Blue Jays". Sporting News. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  6. ↑ Carson Cistulli (May 11, 2018). "The Fringe Five: Baseball's Most Compelling Fringe Prospects". FanGraphs.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  7. ↑ Christopher Smith (June 14, 2018). "Boston Red Sox shortstop prospect Santiago Espinal continues breakout season". MassLive. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  8. ↑ Andrew Battifarano (September 28, 2018). "Bichette to skip AFL with minor injuries". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  9. ↑ TSN Staff (November 20, 2019). "Jays add Hatch, Espinal to 40-man roster, outright Mayza". TSN. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  10. ↑ Laura Armstrong (August 4, 2019). "Jays prospect Espinal makes next connection on Bichette's flight path". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  11. ↑ Tim MacLean (June 29, 2019). "NH Baseball: Fisher Cats' Espinal a great pickup from Red Sox". New Hampshire Union Leader. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  12. ↑ Buffalo Bisons (November 21, 2019). "After solid Triple-A debut, Jays add Espinal to 40-man". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Blue Jays announce 30-player roster with Nate Pearson on taxi squad". Sportsnet. July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Santiago Espinal Stats, Fantasy & News | Toronto Blue Jays". MLB.com.
  15. ↑ "Santiago Espinal Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Espinal's hit streak reaches 10 in midst of impressive offensive season". tsn.ca. The Sports Network. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  17. ↑ Hamilton, Dan (16 May 2022). "Blue Jays Activate Biggio, Option Him to Triple A". si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  18. ↑ Chisholm, Gregor (25 April 2022). "Jays infielder Santiago Espinal turns second-base platoon into a one-man show". thestar.com. The Toronto Star. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  19. ↑ "Jays 2B Espinal named to All-Star Game - TSN.ca". 16 July 2022.
  20. ↑ "2023 MLB Arbitration Tracker". MLBTradeRumors. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
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