The Blue Jays outrighted Michael Stefanic off their 40-man roster and assigned the infielder to Triple-A Buffalo after Stefanic cleared waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling. Stefanic had the opportunity to elect free agency since he has been previously outrighted in his career, but he instead chose to remain in Toronto’s organization.
After signing a minor league deal with the Jays back in November, Stefanic had his contract selected to the MLB roster in early May since Toronto wanted more infield depth in the wake of Andres Gimenez’s quad strain. Stefanic appeared in nine games for the Blue Jays and hit .182/.280/.182 over 25 plate appearances before he was designated for assignment earlier this week, as the Jays needed roster room to accommodate Gimenez’s return from the 10-day injured list.
The 29-year-old Stefanic has hit only .227/.314/.267 across 289 career PA in the majors over the last four seasons, with most of that experience coming with the Angels before his Blue Jays stint this year. While known more for his defensive versatility than his bat, Stefanic has an eye-opening .344/.436/.468 slash line in 1561 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Since this hot hitting in the minors has yet to translate to much success against MLB pitching, Stefanic may have felt more comfortable staying with the Jays rather than testing a potentially uncertain free agent market. His removal from the 40-man roster will make a future call-up slightly trickier from a transactional standpoint, plus the Jays could also turn to Will Wagner, Orelvis Martinez, or Leo Jimenez (who are all on the 40-man) in the event of another infield vacancy on the active roster.
Good in i was like why is this guy up. Guess jimenez just returning. Martinez is now getting hotter as with wagner