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Blue Jays Designate Steward Berroa For Assignment, Select Braydon Fisher

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The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves today. Right-hander Braydon Fisher has been selected to the roster and outfielder Jonatan Clase has been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo. To make room for those two on the active roster, outfielder Alan Roden and righty Dillon Tate have been optioned to Buffalo. To make room for Fisher on the 40-man, outfielder Steward Berroa has been designated for assignment.

Roden, 25, made the club’s Opening Day roster after a strong spring. He hit .407/.541/.704 in Cactus League action but hasn’t been able to carry that forward into the regular season, with a .178/.262/.260 line in his first 84 plate appearances in the show. His playing time has dried up recently, with just ten plate appearances over the past two weeks.

While Roden has been doing that, Clase has been putting up solid numbers in Triple-A. Clase hasn’t been hitting for power this year, with no homers or even a triple, but he has been walking at a 13.2% clip. That has helped him produce a .315/.419/.371 line and 129 wRC+ with the Bisons so far this year. He has also stolen 15 bases in 17 tries.

The Jays have an outfield mix consisting of Daulton Varsho, George Springer, Anthony Santander, Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger and Myles Straw, with Clase now stepping in to take Roden’s place. Time will tell how often Clase gets into the lineup over the guys in that group, but even if he doesn’t hit much, he can perhaps serve as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. Roden, meanwhile, can get more regular plate appearances in Buffalo.

Fisher, 24, cracks the majors for the first time. A fourth-round pick of the Dodgers in 2018, he came to the Jays in last summer’s trade which sent Cavan Biggio to the Dodgers. Fisher has generally been able to rack up strikeouts but also with control issues. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has thrown 130 minor league innings with a 3.67 earned run average and 31.5% strikeout rate but a 13.4% walk rate.

So far this year, the control seems a bit better, in a small sample. He has thrown 11 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 2.38 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. The Jays evidently feel he’s ready to take the mound against big league hitters.

Berroa, 26 next month, was added to the roster in June of last year. He got into 28 games for the Jays last year but hit just .189/.333/.216 in those, though he did steal six bases. He’s been on optional assignment this year but is hitting just .195/.267/.234 at Triple-A. That performance has nudged him into DFA limbo, where he will spend a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as much as five days to explore trade interest.

Though his numbers this year aren’t good, he was in good form at the Triple-A level in 2024. Last year, he got into 79 games for the Bisons, hitting 10 home runs, stealing 34 bases and drawing walks at an 11.7% clip. He hit .281/.371/.454 for a 120 wRC+. He is still optionable for the rest of this season and one additional season, which could perhaps appeal to club’s looking for some extra outfield depth.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Jays Notes: Kikuchi, Bloss, Turnbull

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The Blue Jays kicked off a series against the Angels this week, providing an opportunity for Toronto reporters to catch up with new Halos starter Yusei Kikuchi. The veteran left-hander tells Hazel Mae and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet that the Jays did not make him a free agent offer before he signed his three-year contract with the Angels.

Toronto traded Kikuchi to the Astros last summer. It was one of the bigger deadline rental deals, as the Astros parted with three upper level players (Jake Bloss, Will Wagner and Joey Loperfido) for a couple months of Kikuchi’s services. He was excellent down the stretch, working to a 2.70 ERA while averaging six innings per start across 10 appearances.

Kikuchi added that he wasn’t surprised that the Jays didn’t look to bring him back in free agency, noting that Bowden Francis did strong work after replacing him in the rotation. Francis was Toronto’s best pitcher in the second half, pitching to a 1.80 ERA while striking out nearly a quarter of opposing hitters. That certainly earned him a spot in the Opening Day rotation alongside Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt. The Jays still needed a fifth starter but elected to focus most of their offseason resources on rebuilding the lineup. Their only significant rotation move was a short-term investment, as they added Max Scherzer for $15.5MM on one year.

Scherzer’s recurring thumb injury sent him to the injured list after his first start in a Toronto uniform. That tested the Jays’ relatively thin rotation. Bloss, who made three big league starts with Houston before the trade, is one of the top depth arms on the 40-man roster. He has struggled to a 6.46 ERA over six appearances with Triple-A Buffalo, though, and he’s now facing an alarming health situation.

The Jays sent the 23-year-old for imaging on his elbow after his most recent appearance, relays Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. The team hasn’t provided any other specifics, but they’re skipping at least one start. Bloss last pitched on Saturday, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks across 3 1/3 innings.

Bloss’ injury comes days after the Jays signed both Spencer Turnbull and José Ureña to add some amount of veteran stability until Scherzer returns. Ureña, who’d begun the season in Triple-A with the Mets, jumped right into the fifth rotation spot. He tossed 74 pitches and worked 4 1/3 frames of two-run ball in his team debut tonight. Turnbull is much further off, as he spent the entire offseason unsigned before signing a prorated deal in the $1.27MM range. He’s on the 40-man roster but agreed to be optioned to the team’s Florida complex to get into game shape.

Manager John Schneider said this evening that Turnbull had kept his arm loose by throwing to collegiate hitters in recent weeks (via Mae). The skipper added that the optional stint can last up to 35 days before the Jays need to recall Turnbull onto the big league roster.

Blue Jays Sign Spencer Turnbull

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Today: The Blue Jays officially announced Turnbull’s one-year major league contract on Monday and optioned the veteran pitcher to the Florida Complex League to allow him time to build up his arm. To make room for Turnbull and fellow free agent signing José Ureña on the 40-man roster, the Blue Jays transferred Max Scherzer and Erik Swanson to the 60-day injured list. This pushes back Scherzer’s and Swanson’s return timelines to late May at the earliest.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post provides the financials of the Turnbull deal. It’s technically a salary of $1,265,306 but prorated to an even $1MM due some of the season having already transpired. The righty can also unlock bonuses worth $500K based on innings pitched, $100K each at 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90. He will also get $125K for spending 60 days on the active roster, $250K for 80 and 100 days, and $375K for 120 days.

May 3: The Blue Jays and Spencer Turnbull have agreed to a major league contract, as reported by Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi. The right-hander went unsigned over the offseason after spending the 2024 campaign with the Phillies. His deal is pending a physical. Further details, including financial terms, have not yet been revealed.

Turnbull, 32, got off to a terrific start last season after signing a one-year, $2MM contract with Philadelphia. Through six April starts filling in for an injured Taijuan Walker, he pitched to a 1.67 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings of work. While no one would have expected Turnbull to maintain a sub-2.00 ERA, all of his underlying numbers were promising, including a 49.4% groundball rate, a 20.5% K-BB%, and a 3.37 SIERA. Nonetheless, in May, he moved into the bullpen, where he didn’t look quite as sharp. He gave up nine runs in 19 innings over his next 10 appearances. His strikeout and groundball rates declined, and his walk rate rose. His ERA jumped to 4.26, while his SIERA climbed to 3.80. Of course, those were still perfectly respectable numbers for a long reliever, and indeed, Turnbull pitched well enough to be reinstated in the starting rotation when Ranger Suárez suffered an injury. Unfortunately, his next stint as a starter would be short-lived. Turnbull exited early from his first start back in the Phillies’ rotation, never to return. He went on the injured list with a lat strain that ultimately ended his season.

All told, Turnbull finished the 2024 season with a 2.65 ERA and a 3.67 SIERA in 54 1/3 innings. That performance, along with his overall solid career numbers when healthy (4.28 ERA, 3.81 FIP in 67 career starts), was enough to earn him the final spot on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents list this past offseason. Be that as it may, his checkered injury history, and therefore his limited MLB track record, were evidently enough to scare off teams from pursuing him. He was not credibly linked to any suitors this winter.

Yet, as pitcher injuries began to pile up almost immediately, teams that weren’t interested in Turnbull over the offseason may have changed their minds. The right-hander reportedly threw for teams in mid-March, according to Nicholson-Smith, but no deal materialized at that time. Several weeks later, he has finally landed a contract. While he may have to consent to an optional assignment so he can ramp up in the minor leagues, this is not a minor league pact. Barring another serious injury, he will pitch in the majors in 2025.

Just yesterday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told reporters (including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic) that the team had “a couple of things in the works” to shore up the team’s rotation depth “via free agency.” It’s easy to understand why Toronto was seeking outside help. Ever since Max Scherzer suffered a thumb injury during his first start of the season, the Blue Jays have struggled to fill the fifth spot in their rotation. Easton Lucas was surprisingly effective in his first two MLB starts before falling apart in his third and fourth. He has since been optioned back to Triple-A. Paxton Schultz seemed like a possible rotation option after his terrific big league debut; he threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief with eight strikeouts. Yet, he wasn’t nearly as effective in his next relief outing. He, too, has since been sent down to Triple-A Buffalo.

Meanwhile, Yariel Rodríguez, who has moved into a bullpen role this season, gave up two runs in a mediocre inning of work in his first outing as an opener on Tuesday. Eric Lauer got the job done in his Blue Jays debut, tossing four innings to follow Rodríguez while giving up two earned runs on three hits. Still, considering that Lauer has not thrown more than 50 MLB innings in a season since 2022, it’s not hard to see why the Blue Jays wouldn’t want to rely on him too heavily. José Ureña, with whom the Blue Jays also agreed to a major league deal this morning, fills a similar niche to Turnbull as a veteran right-handed pitcher with experience both starting and relieving. Yet, he doesn’t offer nearly the same upside. Lastly, top prospect Jake Bloss has looked better in his last two starts, but his overall Triple-A numbers are poor (6.42 ERA and 5.53 FIP in 13 starts since joining the Blue Jays organization), and it wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interest to rush him to the majors simply because Toronto is out of other options.

Thus, Turnbull will provide the Blue Jays some much-needed starting pitching depth. If and when Scherzer makes his return to the rotation, Turnbull could also slide into a long-man role in the bullpen. Once his deal is official, the Jays will presumably offer more details about his eventual role and how long it will be until he’s ready to take the mound in the majors.

Blue Jays Sign José Ureña

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Today: The Blue Jays officially announced Ureña’s one-year major league contract on Monday and optioned Josh Walker to Triple-A to open a space on the active roster. To make room for Ureña and fellow free agent signing Spencer Turnbull on the 40-man, the Blue Jays transferred Max Scherzer and Erik Swanson to the 60-day injured list. This pushes back Scherzer’s and Swanson’s return timelines to late May at the earliest.

May 3: The Blue Jays have agreed to a major league contract with right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. This signing comes on the heels of the news that Toronto has also agreed to terms with right-hander Spencer Turnbull.

Ureña, 33, signed a minor league contract with the Mets in February. While he failed to make the Opening Day roster out of camp, he made three starts at Triple-A Syracuse and earned a promotion when the Mets needed an extra arm in late April. However, he struggled badly in his one appearance, giving up five earned runs in three innings, and the Mets DFA’d him two days later. The Blue Jays, desperately in need of pitching depth, pounced quickly, signing the righty less than two days after he elected free agency. Unlike Turnbull, who has not pitched in a game since a lone minor league rehab appearance last September, Ureña should be ready to contribute to the major league team right away.

Now in his 11th big league season, Ureña has been one of the league’s more prolific swingmen throughout his career. Since his debut in 2015, he is one of just two pitchers with at least 150 starts and 75 relief appearances. With a career 4.80 ERA and 4.92 SIERA, he has never been much more than an innings eater, but an innings eater is certainly something the Blue Jays could use right now.

Toronto entered the 2025 season with a rotation of Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer, and Bowden Francis. Yariel Rodríguez, who started 21 games in his rookie season, moved to the bullpen. As a result, when Scherzer hit the IL with an injured thumb after his first start of the season, the Blue Jays were left with very little rotation depth. Easton Lucas crumbled after two strong starts. Similarly, long-man Paxton Schultz hit a wall in his second big league appearance after turning heads with a dominant debut. Eric Lauer was solid in his first appearance for the Jays, but he’s hardly a reliable long-term answer. Top prospect Jake Bloss, who struggled in three big league starts with Houston last season, has also struggled at Triple-A. Thus, general manager Ross Atkins made it clear on Friday that he was looking to add rotation depth in free agency. He quickly made good on his word this morning, signing both Ureña and Turnbull to major league deals. Turnbull has the much higher ceiling of the two, but Ureña is a more immediate solution. There is a good chance he will make at least a couple of starts, but he can also offer relief to a bullpen that has been cycling through arms all season.

Ross Stripling Retires

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Right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling announced his retirement this morning over social media. He signs off after nine big league seasons with the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Giants, and Athletics.

“After 13 seasons and full of tremendous pride and gratitude, it’s time to hang up the cleats. I never could have imagined the experiences and memories I’d be a part of. They exceeded every hope that my younger self could have dreamt for my baseball career,” Stripling wrote. “It never could have been possible without my family and friends. I also want to give a huge thank you to all my coaches and teammates over the years. I had so much love and support along the way, and I’m thankful to everyone that was a part of it in any form or fashion. All of you helped me be the best baseball player I could be. This has been an unbelievable honor, and I feel incredibly lucky to be so fulfilled and content with leaving the game behind. Now, l’m excited to be home and begin the next chapter of life with my amazing family.”

Stripling spent most of his professional career in the Dodgers organization. A fifth-round draft pick in 2012, he worked his way up the system over the next four years, overcoming early-career Tommy John surgery to make his MLB debut as a member of the Opening Day rotation in 2016. Over four and a half big league seasons as both a starter and reliever for the Dodgers, he pitched more than 400 innings with a 3.68 ERA. He was an All-Star in 2018 and pitched for L.A. in the playoffs in 2016, ’17, and ’19, including three appearances in the 2017 World Series. Unfortunately, he struggled in 2020 and was traded ahead of the deadline, but he still earned a World Series ring for his performance with the Dodgers over the first half of the season.

The first season and a half of Stripling’s Blue Jays tenure weren’t anything to write home about, but his 2022 campaign in Toronto was arguably the best of his career. Across 32 games (24 starts), he set career-highs in wins (10) and FanGraphs WAR (3.0) and career-lows in ERA (3.01) and walk rate (3.7%). He would then turn that performance into a two-year $25 million guarantee from the Giants in free agency.

The two years on that contract would prove to be the final seasons of Stripling’s playing career. He pitched poorly for San Francisco in 2023, and much like what happened the last time he struggled so badly, he was eventually shipped out of town. The Giants sent him to the A’s during the 2023-24 offseason, and he had a similarly rough season in Oakland. All told, he pitched to a 5.68 ERA in 44 games (25 starts) over his two years in the Bay Area. While his big league track record helped him land a minor league deal with the Royals this past winter, he was granted his release after failing to make their Opening Day roster.

Stripling finishes his MLB career with a 4.17 ERA in 846 1/3 innings of work. He collected 40 wins, 11 holds, and four saves, while racking up 741 strikeouts. MLBTR congratulates Stripling on a successful major league tenure and wishes him all the best in whatever comes next.

AL East Notes: Swanson, Buehler, Eflin, McDermott

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Erik Swanson has yet to pitch this season due to a median nerve entrapment in his right arm, but the reliever’s path back to the Blue Jays roster hit a snag in the form of some soreness in his right forearm.  The issue prevented Swanson from a planned minor league rehab outing earlier this week, and the good news is that initial tests revealed no structural damage.  However, Swanson told The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon and other reporters that more tests are set for Monday, as it hasn’t yet been determined what exactly is causing the forearm discomfort.

Swanson had some bouts with forearm soreness at a few different points in his career, such as in each of the last two Spring Trainings, and also a minor strain that sent him to the injured list for a little over three weeks during the 2020 season when he was pitching with the Mariners.  Though the medicals have been clean so far on his current issue, obviously all parties will be cautious in dealing with any forearm-related injury.  In the short term, the problem has delayed Swanson’s recovery, and adds more uncertainty over when exactly the reliever will make his 2025 debut.

More from around the AL East…

  • Speaking of pitchers on the injured list, Walker Buehler was sidelined earlier this week due to bursitis in his right shoulder.  The injury wasn’t thought to be overly serious, and Buehler told reporters (including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey) today that he would’ve pitched though the discomfort if it had arisen during a late-season scenario.  Buehler has a 4.28 ERA over 33 2/3 innings for the Red Sox, as a rough first two starts of the year gave way to a much smoother 2.59 ERA over his last four outings.
  • It has been almost a month since Zach Eflin was sidelined by a right lat strain, but the Orioles right-hander has now started a rehab assignment with the team’s high-A affiliate.  Eflin looked sharp in tossing four scoreless innings on 58 pitches for Aberdeen today, and while we’ll know more once Eflin recovers, he told the Baltimore Sun’s Matt Weyrich on Saturday that he was hopeful that he’d just need the one rehab outing.  While the O’s aren’t going to rush a player back from the IL, the team obviously needs all the help it can get, given how the rotation has been ravaged by injuries and poor performance.
  • One of those injured Orioles pitchers came off the 15-day IL today, as Baltimore activated Chayce McDermott and optioned the righty to Triple-A Norfolk.  McDermott suffered a right lat strain early in Spring Training and didn’t throw any Grapefruit League innings, and his 2025 workload to date has consisted of two appearances and 5 2/3 innings during a minor league rehab assignment.  This assignment to Triple-A will give McDermott more time to fully build himself up, with an eye towards possibly returning to the Show later in 2025.  McDermott is a well-regarded pitching prospect who made his MLB debut last July, tossing four innings in his lone big league appearance to date.

Casey Lawrence Reportedly Drawing Interest From Multiple Teams

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Right-hander Casey Lawrence might not be a free agent for long. The 37-year-old elected free agency after the Blue Jays designated him for assignment on Wednesday. However, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports that the Blue Jays are “engaged” with Lawrence about a potential reunion. Nicholson-Smith adds that the veteran swing-man is also “believed to be” drawing interest from other clubs.

Lawrence has been a popular recurring character on MLBTR’s front page over the past month. He opened the season in the Mariners organization, pitching 10 innings over three separate stints with the big league club. The first two times the Mariners DFA’d him, he passed through waivers and elected free agency, only to sign new minor league contracts with the team shortly thereafter. The third time, however, the Blue Jays swept in and claimed him off waivers. He would appear in one game for the Jays, giving up three runs on six hits in 2 1/3 innings, before they, too, cut ties.

Across parts of five MLB seasons, Lawrence has thrown a total of 136 2/3 innings with a 6.59 ERA and a 4.60 SIERA. He has not pitched more than 15 big league games or 30 big league innings in a season since his rookie campaign eight years ago. While he has continued to work as a starter in the minors, he has not started an MLB contest since April 2017.

Lawrence’s 4.97 ERA in 2025 might somehow be overselling his performance so far, considering seven of the 14 runs he has given up have been unearned. What’s more, he has struck out just five of the 60 batters he has faced. The 87.6-mph average velocity on his sinker makes it one of the slowest (and most hittable) primary fastballs in the game. Nonetheless, he is a low-cost option who is ramped up and ready to throw major league innings for any team that might need them. Evidently, that has been enough for him to draw repeated interest from Seattle and Toronto, and potentially some other teams as well.

Blue Jays Exploring Free Agency For Rotation Depth

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The Blue Jays may soon add some minor league rotation depth. General manager Ross Atkins told reporters (including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic) that the Jays “have a couple of things in the works there that are more on the depth front … via free agency.”

Toronto has not had a defined fifth starter since Max Scherzer went on the injured list. Easton Lucas got the first look and made four starts. He pitched well through two outings but was hit hard in the next two appearances and optioned to Triple-A. An off day allowed them to operate with a four-man rotation comprising Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis for one turn. They selected Eric Lauer onto the big league roster on Wednesday. He worked four innings behind opener Yariel Rodríguez in his team debut.

Lauer was the only particularly experienced starter working out of the Triple-A rotation. There aren’t going to be huge free agent upgrades available in early May, of course, but it’s understandable that the Jays would look to add some kind of veteran help. Spencer Turnbull went unsigned all offseason but was reportedly throwing for teams last month. Veteran swingman José Ureña elected free agency yesterday after being waived by the Mets. Right-hander Dane Dunning is not a free agent but is likely to land on waivers in the next few days after being designated for assignment by the Rangers.

Lucas, Jake Bloss and Adam Macko are the team’s three minor league starters who occupy 40-man roster spots. Bloss made three MLB starts for the Astros last year. He owns a 5.75 ERA over 20 1/3 innings for Triple-A Buffalo. Macko has yet to make his major league debut and has been out all season rehabbing Spring Training meniscus surgery.

Scherzer’s injured list stint has gone beyond a month. He went on the IL on March 30 after experiencing continued nerve discomfort in his thumb. He’s had a series of cortisone shots in recent weeks. Manager John Schneider told Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet and other reporters that the three-time Cy Young winner completed a high-intensity, two-inning bullpen session on Friday. It remains unclear when he might begin a rehab assignment.

Casey Lawrence Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Casey Lawrence has cleared waivers and elected free agency, per Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. The righty was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays earlier this week. He has the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright.

Lawrence, 37, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners at the start of the week. The Jays were facing a bit of a pitching crunch at the time. They had optioned left-hander Easton Lucas to drop down to a four-man rotation. Then a rainout in the Bronx led to a doubleheader and the staff getting a condensed workload on the weekend.

The Jays then got bombed by the Red Sox on Tuesday, with starter Bowden Francis getting pulled after allowing seven earned runs in three innings. After Dillon Tate and Mason Fluharty combined to cover 3 1/3 frames, Lawrence took the final 2 2/3. He allowed three earned runs on six hits while recording one strikeout. Left-hander Eric Lauer was then called up to give the Jays another guy capable of covering multiple innings, with Lawrence bumped off as the corresponding move.

There is clearly some appeal in Lawrence’s services, in this exact type of role. The Mariners have added him to their roster three times this year. In each case, he made an appearance or two before getting quickly designated for assignment. He is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors without being removed from the 40-man roster entirely. He has the right to reject outright assignments, as mentioned.

The first two times Seattle bumped him off the roster, he elected free agency and returned on a fresh deal. The third time, he was claimed by the Jays, who utilized him in the same way. Now perhaps he will sign another fresh pact with one of those two clubs. Both clearly value his ability to mop up garbage innings as part of regular roster churn.

He has a 4.97 earned run average through 12 2/3 innings this year and a 6.59 ERA in 136 2/3 career innings. He recently spoke about his situation in self-aware terms, realizing that he may not have much time left in the majors, so he’s trying to appreciate the present before thinking about the next stage of his career. With several clubs dealing with pitching injuries around the league, he should be able to latch on somewhere else soon.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Poll: Anthony Santander’s Slow Start

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After missing out on the top available free agent for the second consecutive offseason when they fell short in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the Blue Jays remained in the hunt to find a slugger who could complement Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a hopefully resurgent Bo Bichette. Toronto had already brought Andres Gimenez into the fold as a glove-first regular, but his defensive-minded profile was never expected to be a huge boost to the lineup. After being connected to slugger Pete Alonso, third baseman Alex Bregman, and even a possible reunion with Teoscar Hernandez, the Blue Jays finally landed Anthony Santander on a five-year, $92.5MM contract that comes with enough deferred money to lower the net present value of the deal to around $70MM.

The switch-hitting Santander swatted 44 home runs for Baltimore last year while hitting .235/.308/.506 with a 129 wRC+. That power-driven profile had proven to be fairly consistent for the slugger in recent years despite his generally low on-base numbers; Santander slashed .244/.317/.478 with a wRC+ of 124 since the start of the 2022 season. That was a long enough track record to give the Jays reasonable confidence in his ability to perform as a middle-of-the-order bat for them entering his age-30 season.

It’s a bet that hasn’t paid off so far. In Santander’s first 132 trips to the plate as a Blue Jay, he’s hit just .178/.258/.314 with a wRC+ of just 65. That’s 35% worse than league average and, in conjunction with his lackluster defense, has left him tied for the eighth-lowest fWAR total among qualified major leaguers. His overall production has been similar to that of another low on-base, defensively limited corner bat in Jake Burger, whom the Rangers just optioned to Triple-A last night due to his own struggles.

A look under the hood does suggest that Santander shouldn’t be expected to be quite this bad. While his strikeout rate has jumped four percentage points from last year, that 23.5% figure is not very different than the 23.2% he posted in 2023, when he turned in a perfectly respectable 119 wRC+. What’s more, Santander is actually walking more than ever this year. He’s garnered free passes at a solid 9.8% clip, more than two percentage points higher than his career norm. While his swinging-strike rate and contact rate are both down relative to last year, both numbers are more or less in line with his 2023 season. Between a strikeout rate within his ordinary range and the highest walk rate of his career, that .258 on-base mark seems likely to improve alongside his BABIP, which sits at an extremely low .202.

Where there is a more significant negative change in Santander’s numbers is the power department. A look at Santander’s batted-ball metrics reveals some troubling signs. His 5.7% barrel rate so far this year is his lowest since 2018, and his 39.8% hard-hit rate is also the lowest he’s posted since the shortened 2020 season. His exit velocities appear to still be more or less in line with where they have been in recent years, but Santander’s launch angle is down several points. That’s resulted in a ten-point drop in Santander’s fly ball rate and a seven-point jump in his ground-ball rate. Hitting the ball into the dirt is hardly a recipe for success for a power hitter like Santander, whose sprint speed is in the 23rd percentile of big league position players, per Statcast.

Even if Santander will need to make some changes in order to get back to being that consistent 30-to-40 homer threat he was over the past two years, the deflated BABIP and strong walk rate do suggest that he should see at least some improvements, leaving him with an xwOBA 35 points higher than his actual wOBA. Even that .293 expected figure would be Santander’s worst in a full season of plate appearances, however. It’s a troubling trend and one that the Blue Jays and Santander will need to work to correct in the coming weeks in order to get his season back on track.

How do MLBTR readers think the rest of Santander’s first season as a Blue Jay will shake out? Will he manage to get things back on track well enough to post numbers similar to the expectations he’s created in recent years, or will he fall short? Have your say in the poll below:

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