The Angels announced that veteran infielder Jonathan Villar has cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Villar, 31, began the season with the Cubs after signing a one-year, $6MM contract in free agency. It looked to be a nice enough value add by the Cubs, as Villar had been an above-average hitter with a nice blend of power and speed in two of the past three seasons (the exception being the shortened 2020 campaign). Even with an ugly showing in 2020, Villar came to the Cubs with a .259/.327/.417 slash over his past 1456 plate appearances.
Unfortunately for Villar and for both of the teams for which he’s suited up this year, his 2022 season looks a lot more like his 2020 campaign than his strong 2019 and 2021 years. The Cubs cut Villar loose after he hit just .222/.271/.327 through 166 plate appearances, and things deteriorated even further with the Angels. In 54 trips to the plate as a Halo, Villar hit just .163/.226/.224.
This year’s rough showing notwithstanding, Villar is a 10-year Major League veteran with a decent track record and some versatility. The switch-hitting Villar has logged 3456 career innings at shortstop, 2911 innings at second base and 1380 innings at third base (to say nothing of some very brief forays into outfield work). He hasn’t been considered a strong defender at any of the three positions but, until the 2022 season at least, had generally rated as a roughly average option at second base.
Villar could very well still latch on with a club looking for some infield depth, although given this season’s struggles, he’ll likely be asked to settle for a minor league deal and look to get back on track in Triple-A.
Dude is done. Absolutely terrible for the Halos. Call it a career Jonathan.
Hit 18 hrs & stole 14 bases in 2021, is he done or just not with the right team?
Watching him play in Chicago… looks done. Not so much the bat with regular playing time but his defense is god awful.
I don’t think which team he’s on makes the difference but he could pick things back up. It is possible that he’s just having a bad year, it happens.
No matter what his numbers, Villar is a guy who always finds little ways to help his team lose. Terrible baserunning, bad defense, mental mistakes, lack of effort, clubhouse non-contribution, whatever it takes.
He only played in 13 games for the Angels – I would have stuck with him a little longer (i.e., 20-25 games) before cutting bait. He had a few good games but couldn’t put together any type of good offense stretch; I thought his glove was still decent. I would have stuck with Villar over Velazquez or Gosselin. I’m actually perplexed on why the Angels haven’t DFA’d Velazquez yet.
I don’t know the whole story with Villar in Chicago but he looked over weight and disinterested when he was here. Also there was the whole “strength band” incident where a strength band allegedly broke and causes so much damage to his face he has to go on the IL. As a guy who regularly uses strength bands, heavy duty ones for power lifting, and having them break, I can assure you they have neither the velocity or mass to do much damage… I suspect that there is more to the story.
Bro, do you even lift?
Jonathan Villar didn’t elect free agency. Free agency elected Jonathan Villar.
Not a biggie!
I see him getting a chance next year!