The Blue Jays’ third-base job is Santiago Espinal’s to lose. He’s earned it the hard way

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This article was published 24/09/2021 (1799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier this year, Santiago Espinal didn’t know what his role would be with the Blue Jays, or if he’d even have one.

Now he’s returning as the starting third baseman for a team in the thick of a post-season race.

Espinal was activated from the 10-day injured list prior to Friday night’s 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins. He doubled in his first plate appearance and finished 1-for-3 while getting the start at third, after missing just under a month with a strained right hip flexor. The Dominican native likely will get Saturday off as the Jays ease him back into the lineup, but the hot corner is his position to lose for however long the Jays keep playing this season.

The 26-year-old earned that right with his strong play before the injury sidelined him in late August. The gold-glove-calibre defence was expected. The surprise was at the plate, where Espinal went from a liability to an asset near the bottom of the batting order.

Espinal is batting .291 with a .355 on-base percentage across 84 games this season. Both figures are well above league average and while he doesn’t hit for a lot of power, the Jays don’t require much more of that. They produce enough homers, more than any team in the majors. What they need are guys to reach base more consistently, and when healthy Espinal has done a good job of that.

“It was pretty tough. I thought I wasn’t going to come back this season,” Espinal said of his initial diagnosis. “I thought I was out. Then they told me I’d take a week off on the injury list, so I could come back really quick. As soon as I heard that, that’s all I wanted. I just want to play baseball, and as soon as I heard that I had a huge smile.”

Espinal’s current role is the one that was supposed to belong to Cavan Biggio, who has become the forgotten man as he continues to work through a rehab assignment at Triple-A Buffalo. The Jays have mentioned a laundry list of injuries for Biggio this season. First it was a neck injury, then a mid-back issue and later a strained ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.

Biggio resumed playing for the Bisons quite a long time ago, but there doesn’t appear to be any immediate plan to bring him up. Based on the recent results, that seems to be a reasonable stance. In 19 games for Buffalo, including nine this month, he is batting just .197 with a .303 OBP. Biggio has struck out an alarming 22 times vs. 13 hits. At this point it’s clear the man who posted a .364 and .375 OBP each of the last two years entering this season still has a way to go before rediscovering his old form.

When Jays officials are asked whether the 26-year-old needs to get healthy or start producing better results in the minors before getting promoted, the typical answer is “both.” With just eight games remaining after Friday night, that doesn’t bode well for his chances of rejoining the Jays before the end of the year.

That leaves Espinal and Breyvic Valera to handle the big-league duties at third. Valera has been a surprise contributor at various points of the season, but overall he is still batting just .259 with a .684 OPS while being worth minus-0.1 wins above average. In other words, the Jays can do a lot better, and Espinal currently is their best shot at making it happen after he homered in his first rehab appearance and finished with four hits in four games.

“I really don’t know, but what I can tell you is that every day I come in here, there is a different person who helps me get better,” Espinal said when asked what has led to such a productive season. “Whether it’s Luis Rivera, Bo (Bichette), (Lourdes) Gurriel, Vladdy, Teoscar (Hernández), everybody in here has helped me. I’ve got my teammates back, they have mine too, and we just go from there.”

The interesting thing about Espinal is that exceeding expectations is nothing new. He’s been doing it his entire career.

For years, people have been saying the glove is good enough to play at the big-league level, but the bat wouldn’t lead to anything more than part-time work. Some of you have probably read similar sentiments from this columnist.

That could still prove true over time. It just hasn’t been the case for any team he’s ever played for.

In high-A, he posted an .824 OPS. In Double-A, it dropped to a still acceptable .731, and then in 32 games at Triple-A it rose again, to .808 with a .316 average. There was justifiable skepticism that the trend wouldn’t continue with the Jays, but so far it has. And until the numbers start to dwindle, maybe it’s time to give him the benefit of the doubt.

While Biggio’s rehab assignment is at 19 games and counting, Espinal’s lasted four before he got promoted, which shows who is the bigger priority for the Jays during this final stretch of the season. At least for now, third base belongs to Espinal, and few people would have predicted that back in April.

The five-foot-10 infielder keeps defying the odds. From an afterthought who was buried on the depth chart behind Biggio and veteran Joe Panik, to starting for a post-season contender. It’s been a wild ride, and one that Espinal hopes will last a lot longer than another eight games.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca