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Position by Position: Blue Jays have a handful of young infielders but only so much playing time
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Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Oct 30, 2024, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 30, 2024, 19:21 EDT
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If there’s one thing the Toronto Blue Jays have a surplus of, it’s infielders that can play multiple positions.
This is an off-season series, looking at the current Jays’ depth for starting pitching, their bullpen, the first base/designated hitter spot, outfielders, infielders, and catchers. In this article, we’ll look at the team’s second basemen, third basemen, and shortstops.
Although Spencer Horwitz played a significant amount of time at second base in 2024, his natural position is first base, hence his absence in this article. The same goes for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had 50 plate appearances at third base and had the second-highest fWAR at the position for the Jays (0.7).

Some stats

It’s a tale of three positions for the Blue Jays.
By far their weakest position of the three infield spots in 2024 was shortstop. Blue Jays’ shortstops slashed .248/.298/.374 with 13 home runs in 669 plate appearances in 2024. Their 92 wRC+ was tied for 21st, while their 2.5 fWAR was 20th best in the league. Overall, four players played at the position, with Bo Bichette seeing the most time at the position.
As for third base, the production the Blue Jays saw was in the middle of the pack. As a team, they slashed .259/.293/.409 with 16 home runs, the 11th-fewest in the league. Overall, they finished with the 16th-best wRC+ at 99, while their 2.1 fWAR was tied for 17th. Seven players played third base for the Jays this season, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa playing the second-most amount of time at the position.
Of the three positions, second base was by far the strongest. Last season, second basemen for the team slashed .251/.337/.376 with 13 home runs in 644 plate appearances. Their 108 wRC+ was the fifth-highest in the league while accumulating 2.9 fWAR, tied for ninth-best in the league. Eight players played second base for the Jays in 2024, with Kiner-Falefa accumulating 1 fWAR at the position and Spencer Horwitz accumulating 0.9 fWAR. Will Wagner only had 79 plate appearances but managed to pick up 0.6 fWAR. More on him later in the article.

Infielders on the 40-man roster

As it stands, there are currently eight infielders (shortstop, third base, and second base) on the Blue Jays 40-man roster. We’ll start with third basemen.

Addison Barger

Last season, Addison Barger slashed .197/.250/.351 with seven home runs in 225 plate appearances, giving him a 70 wRC+ and a -0.3 fWAR. He split time between third base and the two corner outfields but had 2 Defensive Runs Saved and – 5 Outs Above Average in 256.1 innings at the hot corner.
His first two stints with the Jays didn’t go all that well, but once he got regular playing time around the trade deadline, he had 95 wRC+ to end the season with all seven of his home runs coming in that stretch.

Luis De Los Santos

Along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Luis De Los Santos is the longest-tenured Blue Jay in the organization after Tim Mayza and Danny Jansen departed the team. After parts of nine seasons in the minor leagues, De Los Santos was finally called up to the big leagues.
The 26-year-old slashed .172/.226/.241 in 31 plate appearances with the Blue Jays, collecting five hits in the process (three singles, two doubles) while owning a 33 wRC+. His numbers in the minor leagues were much better, slashing .260/375/.441 with six home runs in 154 plate appearances.
There’s a solid chance he’s designated for assignment candidate this off-season.

Ernie Clement

Ernie Clement was the Blue Jays’ best third baseman in 2024, finishing the season slashing .263/.284/.408 with 12 home runs in 452 plate appearances. This gave him a 94 wRC+ and a 2.2 fWAR.
The power surge he’s received since joining the Blue Jays has been incredible, as he combined for 11 home runs in his first six seasons as a professional, before hitting 12 in 2023 between the Buffalo Bisons and Toronto Blue Jays.
Not only that, but Clement is a terrific defender. The 28-year-old is a finalist for the American League third base Gold Glove, accumulating 9 DRS and 3 OAA in 661 innings at the hot corner. Not just that, but in only 314.1 innings at shortstop, Clement had 6 DRS and 4 OAA.
The Blue Jays wish to contend in 2025, and Clement is the type of player a contender desires on their team.

Bo Bichette

For the first time in his career, Bo Bichette had a poor season, and the Blue Jays suffered for it.
When healthy, Bichette slashed a career-worst .225/.277/.322 with four home runs in 336 plate appearances, along with a 6 BB% and a 19 K% for a 71 wRC+. His 0.3 fWAR was by far the lowest of his career as well, even with an injury-filled 2020 season.
After a tough start, Bichette missed significant time due to a calf injury throughout the summer. In his return in September, he broke a finger and missed the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old is entering his final season of team control and you’d have to imagine the Blue Jays are open to trading him if the right deal falls in place.

Leo Jiménez

With the Blue Jays’ poor season, they finally got an opportunity to see what they have in Leo Jiménez.
The 23-year-old shortstop didn’t disappoint, as he slashed .229/.329/.358 with four home runs in 210 plate appearances, along with a 5.7 BB% and a 28.1 K% for a 102 WRC+ and a 0.6 fWAR. On top of a career-best 11 home runs in 2024 (seven with the Bisons), Jiménez had a higher HBP% (7.6%) than BB% (5.7 BB%) If you were to remove his 16 hit by pitches, his on-base percentage would drop from .329 to .257.
Last season, Jiménez mainly played shortstop (323.2 innings, 1 DRS, -2 OAA), but also played a fair bit of second base. He has no option years remaining, meaning he’ll need to make the Blue Jays 26-man roster in 2025 or be designated for assignment.

Orelvis Martínez

Orelvis Martínez played the majority of his playing time with the Bisons, slashing .267/.346/.523 with 17 home runs in 319 plate appearances, along with an 8.5 BB% and a 23.8 K% for a 120 wRC+.
He even earned a brief call-up to the big leagues, where he had a single in three plate appearances. However, Martínez was suspended for 80 games shortly after for PED usage.
With the Bisons, Martínez mainly played second base, starting 38 games and committing 12 errors. At his natural third base, he only committed three errors in 195.1 innings. It’s clear where he should be playing.

Davis Schneider

Every Blue Jays fan knows the story of Davis Schneider. An early August call-up saw him torch the league, before ending the season in a long slump.
The start of his 2024 season looked promising, as he was slashing .245/.354/.470 with seven home runs in 181 plate appearances through the first two months of the season for a 135 wRC+. However, from June 1 until the end of the season, Schneider slashed .159/.234/.264 with six home runs in 273 plate appearances, giving him a 44 wRC+ to end the season.
As a whole, Schneider finished the season slashing .191/.282/.343 with 13 home runs in 454 plate appearances for an 80 wRC+ and a 0.4 fWAR. The 25-year-old spent more time in left field (634.2 innings) than at second base (326 innings), but is a natural second baseman. Interestingly, he had better defensive stats in left field though.

Will Wagner

Before the 2024 trade deadline, the Blue Jays traded Yusei Kikuchi to the Houston Astros in exchange for Joey Loperfido, Jake Bloss, and Will Wagner.
The latter spent seven games with the Bisons, where he slashed .400/.516/.600 with one home run in 31 plate appearances before earning a call-up to the Toronto Blue Jays. Wagner continued to hit well with Toronto, slashing .305/337/.451 with two home runs in 86 plate appearances, along with six doubles.
Toward the end of the season, Wagner underwent surgery on his left knee, getting it scoped. Thankfully, he’s on track to be ready before Spring Training.

Depth

The Blue Jays have a ton of infielders that could be potential depth pieces in the years to come, but in this section, we’ll look at four intriguing players.

Riley Tirotta

It was a career year for Riley Tirotta, who slashed .247/.385/.433 with a career-high 15 home runs in 444 plate appearances between Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A for a 123 wRC+. The 26-year-old mainly played first base in 2024 with the Bisons, but has experience playing third base and the corner outfields.
Tirotta is Rule 5 eligible this off-season, meaning that the Blue Jays will have to add him to the 40-man roster if they want to protect him from being picked.

Josh Kasevich

Josh Kasevich is a shortstop who could play for the Toronto Blue Jays sooner rather than later. Last season between Double-A and Triple-A, he slashed .296/.348/.385 with a career-high six home runs in 566 plate appearances, along with a 106 wRC+.
Not only that, but Kasevhich is a strong defensive shortstop, making the Pac-12 Conference All-Defensive Team in 2022.

Rafael Lantigua

Rafael Lantigua had a rough season in 2024 with the Buffalo Bisons, slashing .265/.367/.336 with four home runs in 521 plate appearances, along with a 13.4 BB% and a 19.2 BB%, giving him a 94 wRC+ on the season.
The 26-year-old’s 2023 season was a case of the wrong place at the wrong time, as he slashed .305/.425/.469 with 12 home runs and 40 doubles in 579 plate appearances with the Bisons, along with a 17 BB% and an 18.5 K% for 131 wRC+.
If he had that type of season in 2024, he’d undoubtedly make his big league debut. Lantigua also offers a ton of versatility, having played second base, third base, shortstop, right field, left field, and centre field in 2024.

Arjun Nimmala

The Blue Jays’ first-round selection in 2023 is still a long way away from making the big leagues, but Arjun Nimmala is looking like the team’s future shortstop.
Last season in Single-A, the 19-year-old slashed .232/.313/.476 with 16 home runs in 361 plate appearances, along with an 8.3 BB% and a 31.3 K%. After a poor start to his season, Nimmala spent 30 plate appearances with the Florida Complex League Jays, before torching the Florida State League upon his return.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

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