Santiago Espinal
Santiago Roman Espinal (born November 13, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Santiago Espinal | |||
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Toronto Blue Jays – No. 5 | |||
Infielder | |||
Born: Santiago, Dominican Republic | November 13, 1994|||
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MLB debut | |||
July 25, 2020, for the Toronto Blue Jays | |||
MLB statistics (through July 29, 2020) | |||
Batting average | .091 | ||
Home runs | 0 | ||
Runs batted in | 0 | ||
Teams | |||
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High school
Espinal was born and grew up in the Dominican Republic until age 13, when he moved to the US.[1] He attended Lyman High School in Longwood, Florida for four years.[2] He then moved to New York and graduated through Penn Foster High School.[2] Espinal attended Seminole State College of Florida, and then attended Miami Dade College on a scholarship and played college baseball for them in 2016.[2][1] Espinal was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2016 MLB draft.[3]
Professional career
Espinal played for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Red Sox in 2016, hitting .244/.330/.267 with 10 runs batted in (RBI). He played for the Class-A Greenville Drive in 2017, hitting .280/.334/.358 with four home runs and 46 RBI.[1] On June 28, 2018, Espinal was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Steve Pearce and cash considerations.[4][5] Espinal split the 2018 between the Advanced-A Salem Red Sox and Dunedin Blue Jays, and the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, hitting .297/.356/.444 with 10 home runs and 60 RBI.[1][6][7] He played for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League (AFL) following the 2018 season.[8]
Espinal split the 2019 season between New Hampshire and the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, hitting a combined .287/.347/.393 with seven home runs and 71 RBI.[9][10][11] Espinal was added to the Blue Jays 40-man roster after the 2019 season.[12] On July 23, 2020, he was added to the Blue Jays active roster to begin the 2020 season, which had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] On July 25, 2020, Espinal made his MLB debut. Three days later, on July 28, Espinal got his first hit in the Major Leagues against the Washington Nationals.
References
- Shi Davidi (October 16, 2018). "Santiago Espinal an interesting fit on Blue Jays depth chart". Sportsnet. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Michael Martinez (April 1, 2016). "Freshman Infielder Providing Offensive And Defensive Punch For Sharks". The Reporter. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- "Six MDC Baseball Players Drafted in 2016 MLB Draft". Miami Dade College. June 13, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Michael Silverman (February 21, 2019). "Santiago Espinal, traded by Red Sox for Steve Pearce, happy for everyone". Boston Herald. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- Thomas Lott (June 26, 2018). "MLB trade news: Red Sox acquire Steve Pearce from Blue Jays". Sporting News. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Carson Cistulli (May 11, 2018). "The Fringe Five: Baseball's Most Compelling Fringe Prospects". FanGraphs.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Christopher Smith (June 14, 2018). "Boston Red Sox shortstop prospect Santiago Espinal continues breakout season". MassLive. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Andrew Battifarano (September 28, 2018). "Bichette to skip AFL with minor injuries". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- TSN Staff (November 20, 2019). "Jays add Hatch, Espinal to 40-man roster, outright Mayza". TSN. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Laura Armstrong (August 4, 2019). "Jays prospect Espinal makes next connection on Bichette's flight path". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- Tim MacLean (June 29, 2019). "NH Baseball: Fisher Cats' Espinal a great pickup from Red Sox". New Hampshire Union Leader. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Buffalo Bisons (November 21, 2019). "After solid Triple-A debut, Jays add Espinal to 40-man". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- "Blue Jays announce 30-player roster with Nate Pearson on taxi squad". Sportsnet. July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Miami Dade Sharks bio