Blue Jays: Alen Hanson’s time is running out

Alen Hanson has been a Toronto Blue Jay for a little over two weeks now, and in that time the 26-year-old second baseman has found little success. He could be a DFA candidate at this point playing for his fourth major league team in three seasons.

He was acquired from the San Francisco Giants along with pitchers Derek Law and Juan De Paula in the trade that sent Blue Jays fan favorite Kevin Pillar to the bay area. Alen Hanson has had a tepid start to his Blue Jays career slashing .179 with 11 strikeouts over 28 at bats.

He does have five hits and three RBI’s over that time, but it’s still not a good look for a player contending for a roster spot. Historically Hanson has had issues drawing walks in his young career, taking only nine free passes for the Giants in 2018 over 294 at bats.

Yikes.

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It’s no wonder the Giants were keen to toss Hanson in on the deal for Kevin Pillar after he didn’t crack their opening day roster. Given that he has come to the Blue Jays on essentially a free tryout at no cost, it’s not shocking that Blue Jays management is giving Alen Hanson every chance to turn the corner and become an everyday MLB player.

The problem is: It hasn’t happened yet.

Hanson seems to be allergic to walks once again in 2019. He only has one walk over 28 at-bats, and while his speed and versatility could appeal to the Blue Jays if he can pull it together, there are currently other options at second knocking on the door.

For those of you who watched Tuesday’s game, it became apparent right from the get-go that veteran Eric Sogard means business. In his first game in blue, Sogard went 3-5 with a double, single, and a stolen base. His three hits in five at-bats matched Hanson season total for 2019 hits in his very first game. With both players predominately playing second base, it’s going to get tough justifying keeping Hanson on the team if Sogard keeps hitting this way.

Also factoring in the case of second base prospect Cavan Biggio, and things get even more complicated. Right now Cavan is absolutely destroying AAA pitching batting .432, with a .522OBP for Buffalo. Jays Journal’s own Chris Henderson wrote about how Biggio may beat Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Bo Bichette to the show, and that is ultimately possible. Biggio’s tremendous offense might be exactly what the doctor ordered for a run suppressed Toronto baseball team.

We can also expect that at some point the recently exiled super-utility man Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will be making his way back to the majors. (especially with his #PinaPower bobblehead scheduled for April 24) and he could factor in for some time at second once he figures out how to throw the ball again in Buffalo.

Then there is also the case of Richard Ureña who was arguably one of the Blue Jays best hitters to open the season. Richard was slashing .333 with eight hits over 24 at-bats before being sent down to Buffalo. He is most certainly deserving of another chance at the MLB level sometime in 2019, and that could happen sooner than later.

With the Blue Jays having two or three other second baseman all playing better than Alen Hanson currently, the clock is on for him to get his act together quickly, otherwise, it’s just a matter of time before he could be cut loose by the Blue Jays.