Blue Jays: Alen Hanson clears waivers, heads to AAA

Alen Hanson will now head to Triple-A Buffalo, where he’ll likely stay until an injury or trade necessitates his recalling.

According to an announcement from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, infielder/outfielder Alen Hanson, who was designated for assignment on May 3, has cleared waivers and will remain in the organization. Per the announcement, he’ll head to Buffalo immediately.

Hanson, 26, came over to the Blue Jays from the San Francisco Giants in the Kevin Pillar trade earlier this season.

A utility player with 261 major league games under his belt, Hanson never impressed Blue Jays fans, slashing a paltry .163/.229/.163 in 48 plate appearances while making two errors in 18 games.

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Though he logged innings at second base, first base, right field, and left field, his versatility clearly wasn’t enough to keep him on the major-league roster.

Prior to spending a year in the Giants organization, Hanson, a native of La Romana, Dominican Republic, tallied 64 major league games with the Pittsburgh Pirates and 69 with the Chicago White Sox. A career .232 hitter, he was worth -0.6 WAR this season with the Blue Jays, according to Baseball Reference.

In favour of Hanson, the Jays called up righty Derek Law from Buffalo ahead of the series against the Rangers in Arlington. In 2.2 frames in that series, Law, 28, allowed a single earned run on three hits while striking out three and walking two.

Law also came to the Jays organization in the Pillar deal and tossed 10.2 innings with Buffalo to an ERA of 1.69 with two saves before being summoned to the big club.

Of course, Hanson’s clearing of waivers doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, as he struggled on both sides of the ball in limited playing time. Still, he’ll remain decently high on the depth chart as the team tries to survive a testing first half.