Blue Jays: Roster move – LF Jared Hoying signed to minor league deal

Yesterday, the Toronto Blue Jays made a roster move, signing free-agent outfielder Jared Hoying to a minor league deal as per the Jays official transactions page.

Drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 10th round of the 2010 amateur draft, Hoying spent roughly six years in the minor leagues before making his debut in 2016. With the Rangers, Hoying appeared in 75 games and had 118 at-bats, slashing .220/.262/.288 with five doubles, one home run, and 12 RBI to compliment a .550 OPS.

Two years later, Hoying would elect free agency and would take his talents overseas, spending three seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization league with the Hanwha Eagles. As a member of the Eagles, the lefty-hitting outfielder would slash .284/.345/.498 over the course of 300 games and 1129 at-bats, smacking 52 home runs and 197 RBI to the tune of a .842 OPS. He would be released by the Eagles during the 2020 season.

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Throughout his minor and major league career, the Ohio native has spent time in all three areas of the outfield but recently transitioned into more of a right fielder when he made the jump to Korea.

The Toronto Blue Jays made a minor league roster move yesterday, signing veteran outfielder Jared Hoying to a contract that will most likely see him in either AA or AAA this season.

As per MLB.com, it appears that the Blue Jays have assigned Hoying to the Rookie League Gulf Coast team, a move that makes sense given he hasn’t suited up nor played professional baseball in almost a full year since his release. Once he gets some regular reps in with the Gulf Coast Blue Jays, Hoying will most likely be joining the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in AA or the Buffalo Bisons in AAA.

The signing of Jared Hoying makes sense if he moves to AAA considering Josh Palacios will be out for multiple weeks with a hand injury and the Bisons lack depth beyond Forrest Wall and Logan Warmoth in the outfield, with no outfielders in AA being quite ready to make the jump to the next level just yet.

Considering the Blue Jays do have a pretty stacked outfield at the major league level as well as Wall and Warmoth as additional depth in Buffalo, the likelihood of seeing Jared Hoying with the big league club this season seems a bit out of reach.

If he can continue to hit the ball well as he did in the KBO, he could set himself as a potential call-up option if the injuries at the major league level get out of control.