Blue Jays: Those in danger of being dropped from the 40-man roster

Breyvic Valera

Claimed off of waivers from the New York Yankees back in 2019, Breyvic Valera returns to playing major league baseball after missing the 2020 season after experiencing issues trying to leave Venezuela and being placed on the restricted list. He appeared in five games for the Blue Jays in 2019, slashing .267/.267/.533 with one home run and a .800 OPS through 15 at-bats.

While the Blue Jays almost lost Valera after he was DFA in early 2020 and picked up by the San Diego Padres, the club would pick him back up after the Padres designated him later that year and just prior to the start of the shortened season.

This season, Valera started the year in Buffalo and was playing well before his call-up, slashing .313/.406/.460 with three home runs, 28 RBI, and a .866 OPS through 41 games and 180 plate appearances. Now on the Jays bench, the switch-hitting infielder is splitting time between second base and third base and currently owns a .220/.256/.268 slash line with nine hits, three RBI, and a .524 OPS through 41 at-bats.

Valera was playing well with Cavan Biggio on the IL but ever since the recent road trip, the switch hitter has had trouble putting the ball in play, seeing his average drop and going 2 for 15 since August 10th, currently riding a five-game streak with no hits (he was a defensive substitution in two more games that haven’t been included).

With Valera struggling to find ways to put the ball in play and with Cavan Biggio set to return in the near future, the Venezualan product may be a victim of the numbers game in the near future. The recent addition of Kevin Smith to the major league roster may also be tough to keep Valera around, although his saving grace may be when the rosters expand in September or if the club decides to keep Biggio down in AAA considering he is still struggling to put the ball in play as well.