Blue Jays: Why Santiago Espinal should be the everyday third baseman

If there’s one thing that almost every Toronto Blue Jays fan can universally agree on, it’s that right-handed utility player Santiago Espinal should be the everyday third baseman going forward.

Seeing the position being shuffled around this season between Espinal, Cavan Biggio, and Breyvic Valera, it was clear early on who should be taking the lead at third base, and I’m glad people are finally taking notice of the underrated 26-year-old.

Typically a shortstop and second baseman throughout his minor league career, Santiago has made a smooth transition to third base this season. Besides the impressive plays, like the bare-handed catch to end the home opener on July 30, he is frankly the only one I truly trust when there is a ground ball to the hot corner.

With a few different players bouncing between the hot corner this year, Santiago Espinal should be the Blue Jays everyday third baseman going forward.

In 67 games played at third base this year, Espinal has made just 4 errors and has a fielding percentage of .976, which is higher than Biggio, the only other competitor for the position.

His offence isn’t something to sleep on either. Although he isn’t going to hit for power, he can certainly get on base and is quietly hitting just under .300 this season at .298, after he singled and scored in last night’s game against the Detroit Tigers.

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Sometimes switched out of the lineup against right-handed starting pitchers in favour of left-handed batters, Espinal can hit well against righties too, with a .272 BA against right-handed pitchers and a whopping .325 BA against lefties.

The dilemma for manager Charlie Montoyo is when Biggio returns from the injured list. It may seem like a clear-cut decision to most, Cavan is a big part of the young core going forward, and they will most likely want to give him playing time as he helps break up the heavy right-handed lineup, despite his struggles both offensively and defensively this year.

While Espinal is a great utility player capable of moving around the diamond at many different positions, I would argue that he is most needed at third base and others like Valera can take over moving around when needed.

It will be interesting to see what the Jays decide to do in the offseason when acquiring talent to keep rebuilding this team, but for now, it seems like they should focus on stocking up the bullpen and re-signing ace Robbie Ray, as the hot corner seems thoroughly covered.