Blue Jays announce playing time change for key offseason addition

Teams will try anything to get a struggling hitter going, especially if they have a sputtering offense. With that thinking in mind, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet's Shi Davidi) that the team is planning on playing Anthony Santander in the field more this season.

Like many in the Toronto lineup, the switch-hitting outfielder is off to a bad start this year.

Santander has hit just .174 this season with three home runs in 28 games. Not exactly the kind of stats that you want to see from a guy you committed $92.5 million to in the offseason.

Note: All stats are through Tuesday's games.

Blue Jays announce playing time change for Anthony Santander

While Santander is a notoriously slow starter, that isn't stopping him from trying adjustments that could help him gain momentum.

“As an athlete, you always want to be involved in the game and have action, not being stuck on the bench,” Santander said, per Davidi. "The last few years, I was able to play 100-plus games in the outfield and I'm not ready to be a full-time DH. I'm still young. It's something I've been talking about with the skipper, we have good communication about it. It's going to be beneficial for the team and for me.”

Santander has played 28 games so far this year. He's been the designated hitter in 17 of them and been a corner outfielder in 11.

Prior to the start of the season, the plan was to have Santander spend most of his playing time as designated hitter, though it loks as though those plans have gone by the wayside.

Santander seems to be a fan of that plan.

"I feel better playing the outfield," Santander said, per Davidi. "If I'm more involved in the game, I don't have too much time to think about what happened the previous at-bat.”

The Blue Jays' doubleheader against the Yankees on Sunday seems to support that statement. Santander served as the designated hitter in game one and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. In the second game Santander played in right field and went 1-for-3 with a home run and walk. His home run went to the second deck.

Santander is 19-for-109 on the year with four doubles and three home runs. He's slashing .174/.260/.294 with a .554 OPS. That slash line drops to .164/.240/.284 with a .524 OPS when he serves as the designated hitter.

His walk rate is higher as a right fielder than DH (16.1% compared to 9.3%) and his strikeout rate is lower as well (22.6% compared to 26.7%).

What could be interesting is how the Blue Jays deploy their outfielders now that Daulton Varsho's back. The Blue Jays demoted Will Wagner to Triple-A when they activated Varsho from the injured list, meaning that the Blue Jays have seven outfielders on the active roster.

Varsho will be the team's main center fielder and George Springer and Santander have been cycling through one of the corner outfield spots and designated hitter, so they have four outfielders fighting for one spot.

That also sets up the question of whether the Blue Jays want Santander in the field as much as possible. After all, there is a reason why he was slated to be the team's primary designated hitter.

So far this season, Santander hasn't made an error in the field but is sporting a -1 defensive run saved, according to the Fielding Bible. Last season, Santander posted a -7 DRS in 130 games in the outfield with the Baltimore Orioles.

The Fielding Bible says a defensive run saved measures the number of runs a player saved or cost his team on defense relative to an average player. So that means Santander cost his team seven runs in the field over the course of the season.

Is it wise to put a below average defender in the field as much as possible? It depends.

If you're a team that just went 10 straight games without scoring more than four runs (like the Blue Jays), you might be inclined to do whatever you can to get any offense.

If more time in the outfield is what sparks Santander's bat, it's worth taking the defensive hit.