Blue Jays designate struggling Jésus Sánchez for assignment

The Toronto Blue Jays finally ran out of patience with Jésus Sánchez on Friday, designating the struggling outfielder for assignment. They recalled 30-year-old outfielder Rudy Martin Jr. in a corresponding move ahead of a pivotal three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.

The writing was on the wall for Sánchez after weeks of poor play in the outfield and at the plate. 

His defensive play had simply become untenable. His most recent mistake came over the weekend in Kansas City when he lost a routine fly ball in the sun. While that didn’t end up costing the Blue Jays any runs, some of his previous mistakes—mainly a disaster performance in Tampa Bay against the Rays—effectively lost his team the game.

It’s no secret that the Blue Jays are built around pitching and defence, so rostering someone like Sánchez, who is about as bad as it gets defensively, didn’t make sense. An outfield of Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, and newcomer Brett Bateman is a far better fit. 

Jesús Sánchez was never going to win a Gold Glove in left field, but it was getting hard to watch

Of course, the Blue Jays knew they weren’t getting an elite defender when they acquired Sánchez from the Houston Astros before this season started. They thought they were getting a slugger who would hit enough to offset his shortcomings. 

Unfortunately, Sánchez just didn’t provide enough value with the bat to justify keeping him around down the stretch. His .734 OPS (101 OPS+) across 269 at-bats with eight home runs looks acceptable on paper, but the bulk of that production came during a hot month of May. He’s hit just two home runs total since the beginning of June. 

While he has profiled as a streaky hitter for much of his career, the most puzzling thing about Sánchez is that he hasn’t always been such a poor fielder. He ranked in the 80th percentile with two Outs Above Average as recently as 2024. 

Did Sánchez develop a case of the yips on defence? It’s certainly possible. One bad play can snowball into another, and before long you stop trusting yourself in the outfield. Still, it’s hard to understand how we went from a genuinely plus defender to whatever he is now. 

Whatever Martin can provide should be a welcome upgrade. He’s finally getting an opportunity in MLB in his twelfth professional baseball season, and should bring some energy to a team that appeared tired and sluggish against the Athletics earlier this week. 

His best trait is his baserunning ability, having stolen 12 bases at Triple-A Buffalo with the Bisons in just 27 games. He could provide value as a pinch runner and defensive substitution late in games even if he doesn’t end up contributing a ton with the bat. 

Ultimately, while it is hard to see a player go, Sánchez simply ran out of runway with the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s better suited for a full-time designated hitter role somewhere else.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow