Blue Jays Rumors: Former Blue Jay Spencer Horwitz undergoes right wrist surgery

Last season, Spencer Horwitz opened some eyes across baseball when he slashed .256/.357/.433 for the Blue Jays.

In fact, he opened so many eyes that he was traded to the Guardians in the offseason as a part of the return for Andrés Giménez before being re-routed to Pittsburgh in a trade for Luis Ortiz.

He’ll have to wait to build on that production, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Noah Hiles and Andrew Destin reported Tuesday night that Horwitz is expected to miss time this spring with a right wrist injury.  

Spencer Horwitz will miss the start of spring training in his first season away from the Blue Jays

Per Hiles and Destin’s reporting, Horwtiz underwent surgery for the injury, and was in a cast. It’s unknown how long he’ll be out with the injury, though he did report to the team’s spring training in Bradenton, Fla.

While Horwitz played both first and second last year (41 appearances at first versus 39 at second), he was expected to compete for the Pirates’ first base job this season.

While Horwitz played well last year (12 home runs and 19 doubles in 97 games), he was a man without a true position on the Blue Jays’ roster, and often looked uncomfortable at second base. 

He seemed set to get plenty of reps at first for the Pirates after the team dumped both of its primary first base from last year in Rowdy Tellez and Connor Joe. 

When the Blue Jays traded Horwitz, they did so in the hopes that Giménez’s production would make up for his back contract and the trade of Horwitz. 

It looks like there’s a chance that we might have to wait a little bit to see if the trade was worth it.