How are members of the 2023 Blue Jays doing on their new teams? (May update)

Santiago Espinal

Victim of the revolving door at second base for the Jays, Santiago Espinal’s disappointing 2023 season may have played a role in his eventual departure from the team in 2024. After putting up an All-Star season in 2022, Espinal struggled to get adequate playing time last year, leading to his tumbling stats line of a .248 batting average and .644 OPS with 30 runs scored, 14 doubles, a pair of home runs and 25 RBI in 93 games played. With the recent signing of utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and the emergence of players such as Davis Schneider and Ernie Clement, Espinal became expendable and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for pitcher Chris McElvain in March.

Despite getting more playing time with the Reds this season, Espinal has yet to rediscover his form when he first broke into the big leagues with the Jays. On the season, he is batting .198 with a .531 OPS with 2 home runs, 14 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 35 games. Although, he appears to be starting to turn things around, as in his last 18 games entering Friday, he has hit .246 with 7 runs scored, 2 home runs and 9 RBI.

Tyler Heineman

After providing some solid backup catching when the Jays were hit with some injury woes to their starters last year, Tyler Heineman was lost through waivers to the New York Mets during the 2023-24 offseason. However, he didn’t stay long there as the Mets eventually traded Heineman to the Boston Red Sox in February for cash considerations.

So far for the 2024 season, Heineman has found himself primarily playing in the Red Sox minor league system. Over 13 games of action, he has posted a .243 batting average with a .674 OPS, along with 9 runs scored, 4 RBI and 2 stolen bases in 37 at-bats. He did manage to appear in one game at the major league level this year, but went hitless in two plate appearances.

Jordan Luplow

Despite his brief time with the club, Jordan Luplow did get into a few games of action for the Jays last season after he was claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves in early April. Luplow never turned out to be the offensive impact they were expecting, as he slashed .214/.353/.214/.567 over seven games, recording 1 run and 1 RBI in 17 plate appearances. He would later be claimed off waivers by the Twins in August to finish off the season.

This season, Luplow became a part of the Phillies organization after signing a minor league contract during spring training. Starting the year with their Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley IronPigs, he has been on a tear, compiling a .295 batting average, .852 OPS, with 26 runs scored, 8 doubles, 6 home runs, 21 RBI and 6 stolen bases in just 36 games played. If the main rostered players on the Phillies hadn’t been doing so well already this year, Luplow may have already received a call-up to the big leagues.