This Blue Jays prospect that no one is talking about is racking up hits this spring

For some players, Spring Training can serve as the platform that allows them to gear up and prepare for the rigors of the upcoming regular season schedule. But for some others, it is the exact avenue to enable prospects and young players to get noticed with hopes to make it to the big show one day.

For the Toronto Blue Jays, they may have been expecting to get some impressive performances from some of their top prospects such as Charles McAdoo, Arjun Nimmala, RJ Schreck and Josh Kasevich. But there has also been a Blue Jays prospect that no one has been talking about in infielder Rafael Lantigua, who has been stealing a bit of the spotlight so far this spring.

This Blue Jays prospect that no one is talking about is among the team lead in hits this spring

After a full week and change of live action baseball, Lantigua surprisingly finds himself among the team leaders in hits this spring with six, tying him with Daulton Varsho and another training camp standout in Eloy Jiménez as of Sunday. Overall, Lantigua has batted a stellar .500 with a 1.100 OPS, along with three runs scored, two RBIs, a stolen base, and showing great plate discipline with three walks and just one strikeout in 15 total plate appearances over eight games played. On top of that, he has also shown his versatility by taking reps both in the infield and outfield while posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage across 34 total innings in the field to date.

Likely a forgotten prospect within the Blue Jays organization, Lantigua was actually signed by Toronto almost a decade ago in 2016 as an international free agent. Despite spending the subsequent eight years developing in the Blue Jays minor league system, he never ended up getting the call up to the big leagues to show what he could provide the team. 

Lantigua ended up leaving the Blue Jays organization for a year after signing a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2025 season. The 27-year-old infielder would finally get selected to the 40-man roster by the Phillies and got the call up to the majors in September. However, he would not appear in a single game and elected for free agency once again upon the conclusion of the season. That paved the way for Lantigua to return to the Blue Jays as he signed a minor league deal earlier this year with Toronto.

Now with the strong impression that he has made so far with the Blue Jays in training camp, Lantigua will hope to build upon that to finally get his chance to make his MLB debut sooner rather than later. Until then, he will just have to do all that he can to make that dream a reality in the not-so-distant future.