Toronto Blue Jays infielder Santiago Espinal could help the Colorado Rockies infield situation as well
Santiago Espinal, 27, could see his playing time reduced by the Toronto Blue Jays in the near future with some of their young infield prospects waiting in the wings.
Espinal was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox but they traded him in 2018 for Steve Pearce. Although Pearce wasn’t around long (79 regular season games in parts of two seasons), it would be a trade that the Red Sox would do over again because Pearce was the World Series MVP for the Red Sox in 2018.
Espinal, like Biggio, has played a handful of games at nearly every position in the minor leagues or majors but his two primary positions are shortstop and third base and the Rockies need to address one of the two, depending on where they plan on playing Ryan McMahon and Brendan Rodgers.
Espinal has only played 118 games in the majors, as he made his debut in 2020, but he has been able to hit well in the majors, as he did in the minors. In the majors, he has hit .301/.361/.390 with an OPS+ of 114.
He has never hit for much power (his career-high in a season is 10) but with the on-base component and good defense (8 Defensive Runs Saved in 81 games in the field in 2021), Espinal could be a good addition for the Rockies at the top of the lineup.