Roberts Expects Santiago Espinal To Make Dodgers’ Roster
veteran infielder Santiago Espinal is in Dodgers camp as a non-roster invitee, however it appears he is already positioned himself as a favourite to interrupt camp with the membership. Manager Dave Roberts mentioned this morning that it is “hard to imagine [Espinal] “not being on the team” (via Jack Harris of the California Post). Plenty can change over the ultimate few weeks of camp, however it’s nonetheless notable that Espinal has already caught the eye of his new skipper. Roberts spoke extremely of Espinal when gamers reported to camp, and the veteran infielder has since gone 8-for-14 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base in his first handful of Cactus League plate appearances.
Espinal is a flexible, righty-swinging infielder with appreciable expertise at each third base (1794 MLB innings) and second base (1621 innings). He’s additionally logged 343 main league frames at shortstop (most coming again in 2020), chipped in 114 innings within the outfield corners and logged one other 16 at first base. It’s the form of defensive flexibility that the Dodgers are inclined to prioritize with their bench gamers.
The 31-year-old Espinal has spent the previous two seasons in Cincinnati, struggling on the plate each years. He hit a mixed .245/.294/.322 in 719 plate appearances as a Red however offered some stable defensive chops on the sizzling nook specifically. He’d be extra of a second base possibility with the Dodgers — a possible right-handed complement to lefty-hitting Hyeseong Kimwho’s getting into the second season of a three-year contract.
Kim performed superlative second base protection final season however was largely shielded from left-handed pitching. He hit properly within the 21 left-on-left plate appearances the Dodgers allowed him to take (8-for-21 with a double and a homer), however Kim additionally fanned at a near-31% clip in 170 plate appearances total and posted poor batted-ball metrics. Espinal is a profession .291/.344/.409 hitter versus left-handed pitching. Back in 2021-22, he slashed a mixed .282/.340/.382 in 737 plate appearances for the Blue Jays.
Second base is ultimately earmarked for the versatile Tommy Edmanhowever he is anticipated to start the season on the injured record as he continues recovering from November ankle surgical procedure. Kim’s stellar protection provides him a powerful likelihood to safe common work at second base within the interim, although veteran Miguel Rojas is readily available in its place, as is well-regarded prospect Alex Freeland.
Breaking camp with Espinal on the roster would enable the Dodgers to extra simply get Freeland on a regular basis at-bats again in Triple-A. The switch-hitting 24-year-old was LA’s third-round choose in 2022 and is a yr faraway from rating amongst baseball’s top-100 prospects at Baseball America and MLB.com. He turned in a pleasant .263/.384/.451 batting line in Triple-A final season (115 wRC+) however hit .190/.292/.310 with 35 strikeouts in 97 MLB plate appearances.
