The Dodgers will designate infielder Santiago Espinal for assignment as the corresponding move for today’s activation of utilityman Tommy Edman, manager Dave Roberts told the team’s beat late last night (via Katie Woo of The Athletic).
It’ll be Espinal’s second DFA of the past few weeks. The Dodgers signed him to a minor league contract over the winter, and he clearly made a strong impression in spring training. He hit .378/.415/.644 in 53 plate appearances, and Roberts indicated barely two weeks into camp that Espinal was extremely likely to make the team.
That huge spring production hasn’t carried over to the regular season. Espinal has taken 60 plate appearances and turned in a .268/.276/.375 slash that relatively closely resembles his lifetime .261/.314/.350 output in 1836 trips to the plate as a major leaguer. He’s played third base, second base and first base for Los Angeles so far this season and also has some prior, albeit limited experience at shortstop (343 innings) and in the outfield (114 innings).
Espinal, 31, is a veteran of seven major league seasons who has more than six years of big league service. He had a particularly nice run with the Blue Jays in 2021-22, when he slashed .282/.340/.382 in 737 turns at the plate. The output was obviously light on power, but he did connect on nine round-trippers and 38 doubles, chipping in a triple and a dozen steals along the way. He struck out in a tiny 13.3% of his plate appearances against a 7.9% walk rate.
Espinal’s bat hasn’t been the same since. He’s totaled 1033 plate appearances between the Jays, Reds and Dodgers but mustered only a .247/.296/.328 line in that time. He still rarely strikes out (13.2%), but Espinal’s walk rate and already minimal power output have dipped to untenable levels.
The Dodgers will outright, release or trade Espinal within the next week. He already signed a new minor league contract after being designated for assignment last month. Another return on a minor league deal can’t be ruled out, but with Edman now healthy and each of Alex Freeland, Miguel Rojas and Hyeseong Kim on the 40-man roster (the latter currently in Triple-A), Espinal might prefer to seek out an opportunity with another organization whose infield/bench group is less crowded.
