PHOENIX –– Teoscar Hernández has seen Santiago Espinal at his best.
In 2022, the two were teammates with the Blue Jays. And that summer, Espinal had a breakout campaign, earning an All-Star selection as a do-everything, play-everywhere utilityman on a 92-win team that reached the playoffs.
“He’s a really good player,” Hernández said. “He understands the game. He understands every situation. And he understands everything that he has to do.”
Four years later, they were reunited with the Dodgers this spring.
Only now, Espinal is the lowest rung on the ladder, trying to resurrect his big-league career after three disappointing seasons that forced him to settle for a minor-league deal in Los Angeles this winter.
“The Dodgers told me I’d have a great opportunity here to compete,” Espinal told The California Post this week. “And as soon as I got here, they welcomed me with open arms.”
At first glance, the 31-year-old infielder may seem like a superfluous piece for the two-time defending World Series champions. Their lineup is already stacked with fellow former All-Stars. They have younger options like Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland capable of rounding out the roster. And Espinal’s underwhelming production since that 2022 season –– he has posted a minus-0.4 WAR in that time, per Fangraphs –– has put him at a career crossroads, facing a steep uphill climb for any sort of prominent MLB role.
However, at this point of the spring, there are already signs he could have an outside chance of making the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster.
To Teoscar Hernández, his potential value is clear.
“I see him as a Kiké Hernández type of player,” Teoscar said. “He can play and contribute in a lot of ways.”
Kiké Hernández will likely miss the first half of the season as he recovers from offseason elbow surgery, creating an opening for a super-utility player. The Dodgers’ initial plan to replace him was also scuttled before camp, when free-agent signing Andy Ibáñez was lost on waivers amid a 40-man roster crunch.
Tommy Edman’s absence for Opening Day has opened yet another utility role on the roster.
And while Kim and Freeland are competing to help fill his void at second base, the Dodgers might consider keeping only one of them on their Opening Day roster, allowing the other to return to Triple-A and get regular at-bats rather than ride the bench at the big-league level.
This is where Espinal could come in –– providing a potential last-man-on-the-bench option who would be capable of playing all over the field, taking professional at-bats when called upon, and unfazed by the likely limited playing time he would get.
“Things bode well for him,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday, offering a hint about Espinal’s chances of breaking camp with the club. “He’s really a helpful, winning player in my opinion, (who) raises the floor.”
Even after just three weeks with the team, Espinal has already found a comfort level in the Dodgers’ organization.
Every morning, he has worked out on the main practice field at Camelback Ranch alongside the team’s big-league regulars –– and, notably, not with the other minor-league hopefuls on field No. 2 at the club’s spring facility –– taking ground balls alongside Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas and Freddie Freeman.
Behind the scenes, he feels he’s made promising improvements, too.
Espinal and Dodgers hitting coaches have dug through film of his old swing, trying to shift his line-drive approach back to the big part of the field as it was early in his career (when he batted .280 and amassed 4.6 WAR between 2020 and his All-Star 2022 campaign). So far in Cactus League play, it has helped him start 4 for 8 at the plate, including a hard-hit RBI single in Friday’s game against the Giants.
Espinal has also been soaking up the experience of being around such a star-laden roster, drawing inspiration from Freeman, Rojas and Betts most of all.
“Like, one thing in the cage, I never see Mookie pull the ball. It’s always right-center,” Espinal said. “That’s something that’s a very little detail, but to me it’s like, ‘Hey, let me try that, too. Let me see how my swing path can change by doing that.’”
Still, Espinal’s most important skill is his versatility with the glove.
He could spell Muncy at third base on occasion against left-handed pitching. He can factor into the mix at second and play the corner outfield spots when needed. And though regular at-bats, even as a pinch hitter, might be hard to come by, he’ll be eager for any opportunity that comes his way –– trying to show that his 2022 form is still in there as he chases down a potential Opening Day roster spot.
“I’m happy that he has a chance to show what he’s capable of,” Teoscar Hernández said. “He can be really big for this team this year.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
