Blue Jays: Don’t expect Anthony Santander to come out of the lineup in the ALCS

Anthony Santander didn’t have a great American League Divisional Series for the Toronto Blue Jays.

On Sunday morning, the Blue Jays announced their 26-man roster for the American League Championship Series, omitting Bo Bichette but keeping Santander on the roster.

The question is, what kind of playing time will Santander receive in the ALCS? 

Anthony Santander’s ALDS

In the three games he appeared in against the New York Yankees, Santander had two hits. One was in Game 1, which put runners on first and third with no outs in the bottom of the seventh, leading to a big inning that won the Jays the game. The other hit came in Game 3, as the switch-hitting outfielder hit a two-RBI single to give the Jays a 6-1 lead.

Still, it hasn’t been a particularly good postseason for the Blue Jays’ biggest signing in the 2024-25 off-season. In 10 plate appearances, Santander is slashing .200/.200/.200 for a 7 wRC+. This continued his rough season, as he slashed .175/.271/.294 with six home runs in 221 plate appearances for a 61 wRC+. More worryingly is his 30% strikeout rate in the playoffs, having struck out three times.

Because the Blue Jays don’t want to lose George Springer’s bat late in the game, the Jays have been playing Santander in the outfield. In Game 3, that cost them a run as he mistimed a dive, allowing the ball to drop and go by him for the Yankees’ eighth run of the game. In two of the three games he’s appeared in this postseason, Santander has been lifted for Myles Straw late in the game for speed and better defence.

There is some optimism, though. The switch-hitter had three plate appearances in Game 4, all three of which against Cam Schlittler. In his first plate appearance to lead off the top of the second, Santander fouled off five consecutive pitches before drawing the count to 3-2. In the end, he flew out, but this was encouraging. Over his next two plate appearances, Santander saw six pitches each time.

In total, Schlittler threw 88 pitches, with Santander seeing 23 of them, or 26.1% of the pitches the Yankees’ starter threw. Despite not getting a hit, it’s an encouraging sign that he’s making pitchers work.

So what about his playing time in the ALCS

Santander is way down in the lineup for Game 1 of the ALCS, batting eighth. He’s sandwiched between Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez.

While his postseason or his regular season hasn’t been good for Santander, it’s easy to forget that his 44 home runs in 2024 were the third-most in Major League Baseball, only behind Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

All it takes is one swing of the bat to completely flip this narrative on its head. The good news is that Santander will be batting from his stronger side, the left side, for the majority of the series. The Mariners have no left-handed starters in their rotation and just two left-handed relievers in their bullpen.

Expect Santander to be in the lineup often as a corner infielder. Toward the end of games, the Blue Jays’ game plan is to replace Santander with Straw for solid defence on the field. While Santander bats eighth on Sunday, a good performance could see him move up in the lineup.