Examining where Anthony Santander fits into the Blue Jays lineup in 2025

The real question arises with the fielding situation. Santander will almost certainly get reps as the designated hitter, but he’ll have to play a good chunk of games in the outfield if the Jays want to continue spreading DH at-bats around to players like Guerrero Jr. and George Springer.

DRS (defensive runs saved) is one of the most common stats to measure a fielder’s performance. It’s by no means the be-all-end-all, but it can provide a decent first glance at a fielder’s performance. Last season marked a career-low DRS of -7 for Santander at his native position of right field – where he has logged over 4000 innings dating back to 2017. Fielding metrics can vary, as Santander’s Total Zone score for 2024 in right field was ten, where zero is average.

Lifetime, it would be fair to say that Santander is a slightly above-average fielder, with both his Total Zone score and DRS in the positives. He’d be competing with Springer for the spot, who has similar defensive metrics as a right fielder.

The problem is, it wouldn’t be easy to simply slide Springer over to left field – he’s played just one career game there back in 2018. Also, despite his poor hitting in 2024, it wouldn’t make sense to not play him as he’s still on a large contract.

With Gold Glover Daulton Varsho holding down centre field (once he is healthy) the other most likely scenario would be to move Santander to left.

There, he’d be replacing the combination of Joey Loperfido and Davis Schneider. The combo of the two hit below the Mendoza Line last season and while both can have bouts of power at times, they are inconsistent amongst the small sample size. 

Unfortunately, Santander has been far worse playing left field than he has right field throughout his career. In only 90 games there, he’s put up a well below-average negative seven total zone score and negative nine DRS.

For the Jays though, there’s not really a choice to be had here. Santander has to be in the lineup no matter where that may be. After all, worrying too much about defence is what caused the team to have such a lethargic offence last season. They could make him the full-time DH while slotting him in the corner outfield spots from time to time but that’s yet to be determined – especially if the Jays continue to add power bats before Spring Training rolls around. 

Finding that fine line between offence and defence will forever be a challenge for all teams, but crossing too far onto the defence side has proven to be a nightmare for the Jays and their fans alike.

The signing of Santander is a step back towards that happy middle ground. No matter where he plays in the field – whether that be right field, left field, DH, or even first base for a few days – his power bat has to be there to synergize with Guerrero Jr.

A hit to the defence of the Gold Glove Team Jays does not matter. Defence may win ball games, but I’d argue it’s even harder to win if you can’t score – the 2024 playoffs showed everyone that home runs can easily win your team ball games. 

Expect to see some shuffling of the Jays’ defence, but one thing should be for certain: Santander will be playing as much as he can to get his power bat into the lineup with regularity.