Anthony Santander to make Blue Jays Spring Training debut today
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Toronto Blue Jays slugger Anthony Santander will be making his Spring Training debut today versus the New York Yankees in the second game of split squad action.
All eyes will be on newly acquired free agent slugger Anthony Santander.
According to Sportsnet's Hazel Mae, Santander had to return to Venezuela to clear up some Visa issues which took a few of days.
While back at home he worked out at the Blue Jays Venezuelan training facility to make sure he didn't miss any time preparing for his debut upon his return.
«When you have a guy behind (Guerrero) who hit 44 homers last year, that's a real thing,» said Schneider. «Vlad, you could say, didn't operate with that threat beyond him last year and did just fine. But it makes a pitcher think, OK, who do I want to beat me? Where do I think my stuff plays better? Hopefully that works for both of them.»
«Hopefully he can see better pitches because I'm a (switch-hitting) power threat and he can take advantage of that and get some big hits for us with runners in scoring position and get some runs in the first inning,» Santander said of Guerrero. «It's going to be exciting. He's a great hitter. Every time we go to the cage, I go with him to try to pick up something to get better and better.»
Springer and Santander will man the corner outfield spots most days. Who's in which corner will depend on matchups and how Springer fares in left field early on, but this is another way the Blue Jays can chase offense with their best possible lineups, even if they need to sacrifice a few inches of defense along the way.
«I think it's exciting,» Springer said. «I'm going to do whatever he asks me to do. I'm going to do whatever I can do to help us win. Obviously, I've never really played over there, but that's OK. I think that's exciting. I'll get with [first-base coach Mark] Budzinski, I'll get with Schneider and I'll talk to Daulton [Varsho] a lot about it, then we'll go from there.»
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