Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander talks about ramping up for his eventual return to Toronto
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Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander continued working towards a major-league return with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons on Saturday night.
The Blue Jays outfielder hit second and served as Buffalo's designated hitter for his third straight rehab game against the Rochester Red Wings.
Santander didn't waste any time getting back into the hit column on Saturday.
On the fifth pitch of his first trip to the plate, the one-time MLB all-star tucked an RBI double just inside the right-field foul line, bringing home outfielder Jonatan Clase to open the scoring.
Santander puts the herd up 1-0 early!!
The double came off Santander's bat at 79.7 m.p.h. and came on an inside curveball.
He would eventually come around to score on Riley Tirotta's RBI single as part of a three-run first.
Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander shared his thoughts on where he is at with his rehab in Triple-A Buffalo
The Margarita, Venezuela, native told The Herd Chronicles that his shoulder has been responding well during the early stages of his rehab stint with the Bisons, which began Thursday night.
«Shoulder-wise, really good,» Santander said following Friday night's game at Rochester. «Very strong, very loose. I think I'm able to be normal in my swing. And body wise, way better than I thought. This is kind of like mini-spring training. After you miss a lot of time, you need to get your body used to it-it's been responding really good.»
In his first game with the Buffalo, Santander belted a 396-foot home run deep over the right-field wall at Rochester's Innovative Field.
«When you miss a lot of time you just want to see a lot of pitches and try to hit the ball on the barrel,» he said. «That's what I'm looking for-and by chance I made good contact, and it was a homer.»
Santander has also been seeing the ball well at the plate, drawing a pair of walks in each of his first two games with the Herd.
«I'm seeing the ball pretty well, especially after the first ABs,» he said. «It's really tough here (in Rochester) with the shadows-it's really bad in center field. But I'm seeing the ball pretty good.»
The 30-year-old is unsure how many rehab games he'll need before he feels comfortable enough to return to the Blue Jays' lineup.
«No idea,» he said. «It's kind of tough because when you miss a lot of time, there's a lot of things involved batting wise-timing and all that stuff. Hopefully I can bounce back really quick, so I can go back and do my part with the team.»
Before hitting the injured list, Santander was slashing .179/.273/.304 with six homers in 50 games for the Blue Jays.
Santander will likely be back in the lineup on Sunday for the Bisons' final game of their series in Rochester.
After that, Buffalo will return home for its final series of the season against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, which begins on Tuesday.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 14 | 193 ANSWERS Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander talks about ramping up for his eventual return to Toronto Do you think Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander will make an impact when he returns to Toronto? | ||
| Yes | 58 | 30.1 % |
| No | 79 | 40.9 % |
| Too early to tell | 56 | 29 % |
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