Santiago Espinal

Santiago Espinal

30-Year-Old Third Baseman3B
Cincinnati Reds
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Espinal was traded from Toronto to Cincinnati shortly before the start of the 2024 season and went on to set career highs in home runs (9) and stolen bases (11). He made appearances at five different positions and enters 2025 with eligibility at second base and third. He's known as a slap hitter, but a .290/.344/.491 line against left-handed pitching last season shows he can do some damage when he has the platoon edge. Back with the Reds entering his age-30 campaign, Espinal is a utility man through and through. Those in NL-only leagues can consider him on draft day while mixed leaguers will want to try to aim higher. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#374
ADP
Signed a one-year, $2.4 million contract with the Reds in November of 2024.
Moved off third base
3BCincinnati Reds
July 5, 2025
Espinal started at second base and went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in Friday's 9-6 win over Philadelphia.
Analysis
Espinal, who was a prominent member of the third base rotation while Noelvi Marte was on the 10-day injured list, was moved off the hot corner Friday with Marte's return. Espinal will return to a super-utility role, in which he could pop up at third base, second base, DH or a corner outfield slot. He's batting .242/.291/.287 with 14 RBI and two steals through 77 games.
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Batting Stats
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2025 MLB Game Log
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2025 MLB Game Log
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2024 MLB Game Log
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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2021 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
15
2
3
5
3
3
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
14
3
1
1
5
5
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+32%
OPS vs LHP
2025
 
 
+43%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+49%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+4%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left .740 338 40 7 46 5 .275 .325 .415
Since 2023vs Right .561 570 44 4 38 10 .229 .281 .280
2025vs Left .718 91 10 0 6 0 .282 .330 .388
2025vs Right .503 172 12 0 8 2 .220 .271 .233
2024vs Left .835 131 16 6 24 5 .289 .344 .491
2024vs Right .562 260 16 3 21 6 .226 .270 .292
2023vs Left .657 116 14 1 16 0 .252 .302 .355
2023vs Right .633 138 16 1 9 2 .244 .316 .317
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Minor League Splits View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+12%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+1%
OPS on Road
2024
 
 
+24%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+5%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home .662 463 45 7 49 10 .260 .310 .352
Since 2023Away .591 445 39 4 35 5 .230 .285 .306
2025Home .574 119 9 0 8 1 .250 .288 .286
2025Away .582 144 13 0 6 1 .235 .294 .288
2024Home .720 199 20 6 25 7 .264 .321 .399
2024Away .580 192 12 3 20 4 .229 .267 .313
2023Home .658 145 16 1 16 2 .263 .313 .346
2023Away .625 109 14 1 9 0 .227 .306 .320
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Stat Review
How does Santiago Espinal compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.53
 
BB Rate
6.1%
 
K Rate
11.4%
 
BABIP
.276
 
ISO
.045
 
AVG
.242
 
OBP
.291
 
SLG
.287
 
OPS
.578
 
wOBA
.262
 
Exit Velocity
86.5 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
19.0%
 
Barrels/PA
0.8%
 
Expected BA
.232
 
Expected SLG
.295
 
Sprint Speed
23.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
43.1%
 
Line Drive %
19.0%
 
Fly Ball %
37.9%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Santiago Espinal See More
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
Espinal is one of those players who is much more useful to a real baseball manager than he is to a fantasy manager. Espinal offers John Schneider someone who can play three positions on the infield as well as a high-contact hitter for situational hitting opportunities as they are presented. Those things are not valued as much in fantasy where Espinal's lack of power and speed limit his production to what he can do with batting average. Life was good in 2021 when he was a surprising .311 hitter but that has faded each of the past two seasons as the BABIP luck dragons have stopped fighting for him and are now working against him. The dual position eligibility is helpful on AL-Only draft days in the end game, but there is no fantasy upside hiding in the weeds here.
Espinal was projected to be a utility player for Toronto, but the club had to pull the plug on the Cavan Biggio project and Espinal rewarded the club's investment into him with strong defense and timely hitting around its more well-known thumpers. Espinal did not do any one thing well from a fantasy perspective, but the batting average did not hurt, the six steals helped, and 50+ runs and RBI's for a player that could play three spots in season and was an end-game selection in AL-only formats was nice to have. He only has multi-eligbility in leagues where 10 games is enough to qualify, but is likely to once again have in-season flexibility even if he is hitting 9th in this talented lineup with little offensive upside.
The 27-year-old hit a surprising .311 with two homers and six steals over 222 at-bats last year, and Espinal heads into Opening Day as the Blue Jays' top infield utility player. Cavan Biggio is hardly a lock to keep the starting second base job, however, and if his 2021 struggles continue, Espinal could once again get more playing time than expected.
The expanded roster and a pre-season injury to Brandon Drury gave Espinal an opening to make his major-league debut in 2020. Bo Bichette's knee injury further allowed Espinal to make 21 appearances at shortstop, as well as a few games at third base. That versatility is Espinal's calling card, as he's appeared at every position besides right field, first base and catcher during his career. He'll need that defensive versatility to stick in the big leagues, as he offers a contact-heavy profile with very little else at the plate. As the Blue Jays' roster currently stands, Espinal would have the chance to start at either second or third base, though it's been rumored that the team is in the market for infield help. Espinal would be the first to lose his job in that scenario, and even if he enters the season as a starter along the infield, he's unlikely to meaningfully contribute in any offensive category.
More Fantasy News
Out of lineup again Monday
3BCincinnati Reds
June 23, 2025
Espinal is absent from the lineup for Monday's contest against the Yankees.
Analysis
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Heading to bench Sunday
3BCincinnati Reds
June 22, 2025
Espinal is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Cardinals.
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Back in reserve role
3BCincinnati Reds
June 8, 2025
Espinal is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Diamondbacks.
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Sitting out Monday
3BCincinnati Reds
June 2, 2025
Espinal is not in the lineup for Monday's game versus the Brewers.
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Enters as pinch hitter
3BCincinnati Reds
May 27, 2025
Espinal went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI in Monday's 7-4 win over Kansas City.
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Could end up on IL
3BToronto Blue Jays
May 21, 2023
Espinal is being evaluated and could be placed on the injured list, Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star reports.
Analysis
Espinal exited Saturday's loss to the Orioles in the eighth inning after injuring his hamstring, and he could be set for an extended absence. Otto Lopez was added to the taxi squad Sunday, and he would likely replace Espinal on the active roster if Espinal ends up on the IL.
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