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Blue Jays: Alan Roden with another chance to run away with a roster spot

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Ahead of Friday’s game against the Athletics, the Blue Jays announced that they have placed Anthony Santander on the Injured List and recalled Alan Roden to the big league roster to take his place.

While it’s disappointing to see their big offseason free agent addition hitting the IL, Santander hasn’t been performing the way that anyone expected when he inked a five-year deal in Toronto, and the break might do him some good mentally as well as physically.

In addition, it will also give Roden another shot at earning regular playing time in the big league outfield picture, something he wasn’t able to lock down earlier in the year when he amassed a .178/.262/.260 slash line over his first 73 big league at-bats. However, Roden has been on a mission lately while playing in triple-A, and has certainly earned another look at the highest level.

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The 25-year-old has already proven that his bat is back into the same form that impressed in spring training, and hopefully, he can make the adjustments required to stick in the big leagues this time around.

Since the demotion to the Bisons, he has hit .361 with an OPS of 1.029 and a wRC+ of 179, leaving little to be desired as far as earning a promotion back to the Blue Jays. Roden also collected five doubles, one triple, and three home runs in the International League through 72 at-bats, just one off from his previous big league span this season in terms of sample size comparison.

The tricky part is that the Jays are very much a win-now team for 2025, and as a result, they don’t have a lot of time or patience to allow a young player to develop in the big leagues. They need production from their roster in the immediate term, and that’s especially the case for an offence that has largely underperformed throughout the year. Yes, they won Thursday’s game 12-0, but this is still a lineup that could use another spark, especially with Santander headed to the IL.

Roden will join an outfield mix that currently includes Daulton Varsho, George Springer, Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, and Jonatan Clase, and he’ll likely have to earn his playing time even without Santander on the active roster.

While the Venezuelan product is on the sidelines, Roden will most likely be in a battle with Lukes and Clase to see time in the outfield corners. Daulton Varsho is a lock to make the majority of the starts in centre field, save for the occasional rest against lefties, and Springer will probably continue to see opportunities between the corner outfield and plenty of starts as the designated hitter.

However, if Roden can carry the kind of production he showed in Buffalo to the Blue Jays lineup the second time around, then manager John Schneider is going to have to find regular at-bats for the Wisconsin native. With all due respect to Straw, Clase, and even Lukes, the ceiling for Roden’s production should be much higher, provided he can find his rhythm in the big leagues. But again, the best players need to be in the lineup with regularity, and it could become a battle between Clase and Roden for a roster spot, especially because Andres Gimenez is close to returning from the IL before Santander, and someone will need to go down to triple-A in his place (and it’s likely not going to be Addison Barger).

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Getting off to a solid start could be important, especially with the extra at-bats to fill while Santander is out. For Roden, establishing himself as a capable contributor will go a long way toward potentially retaining a roster spot once the veteran is healthy and ready to rejoin the team.

Will Roden be able to hang at the big league level this time around? Only time will tell, but he’s riding the right kind of momentum as he returns to the Blue Jays.