Santiago Roman Espinal is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft.
Espinal was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round, 298th overall, of the 2016 MLB draft. Espinal played for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Red Sox in 2016, hitting .244/.330/.267 with 10 runs batted in (RBI).
He played for the Class-A Greenville Drive in 2017, hitting .280/.334/.358 with four home runs and 46 RBI. Espinal began the 2018 season with the Advanced-A Salem Red Sox.
On July 3, 2021, Espinal hit his first career major league home run, a two-run shot off Tampa Bay Rays reliever Matt Wisler at Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
Overall in 2021, Espinal batted .311/.376/.405 with 2 home runs, 17 RBIs, and 6 stolen bases in 92 games. He led all qualifying AL third basemen with 16 total zone runs and a 3.13 range factor.
Espinal began the 2022 season expected to platoon at second base with Cavan Biggio but by mid-May was receiving acclaim for his impressive offensive numbers and game-changing defence while Biggio was optioned to the Triple A Buffalo Bisons after going 1-for-23 in 13 games with Toronto.
Blue Jays’ General Manager Ross Atkins declared Espinal “an everyday player” after he was one of only five Blue Jays’ players to appear in all of Toronto’s first 17 games.