Anthony Santander agrees to contract with Blue Jays

The Blue Jays reached a deal with free-agent outfielder Anthony Santander on Monday, a source told MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson. The club has not confirmed the deal, which is pending a physical.

Santander is coming off arguably the finest season of his eight-year career, one that saw him make his first All-Star Game at age 29. While he batted only .235 with a .308 OBP, Santander slugged .506 with a career-high 44 home runs (second in the AL to Aaron Judge) and 102 RBIs (ninth).

Those 44 big flies are the fifth-highest single-season total ever produced by a switch-hitter, trailing only Mickey Mantle (54 in 1961, 52 in 1956), Lance Berkman (45 in 2006) and Chipper Jones (45 in 1999). Santander’s 155 career homers put him in the top 50 all-time among switch-hitters and sixth among active players, trailing only Carlos Santana (324), José Ramírez (255), Francisco Lindor (248), Yasmani Grandal (194) and Josh Bell (171).

Besides the power, Santander also brings balance as a switch-hitter. He has nearly equal production from each side of the plate over his career (.772 OPS vs. RHP, .786 vs. LHP), and the same was true in 2024 (.822 vs. RHP, .793 vs. LHP).

That helped Santander eventually become a key cog in the Orioles’ lineup as the team emerged from a rebuild over the past few seasons. From 2022-24, he ranked 14th in the Majors in games played (460), not missing more than 10 games in any of them.

It was not an easy journey for Santander to reach that point, however. The Venezuela native originally signed with Cleveland back in 2011 but in five seasons in that organization, he never reached Double-A. The Rule 5 Draft conducted after the 2016 season provided a new opportunity in Baltimore, where Santander stuck on the roster and developed into a significant contributor. From 2019-24, he posted a 117 OPS+ and averaged 36 homers and 99 RBIs per 162 games.

While his bat has been an asset, Santander has not been as adept defensively, logging 134 career games at DH while spending most of his time in right field. He has minus-13 Outs Above Average in his career as an outfielder, including minus-2 in 2024. Santander did show 68th percentile arm strength last season, per Statcast, and his seven outfield assists from right ranked fourth in the AL.