Blue Jays Sign All-Star Slugger Anthony Santander
Santander's thunderous bat will be a huge boost for a Blue Jays team that desperately needed the help.

The Toronto Blue Jays got their man, inking switch-hitting outfielder Anthony Santander to a five-year deal. Santander will receive a guaranteed $92.5 million with an opt-out after year three, but the team can void his opt-out by exercising a club option for a sixth season, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
The Blue Jays were rumored to be interested in many of the offseason’s top free agents, including Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, and Roki Sasaki, but came up short of signing them.
Santander, who hit a career-high 44 home runs in 2024 with the Baltimore Orioles, will immediately be penciled into the middle of Toronto’s lineup.
Since he rejected a qualifying offer at the beginning of the offseason, the Blue Jays will forfeit their second-highest draft selection and $500,000 in international bonus pool space. The Orioles will receive a compensatory draft pick after the first round.
Who Is Anthony Santander?
Santander, 30, was initially signed by Cleveland as an amateur free agent in 2011.
In 2016, the Orioles selected him in the Rule 5 draft. During his tenure in Baltimore, Santander played in eight seasons and slashed .246/.307/.469 with 155 home runs, a 113 wRC+, and 9.6 fWAR.
For the first half of his major league career, Santander never eclipsed 100 games in a season. In the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, he established himself as a good major league hitter. In 37 games that year, he hit for an .890 OPS with 11 home runs, good for a 130 wRC+.
Many attribute the Orioles’ ascension to the promotion of Adley Rutschman, but Santander has also been a huge contributor. Over the past three seasons, he stayed healthy and clubbed 105 home runs with a .795 OPS.
Santander is an aggressive hitter, as his 33.8% chase rate indicates. This is a huge reason why he does not sustain a high batting average. However, he used his aggression to his benefit in 2024, leading baseball in home runs on pitches outside of the strike zone (per @TJStats).
He may not be an elite hitter, but Santander was above average in many Statcast metrics last season. His 11.7% barrel rate and 73.1 mph bat speed ranked well above average. For a deeper dive into how he put up such an outstanding season, check out this piece by our own Leo Morgenstern.
Santander is not an overly athletic player. In 2024, he had just 18th percentile sprint speed and accumulated -2 Outs Above Average. He has proven thus far that he can handle the outfield capably, but we will see how long that lasts when he gets into a full season on the wrong side of 30.
Even though he isn’t fast, Santander does have a big arm and gets good reads on fly balls. You can check out some of his defensive highlights from this past season below:
Santander’s Fit With the Blue Jays
Here is the Blue Jays’ projected lineup, according to RosterResource:

Santander is the presumptive starting left fielder for the Blue Jays on Opening Day. He primarily played right field for the Orioles, but that was due to the unusual left-field dimensions at Camden Yards.
In this lineup, he will be tasked with protecting Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is Toronto’s premier hitter.
However, Guerrero, a free agent at season’s end, may not be a Blue Jay for the majority of Santander’s tenure with the club. This could open the door for Santander to play first base more often, as time passes.
For now, Santander and George Springer will man the corners in the outfield and rotate at designated hitter. Daulton Varsho will be the everyday center fielder once he returns from his shoulder surgery.
Springer and Bo Bichette have been talented players in previous years but sputtered last season. A bounce-back season from one of them could go a long way towards Santander seeing more pitches to hit.
Impact on Toronto’s Depth Chart
The signing of Santander means that Nathan Lukes, Joey Loperfido, and Addison Barger may all be in direct competition for one roster spot.
Lukes, 30, is projected to be the Opening Day center fielder above, but that may not be set in stone. He had an interesting 22 games in the majors this past season. Over that brief span, he hit .303 with a 132 wRC+ and walked more than he struck out.
Once Varsho returns from his injury, whichever of those players made the team will be pushed to a bench role.
Loperfido and Barger, both 25-year-olds, struggled in their major league auditions last year. The Blue Jays may decide that Lukes is the lefty they’d prefer off the bench. They also brought in speedy outfielder Myles Straw last week who could function as a fourth outfielder to start the year.
None of these options are as valuable as Santander, so the fit makes a lot of sense. Since this club wants to compete, they desperately needed another established major league bat.
Final Thoughts
Signing Anthony Santander undoubtedly makes the Blue Jays a better team. His thunderous bat will provide instant impact for a team that desperately needs the help.
With his one true plus tool being power and his athleticism declining, some believe that Santander may not age gracefully. Our own Javier Reyes called him “a free agent trap” this offseason.
Given that the average annual value of Santander’s contract is less than $20 million, this feels like a risk worth taking. The Blue Jays were desperate for offensive help to stay in the race in the competitive AL East.
A fan favorite in Baltimore, Orioles fans will be sad to see him go. He was the last player to bridge the Machado and Jones era with the one that you see today.
Once the Orioles signed Tyler O’Neill, it was expected that Santander would not be a part of their future plans. That doesn’t mean that it’s any easier to see him officially ink a deal with a division rival now.
The Blue Jays signed a good baseball player and leader, someone who will instantly become a clubhouse and fan favorite. Even if Santander never returns to his 2024 form, I think Blue Jays fans will still enjoy having him on their ball club.