Santiago Espinal is becoming an unfair Reds scapegoat

If you have one goal in life, it should be to find someone who loves you as much as Terry Francona loves having a versatile bat. From Eric Hinskie in Boston to Michael Martínez and Ernie Clement in Cleveland, it’s clear that he has an infatuation with dedicating a roster spot to a “jack of all trades, master of none” player. That crush has followed him to Cincinnati — much to the detriment of Santiago Espinal.

After being a subpar player last year under David Bell, Espinal has been even worse this year despite getting even more playing time under Francona. While he’s played five different positions on defense this year, he’s still only hitting .241 with no home runs and 12 RBI in 71 games. 

He’s been worth -0.9 bWAR so far this season, which is tied with Jeimer Candelario lowest mark among the team’s position players. Earlier this week, the Cincinnati Reds finally cut ties with Candelario, yet they still keep rolling Espinal out at third base. 

Santiago Espinal is becoming an unfair Reds scapegoat thanks to Terry Francona

Part of the reason why they’re doing that is the fact that he’s their best defender at the position, and will be until Noelvi Marté returns from the injured list at the start of July. So, while seeing him in the lineup everyday is frustrating, the Reds don’t have much of a choice. 

And maybe the most frustrating part of all of this is that Espinal has proven that he can be a solid everyday player. Although he hasn’t been great since joining the Reds, he was an All-Star with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022 when he hit .267 with seven home runs while playing all over the diamond. 

He still possesses a strong eye at the plate (96th percentile in strikeout rate), but that’s about his only redeeming quality right now. He’s in the second percentile in xwOBA, expected slugging and barrel rate. So not only is he not getting on base, but he hasn’t been unlucky either. 

But the Reds have no choice but to continue to roll him out there. Garret Hampson could play third base, but he’s with the St. Louis Cardinals now after nine unimpressive games with the Reds. The only other players on the roster who could fill in at third are Gavin Lux (who is better suited filling the hole at second base or in left field) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (who's been terrible at the hot corner). 

At a certain point, the Reds will be in a spot where they can pull the plug on the Espinal experiment. Until then, we’re all just along for the ride. 

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