As defending American League champions, the Toronto Blue Jays have a lot of offensive firepower on the roster.
Coming into spring training, the Blue Jays have a handful of players fighting tooth and nail to make the club for opening day, many of whom would be shoo-ins on other teams. One of the players in the most precarious positions is outfielder Joey Loperfido, who was excellent when he played in the majors last year, but only got to do so for a quarter of the season.
On Tuesday, Blue Jays beat reporter Keegan Matheson of MLB.com projected the team’s opening day roster, and for the second year in a row, the insider had Loperfido on the outside looking in. Matheson picked five other outfielders to make the club instead: Daulton Varsho, Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger, Davis Schneider, and Myles Straw.
“With (Anthony) Santander undergoing shoulder surgery, which will knock out at least the first half of his season, expect to see more of Barger in right field,” wrote Matheson. “Joey Loperfido and eventually RJ Schreck will have a chance to compete for a role now, which is worth monitoring through Spring Training games.”
Loperfido, 26, batted .333 with four home runs and an .879 OPS in 41 games last season, which he mostly played due to the same nagging shoulder injury the veteran Santander is currently battling through. He was recalled for the September stretch run and even got one postseason plate appearance, but it’s clear he’s on the wrong side of a roster crunch.
The Blue Jays got Loperfido in a deadline trade for star pitcher Yusei Kikuchi in 2024, and clearly still believe he can be a starting-caliber player. However, Loperfido’s disadvantage is that he has minor-league options, so he would have to blow some of his competition out of the water to earn the roster spot ahead of them.
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