Infielder Michael Stefanic and the Blue Jays are in settlement on a minor league deal. Stefanic’s agent Nate Heisler of Klutch Sports activities relayed the information on X whereas Stefanic himself took to Instagram to thank the Angels, their followers and his former colleagues for his time with that membership, along with expressing his pleasure about his new alternative.
Stefanic, 29 in February, was an undrafted free agent again in 2018. The Angels signed him at the moment and he began to garner consideration as a minor leaguer on account of his plate self-discipline and multi-positional talents, although a transparent lack of energy. In 2021, he took 554 journeys to the plate within the minors, strolling in 9.4% of them whereas solely placing out 13.9% of the time.
His dwelling run whole spiked to 17 that 12 months, although he had solely hit three over the 2018 and 2019 seasons mixed. Maybe that was on account of him getting as much as the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League however his .336/.408/.493 line that 12 months nonetheless translated to a 132 wRC+, indicating he was 32% higher than league common.
Baseball America ranked him the #22 prospect within the Angels’ system going into 2022 and he went on to make his main league debut that 12 months. He has been despatched to the plate 264 instances over the previous three huge league seasons, strolling in 8.7% of these whereas placing out simply 15.2% of the time. However he hasn’t but hit a house run, resulting in a reasonably empty slash line of .232/.317/.275 and 72 wRC+. He has continued to hit within the minors, nevertheless, with a mixed line of .349/.444/.456 and 133 wRC+ over the previous three years.
That wasn’t sufficient to get him a lot run on the main league degree and he exhausted his last possibility 12 months in 2024. The Angels handed him by means of waivers and outrighted him final month, however Toronto will give him a non-roster gig. Stefanic has additionally performed each place on the diamond aside from heart area and catcher in his skilled profession, maybe giving him a shot at carving at a utility or bench function.
The Jays have loads of uncertainty of their place participant group at current. First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Bo Bichette are each a 12 months away from free company. Proper fielder George Springer is now 35 years outdated and has simply two years left on his deal. Second base, third base and left area are pretty open. Gamers like Spencer Horwitz, Ernie Clement, Will Wagner, Nathan Lukes, Leo Jiménez, Davis Schneider, Jonatan Clase, Orelvis Martínez, Addison Barger, Joey Loperfido and Steward Berroa are all on the 40-man roster however Clement and Schneider are the one ones of thar group with greater than 112 video games of MLB expertise.
If Stefanic can earn his method onto the roster, he’s out of choices however he has only a bit greater than a 12 months of service time, which means he could be cheaply retained past 2025 if he has a roster spot at season’s finish.
