Dodgers’ Santiago Espinal seizing opportunity to make Opening Day roster

GLENDALE, Ariz. — If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em – although for Santiago Espinal, his chance to impress in Dodgers camp this spring needed multiple twists of fate to come to fruition.

An organization known for its love of versatile defenders, as well as its ability to jumpstart or revive careers, appears to have another example of their handiwork in Espinal, who has more hits than outs in Cactus League play so far.

Espinal is not only 10 for 16 (.625) in seven spring games with the Dodgers, he hit two home runs Thursday against his former club, the Cincinnati Reds. In 114 regular-season games for the Reds last season, he did not hit any home runs.

Espinal also had two hits in the Dodgers’ game this week against Mexico’s WBC team.

Manager Dave Roberts said it was hard to see a scenario where Espinal would not land a reserve spot on the Opening Day roster. And that was before the multi-homer game.

“They already have a family here, and the question that I asked myself, ‘How can I add to this team, to a back-to-back champion, as a baseball player?’” said Espinal, who has already played at first base, third base and shortstop. “So that’s something that I’ve been working on every day, and something that I will keep working till the end of the season.”

Espinal, 31, has played in just two playoff games in his six-year major league career, in 2022 and 2023 when he was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. But he does know what the opening salvo of a championship run looks like.

He was in the Reds’ dugout when his team was swept in a brief two-game wild-card series at Dodger Stadium last fall. He did not play in either game as the Dodgers advanced with 10-5 and 8-4 victories.

A free agent this past offseason, Espinal still had not committed to the next stage of his career when MLB teams opened spring training camps last month.

But by Feb. 16, just as the Dodgers revealed that utility-man supreme Tommy Edman would be unable to return by Opening Day after offseason ankle surgery, Espinal agreed to a minor-league deal. It became official one day later.

The signing was less than a week after utility man Kiké Hernandez agreed to return, but the fan favorite also will not be ready to play by the season opener after offseason left elbow surgery.

The Espinal transaction went almost undetected. It is making plenty of noise now.

And Espinal’s resurrection has a familiar feel about it.

Mechanical adjustments have tapped into more bat speed for Espinal, who had exit velocities of 105.8 mph and 103.6 mph on his two home runs Thursday, according to MLB Statcast. While he had a maximum exit velocity of 107.4 mph last year, his average was 86.5 mph.

Espinal was on the sweet spot of the bat just 31.3% of the time last season, the lowest of his career.

“I would say being more aggressive,” Espinal said when asked what is different with this spring’s swing. “And actually, my swing path, make sure that it’s there, make sure it’s straight to the ball and not open up and all that stuff. But it’s a constant work that we’ve been doing every day. And so far, it’s been great.”

Max Muncy and Chris Taylor famously turned more aggressive swings into significant production after arriving in the Dodgers’ organization. But neither had an All-Star Game appearance to their credit like Espinal did in 2022 with the Blue Jays.

Muncy is one of the players Espinal referenced as he talked about what has stood out in less than three weeks of wearing a Dodgers uniform.

“When you see Mookie (Betts), when you see Freddie (Freeman), Muncy, I played with (Teoscar Hernandez), and (see) one of the best hitters in the game (in Shohei Ohtani), you have it in the locker room,” Espinal said.

“You also want to pick their brain. You also want to ask questions. You also want to see how they work, how they go about their business. And to me, I think that’s the most important part of it, just to learn from them.”

SHO TIME IN TOKYO

Shohei Ohtani delivered in Japan’s World Baseball Classic opener when he hit a grand slam during the second inning of a 13-0 victory over Taiwan. Ohtani finished the game 3 for 5 with a run scored and five RBIs.

The last time Ohtani played for Japan in the WBC, he struck out his MLB teammate at the time, the Angels’ Mike Trout, to give Japan the 2023 title. The last time he played on Japanese soil was in the Dodgers’ two-game series against the Chicago Cubs to open last season.

World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto went 2⅔ scoreless innings with three walks as Japan’s starting pitcher.

— Staff writer Bill Plunkett contributed to this report