Blue Jays designate Jesus Sanchez for assignment

Career minor-leaguer Rudy Martin Jr. called up

Published Sep 11, 2026  •  Last updated 11 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Jesús Sánchez of the Toronto Blue Jays. Photo by Julio Aguilar /Getty Images

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To say Jesus Sanchez hasn’t panned out for the Blue Jays amounts to stating the obvious.

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What isn’t obvious is why it took the club this long to throw in the symbolic towel after the defensive deficient outfielder was designated for assignment by the Jays in the hours leading up to Friday night’s series opener against the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

With 15 games remaining and with the Jays in a tight race to claim the third and final wild card in the American League, moving off Sanchez should have been done much sooner.

On Friday, Max Scherzer was scheduled to make the start against the Orioles.

And it was Scherzer who took responsibility for a loss against the host Tampa Bay Rays in mid-August when Sanchez played left field as if he had never seen a fly ball hit in his vicinity.

While his bat was decent and at times emerging as an asset given the limitations of the Jays’ lineup, his presence in the outfield became a liability.

Officially, Sanchez committed an MLB-high three errors, but the amount of times when he took bad routes to the ball, or the times when he looked completely lost, cannot be properly documented.

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When Sanchez started in left field, some kind of blunder or mental gaffe became unavoidable, it seems.

He’s only 28 years old, but it remains to be seen if a club puts in a waiver claim for Sanchez, whose bat and slug potential appeared too enticing for the Jays to pass up when they swung a deal with the Houston Astros that involved Joey Loperfido this past off-season.

“It was weird,” began Jays manager John Schneider on Friday. “It started off on track to what we expected.

“The slug just didn’t show up. He still hits the ball hard, he swings the bat fast.

“That was the draw to acquire him, but he just couldn’t put it together consistently, either offensively or defensively.

“We were trying to figure it out. He wasn’t as athletic as he was last year, both running-wise and in the box. We were trying everything. And you always feel like you’ve failed a player if you can’t get them over the hump.

“It was all of that combined that led to the decision. If there was a little bit more power or a little bit more defence, you probably aren’t doing it.”

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Sanchez hit eight homers for the Jays, but his most recent dinger came on Aug. 5.

For the record, Sanchez went yard as many times as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who entered the weekend series against the O’s having hit eight home runs, but none at home.

In fairness, Sanchez did have stretches when his presence at the plate was noticeable and even hit cleanup in the order, which only underscored Toronto’s weakness.

In a corresponding move, the Jays recalled career minor-leaguer Rudy Martin Jr. from triple-A.

Speed and making contact at the plate are considered Martin Jr.’s biggest assets.

Martin Jr. was active for Friday’s game.

Interestingly, the Jays acquired Martin Jr. off waivers from Baltimore.

The third baseman spent 12 years in the minors.

Speaking of the minors, the Jays are paying close attention to Anthony Santander, who will continue to play for the Buffalo Bisons in rehab games into the middle of next week.

A decision on whether Santander is ready to return to the big leagues will have to be made.

The decision to part ways with Sanchez was a no-brainer.

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