BURSTTORONTO — He’s been around the league for so long, and has so many Gold Gloves already on his mantle, that it’s easy to overlook how young Andrés Giménez is.
He’s the 14th-youngest player on the Toronto Blue Jays‘ 40-man roster. Younger than “Buffalo Boys” Ernie Clement and Spencer Horwitz, the latter of whom was traded for him. The same age as Alek Manoah, Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk and Will Wagner. Only six months older than Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Think about it this way: George Springer, Chris Bassitt and Chad Green made their MLB debuts when they were 25. Three months ago, Giménez turned 26.
The bet the Blue Jays are making in acquiring the left-handed hitting second baseman — plus the five years remaining on a pre-arbitration contract he signed with the Cleveland Guardians — is that, with time on his side and over 550 games of MLB experience already under his belt, Giménez’s most productive seasons are still to come. That he’s still learning, still growing into himself as a hitter. That he can be part of the next Blue Jays core, whether it includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette or not.
“I just try to learn something every single day. I feel like that’s going to take you to the level that you want,” Giménez said through Blue Jays interpreter Hector Lebron. “It can be on defence, it can be the mental part of the game. Just get one per cent better every single day. I got to the big leagues really young. But always with the desire to learn something every single day.”
If you know anything about this Blue Jays front office and its values under President and CEO Mark Shapiro, the mindset Giménez just described tells you exactly why they pursued him. That’s why, assuming he plays out his contract in Toronto, Giménez is now the second piece — along with Jose Berrios — of the Blue Jays nucleus that will close out this decade. And, if Guerrero and Bichette aren’t re-signed, and Berrios opts out of his deal following the 2026 season, he may even be the primary piece they build from.
Ultimately, the Blue Jays must answer some rather significant questions over the next 10 months with regards to the future of Guerrero and Bichette, the future of the team’s expensive win-now veterans, and the future of a group that was meant to be spending 2025 at the peak of its competitive window but instead finds itself struggling to salvage it.
And whether Giménez can reverse a two-season offensive decline is another one. It’s the question that will determine how we evaluate this trade five years from now — and how much work the Blue Jays must do to construct winning teams around him in 2026 and beyond.
“I’ve always looked forward to facing the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays have always had a great deal of young talent,” Giménez said. “I see the team as very good right now. And I know we can get better. Especially because of the youth that we have on the team. It’s a great combination with people that have already played in the league for five, six years. We can hit, we can run, and obviously we can play defence. So, if we work together and make some adjustments, I think we can be very successful.”
You’re probably familiar with Giménez’s career arc by now. After joining Cleveland as part of the return from the New York Mets for Francisco Lindor, Giménez spun his wheels for a year before breaking out in 2022 with an All-Star, six-win, 141-wRC+, down-ballot-MVP-vote-accruing season. But he fell back to earth in 2023 with a slightly-below-league-average campaign, and fell further in 2024, finishing as one of MLB’s ten-worst offensive regulars with an 83 wRC+.
And yet, Giménez was still worth nearly three fWAR last season thanks to the slump-proof elements of his game — defence and baserunning.
Giménez is a sublime defender who led all MLB players — infielders and outfielders — in outs above average last season. His 59 defensive runs saved since the beginning of 2022 also lead all players, while his average arm strength ranks first among second basemen over the last two seasons. He was one of only 14 fielders to throw a ball 96 m.p.h. or harder in 2024. It is not hyperbolic to call him the best defensive infielder in baseball.
Though it’s easy to overlook, elite defence like that is quite valuable. It suppresses the ERA of every pitcher on staff, getting them back into dugouts earlier with lower pitch counts. It makes the defenders to Giménez’s right and left better, too, as his massive range lessens the amount of ground they have to cover. Its impacts accumulate and compound over time as pitchers accrue less wear on their arms and fielders spend less time on their feet. It interrupts opposition rallies and, in some cases, even preempts them. It makes everyone who plays with Giménez a little bit better.
Of course, you still have to score to win and Giménez’s offensive production has been heading in the wrong direction for 24 months. Toronto’s ability to help him turn that trend around and get back to the movements he was making at the plate in 2022 that underlay his success is the turn and river cards of this deal.
“Every year, the pitchers are getting better. It’s more difficult. They’re always trying to find your weak spot,” Giménez said. “It’s about my mechanics and my approach. It was a little bit out of control through the [2024] season. So, that’s what I’m working on right now in the off-season — trying to find how I can put everything together mechanic-wise and with my approach. And I think I will be very successful if I can find that.”
Giménez returning to 2022 levels of production is likely asking a bit much, particularly considering his .353 BABIP and 14 per cent HR/FB rate that season. But if that’s a ceiling, and 2024’s struggles are a floor, maybe 2023’s 96 wRC+ is a decent estimate of where Giménez’s true talent as a hitter lies.
For what it’s worth, Steamer projects Giménez to hit .263/.317/.394 this season with a 103 wRC+. And the Blue Jays would lock those numbers in today if they could. But even if Giménezmerely repeats 2023, he’ll flirt with a four-win season and likely finish as one of the five most valuable second basemen across MLB.
That will make the five years and $97 million remaining on the contract he signed with Cleveland two years ago far more palatable — even a bargain. Especially so if Bichette departs via trade or free agency within the next 12 months and Giménez moves to shortstop for the remainder of the deal.
Two off-seasons ago, Dansby Swanson earned a seven-year, $177-million free agent deal to play strong shortstop defence with a league-average bat for the Chicago Cubs. A year earlier, Trevor Story got six years and $140 million from the Boston Red Sox to do the same. Swanson’s $25.3-million average annual value and Story’s $23.3-million rank among the top 10 shortstops in the game.
And they were both 29 when they signed those deals. Giménez is just entering his prime. As inflation continues to do its thing, his $23.6-million salaries in his age-28 through 30 seasons could age very well.
That is, if he hits. To allow for the possibility of Giménez improving with time is to also allow for the possibility of his production plateauing where it is or, even worse, declining further. If he settles in as an 85-wRC+ player, the back end of his contract could be burdensome.
Giménez’s biggest struggles at the plate last season came against breaking balls and elite velocity. He hit .211 with a .263 slugging percentage against breaking pitches, whiffing a third of the time he swung. And he hit only .160 with a .180 slug against fastballs 96 m.p.h. or harder. League average against those pitches was a .229 batting average with a .354 slug.
Now, Giménez certainly has room to hit better against spinning stuff and it’s hard to imagine a hitter with a near 80 per cent overall contact rate once again whiffing at as many curveballs and sliders this year. But where he really has room to regress is against velocity. Giménez’s numbers against upper-echelon heat last season stick out in stark contrast to what he’s demonstrated in the past:
Andres Giménez vs. fastballs 96+ m.p.h.
|
|
AVG |
SLG |
wOBA |
Hard-hit% |
|
2024 |
.160 |
.180 |
.189 |
33.3 |
|
2023
|
.262 |
.405 |
.329 |
41.9 |
|
2022 |
.234 |
.362 |
.276 |
58.1 |
What Giménez needs to do to resume hitting velocity is a question for new Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins to answer. And it’s safe to assume the Guardians were trying everything they could to help him tap back into it, as well. But the ability is clearly in there and if Giménez can find the right adjustment to unlock it, he can do a lot to pull his numbers back up simply by being better timed up with fastballs.
He could likely stand to be a bit less aggressive going forward, as well. Giménez swings at over half the pitches he sees and his chase rates have ranked within the bottom 10 per cent of the league each of the last three seasons. That’s why his 5.1 per cent walk rate over that span is one of the lowest among qualified hitters. And while he makes contact with pitches outside the zone at a well above-average rate, that’s a gift and a curse.
“My biggest problem [in 2024] was chasing a lot of pitches out of the zone. That hurt me a lot throughout the season,” Giménez said. “That’s something that I’m working on right now.”
Batted balls outside the zone are fertile ground for soft contact, which Giménez makes plenty of. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rates have been among the lowest of any hitter in baseball over the last two seasons. He’ll probably never have a double-digit barrel rate. But his contact quality numbers were much better in 2022 when he swung about three per cent less often — and five per cent less often at breaking balls.
That’s easy to say from here, not being the one standing sixty feet and six inches from Shane McClanahan. But Giménez’s ability to reverse his offensive trendlines in 2025 and beyond is what will determine whether we look back at this trade as a misplaced bet that saddles the Blue Jays with an underwater contract as speed and defence inevitably decline, or a coup that solidifies the club’s middle infield picture through its next competitive window.
“For me, my main goal is just to be healthy through the season. It doesn’t matter what my numbers are,” Giménez said. “I just try to be very, very consistent on everything — the entire game. Hitting, running, stealing bases, defence. Trying to be consistent and trying to bring my game to help my team win every game possible.”
About that running. What Giménez can do with his legs is not to be overlooked. The only Blue Jays who matched Giménez’s 28.9 feet/second sprint speed in 2024 were Steward Berroa (28.9) and Jonatan Clase (30.0). And the only players on the Blue Jays with 20-steal seasons are George Springer and Bo Bichette, who have both done it once. Giménez has done it each of the last three years and is coming off back-to-back 30-steal campaigns. The last Blue Jay with 30 steals in a season was Jose Reyes in 2014.
And his legs impact run creation in more ways than one. Giménez immediately becomes Toronto’s best overall baserunner by a considerable margin. Statcast’s new Baserunning Run Value metric — which incorporates non-steal plays such as taking extra bases — grades Giménez as one of the top-36 baserunners in the game since 2022. Last season, the Blue Jays ranked second-last MLB-wide in that metric with -14 baserunning runs. The year prior, Toronto was No. 24 with -7.
As a team short on power that’s leaned into run prevention over the last two seasons, in turn narrowing the margins by which it tries to win games, the Blue Jays can’t afford to be giving so much away on the basepaths. And with well below-average baserunners such as Guerrero Jr. and Kirk being such foundational parts of this lineup, Toronto needs to make up for it elsewhere.
“I’m always going to be looking for the extra base. I consider myself a very aggressive base runner,” Giménez said. “I’m always trying to put myself in the best possible position for whoever is hitting at that moment. Sometimes it’s going to work, sometimes you’re going to get out. I get it. But I’m always going to stay aggressive on the bases.”
Giménez’s speed also opens him up to other methods of reaching base. Only eight players have bunted more often than Giménez since 2022. And of the 22 players with at least 25 bunts over that span, only four — including Daulton Varsho — have a higher batting average on bunts than Giménez’s .607.
But while Varsho typically tries to bring bunts with him up the first base line, Giménez will push them towards third base, as well, making him a bit tougher to defensively deploy against. Giménez also has the second-most infield hits in baseball since 2022, which isn’t necessarily how you want to make your living as a hitter, but at least speaks to an ability to put pressure on opposing defenders. Pulling the third baseman closer to the line to guard against bunts also ought to open more room on the infield for groundballs to sneak through.
Truly, Giménez would have been a great player in the 1980’s, when sound defence, contact ability and speed were coveted attributes. Those traits are what give Giménez such a stable floor today. But in the modern game, hitters have to drive the ball. Which is why the Blue Jays will likely try to help Giménez make some of the same adjustments Ernie Clement did over the last two seasons to get more out of his own uncanny contact ability.
For what it’s worth, Giménez had a higher average exit velocity and hard-hit rate than Clement last season, despite finishing with four fewer extra-base hits over 149 more plate appearances. There is more raw pop in Giménez’s bat. The Blue Jays just need to help him unlock it as they did with Clement, who’s hit double-digit homers each of the last two seasons after topping out at four earlier in his career.
The success or failure of that pursuit could have a profound impact not only on Giménez’s career but on the rosters the Blue Jays build over the back-half of this decade. Whatever Toronto’s next five years look like, whether they’re winning or resetting, whether Guerrero or Bichette are here or not, Giménez is very likely to be a part of it. What’s unclear is whether he’s part of the end of something, a continuation, or the beginning of something else.
“I’m very excited to play with Vladdy, who has a Gold Glove. Finally, [Daulton] Varsho gets his. Even Ernie Clement. I can’t wait to start doing double play routines with Bo. I’m excited about that,” Giménez said. “We’ve got some great guys on defence. And I’ll just try to be on the same page with everyone, try to help the team win, and we can go from there. I’m really excited to play with those guys. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun out there.”
