Santiago Espinal appears to have earned a spot on the Los Angeles Dodgers' opening-day roster.
Los Angeles selected Espinal's contract to its 40-man roster on Wednesday, following the infielder's strong spring-training performance.
Espinal, 31, has a 1.129 OPS with two home runs, 12 runs scored and 13 RBIs over 14 games for the Dodgers in Cactus League action.
“It’d be hard to imagine him not being on our team,” Dodgers manager Roberts told reporters last week, per the LA Times. “He’s having a great spring, man. He’s just a good player. It’s good, because I didn’t really know much about him, but seeing him every day, (he’s) fun to watch.”
The former Toronto Blue Jays all-star signed with Los Angeles on a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training in mid-February.
Espinal spent 2025 with the Cincinatti Reds, where he carried a .575 OPS in 114 games and chose to enter free agency after being outrighted following the season.
He landed with the Reds in spring 2024, when the Blue Jays traded him to Cincinatti in exchange for minor-league pitcher Chris McElvain.
Espinal earned a spot on the American League All-Star Team in 2022 while playing for Toronto. He ended that season with seven home runs and a .267/.322/.370 slash line.
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