Tyler Fitzgerald 'ecstatic' for fresh start with Blue Jays

TORONTO — Only a year ago, Tyler Fitzgerald had never set foot in Rogers Centre and never entered Canada, period. He’d never been anything but a promising power-speed threat on the upward trajectory of his career.

He’d never battled injuries. Never been designated for assignment. Never spent five days in limbo, waiting to learn where he and his 27-weeks-pregnant wife, Sadie, were going next.

“A lot can happen in a short amount of time in this game,” Fitzgerald said Tuesday, sitting in the Toronto Blue Jays dugout. “It’s been a weird last year. But I’ve learned a lot from it. And I’m just glad to be here.”

On Saturday, the Blue Jays traded cash considerations to the San Francisco Giants for Fitzgerald, a right-handed infielder who exploded with a second-half rookie breakout in 2024 — he put up three fWAR in only 96 games — before a miserable 2025 led to his DFA last week. The 28-year-old has a minor-league option remaining and was originally ticketed for triple-A Buffalo to rediscover his swing while providing roster depth.

But then Addison Barger jammed both of his ankles stretching out for a groundball on Sunday. And on Monday, Fitzgerald had a locker in the Blue Jays clubhouse. Tuesday, he was officially recalled as Barger hit the IL. And now it’s up to him to make the most of whatever chance he gets.

That will begin in a bench role over the next week, entering games late as a pinch-runner — Fitzgerald instantly becomes Toronto’s fastest player — and defensive replacement at second, short, or even the outfield corners.

Toronto’s initial hope is that Barger’s IL stint will be minimal and that he could return within two weeks if he responds well to treatment. But as the club has shown over the calamitous last several days, greater opportunities are never far away.

“I feel like this is a fresh start for me,” Fitzgerald said. “I feel like I'm right where God wanted me. I'm where I'm accepted. The guys here are incredible. The fans here are some of the best in the world. The love I've felt since I've been here these two days is something I could never even ask for.

After making his MLB debut with only two weeks remaining in a disappointing 2023 Giants season, Fitzgerald broke camp with the team in 2024 and, following a couple turns on the option carousel, forced his way into everyday duty by the all-star break. Over San Francisco’s final 70 games that year, he hit .282/.336/.529 with 14 homers and a 140 wRC+.

A .371 BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) over that span suggested fortune was on his side. But it’s tough to fake a .248 ISO, particularly when playing home games at Oracle Park, which annually ranks among the bottom five offensive environments. And the 122 wRC+ he posted as a minor-leaguer in 2023 — Fitzgerald OPS’ed .876 with 22 homers and 32 steals over 121 games mostly at triple-A — was strong supporting evidence of his breakout being real.

That’s why the Giants opened 2025 with Fitzgerald as their everyday second baseman. He quickly overcame a slow start and finished his first four weeks hitting .301/.354/.466. But that’s when Joc Pederson chopped a groundball to a drawn-in Fitzgerald’s left:

“Landed right on the baseball — broke a rib up near my heart area,” he said. “We thought it was just a bone bruise. I played the next three games with it. But after (each game) I came in, and it felt worse and worse. And finally, I was like, ‘This is not normal. I can’t even finish my swing.’”

An MRI revealed a small crack — the first broken bone of Fitzgerald’s life. He sat out for two weeks to let inflammation subside before returning to games and trying to play through the residual discomfort, which went the way you might expect. Fitzgerald struggled to a .186/.245/.227 line over his next 110 plate appearances before he was optioned to triple-A in late June.

The demotion was brief as Fitzgerald was recalled less than two weeks later. But while working out prior to his first game back, he aggravated a bulging disc in his back. Fellow infielders Matt Chapman, Casey Schmidt, and Christian Koss were already on the injured list, so Fitzgerald insisted on playing through it. But his results suffered again and he was quickly sent back to the minors.

He spent the rest of his season cycling through endless swing adjustments, trying to find a movement pattern that felt fluid and didn’t put excess strain on his multiple midsection issues. Meanwhile, his back hurt most when running, which is part of the reason why Fitzgerald’s 2025 stolen-base total was his lowest since his first full professional season in 2021.

Fitzgerald doesn’t use any of his injuries as excuses, mind you. He chose to play through them and accepts the results. But it does help explain how a guy in his mid-20’s with 100th-percentile sprint speed and an above-average barrel rate experienced such a steep decline in his overall production from one season to the next.

“I just could never really find my rhythm in the box,” he says. “It’s the first time in my career that I’ve had injuries during the year. It’s something that you learn a lot from. The biggest thing going forward is just believing in myself and not going back down that rabbit hole of swing changes. I was trying new stuff every day, trying to get back to how I felt before I broke my rib.”

That’s been his focus so far with Toronto hitting coaches — recreating the swing that facilitated Fitzgerald’s success as a rookie. They’ve worked to limit movement with his front side, correcting a tendency to open up too quickly, which was preventing him from staying through the baseball.

That’s important for Fitzgerald because he gets his best results when driving pitches to left field. Part of what worked for him in 2024 was making 27.5 per cent of his contact in the air to the pull side, a top-20 mark across MLB. If you’re a Blue Jays fan, you’ve seen a similar approach from Danny Jansen.

The difference with Fitzgerald is he also possesses an elite run tool — his 2024 sprint speed ranked top five across MLB — which helps him still reach base even when making non-ideal contact (his bunting game’s a weapon, too). Since 2024, he’s hit .341 on groundballs. That’s MLB’s sixth-highest mark and has him sandwiched between Yordan Alvarez and Aaron Judge, two guys who hit the ball so hard that grounders often sneak through infields.

Fitzgerald doesn’t have anywhere near that kind of raw power. But his approach has let him put more balls over left-field fences than you’d expect. The trade-off is that whiffs and strikeouts have long been an issue. And difficulties adjusting when the league responded to him by minimizing fastballs and pitching away have contributed to his struggles.

For his part, Fitzgerald says he’s arrived in Toronto ready to learn — not only from new coaches and teammates, but from his own turbulent 12 months. A year ago, he was an everyday player coming off a three-win season. Then baseball happened and it all got away from him. Now, a fresh start.

“It's crazy, the timing in this game. I was starting to feel good, hitting pretty well. Then I broke my rib, and I just could not find my swing again,” he said. “And now I’m here. But I'm ecstatic to come to an organization like this. I feel like I'm right where I need to be.”