Toronto Blue Jays trade acquisition has already set a new franchise mark
When the Toronto Blue Jays made a few moves to beef up their lineup this offseason, the thought was that they’d add some more power to a team that was 26th in the MLB in home runs last season.
The biggest addition was former Baltimore Orioles slugger Anthony Santander, who hit 44 home runs last season. But with the Blue Jays having their first two series of the year at home, Santander has yet to go long in his first five games in Toronto, with the team hitting four homers so far this season.
It’s admittedly a very small sample size, but Toronto’s on pace for around 130 homers throughout the 162-game season, far fewer than last year’s 156 and a mark that would’ve ranked them last in the league in 2024.
But one new acquisition hasn’t had trouble going long thus far.
Three of the Jays’ home runs have come through a somewhat unlikely source, with second baseman Andres Gimenez hitting 75 per cent of the team’s long balls so far this season. In doing so, he’s the first player in team history to ever hit three home runs in their first five games with the franchise.
Andrés Giménez is the first player in franchise HISTORY to hit 3 homers in his first 5 games with the team! pic.twitter.com/i4TaX1fHTn
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 1, 2025
Gimenez, who was acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians, is much more known for his defense, being a Gold Glove winner in each of the last three seasons.
He had just 47 career home runs in 568 games prior to this season, never topping more than 17 in a single campaign and only hitting more than 10 twice in his five seasons.
âI’m trying to be myself, the same hitter,â Gimenez said yesterday, as per Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi. âIt doesn’t matter if I’m leadoff or second or third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. My last four years in Cleveland I was hitting everywhere, so I know how to work with it. The main thing for me is just to try to help the team, wherever [manager John Schneider] decides to put me in the lineup, I’m going to try to do my best and be myself in the box.â
Gimenez and the Jays return to action tonight at the Rogers Centre before closing out their series against the Washington Nationals tomorrow afternoon.