The Blue Jays announced tonight that they have selected catchers Tyler Heineman to the big league club. Start backstop Danny Jansen was put on the 10-day injured list after dealing with pain in his left side. Make room on the 40-man list for outfielder Heineman Josh Palacios was determined to be assigned. Toronto also remembered southpaw Anton Kay by Triple-A Buffalo with optional reliever Taylor Saucedo.
Heineman returns to the Bigs for the first time since 2020. He played with the Marlins and Giants between 2019-20 and had 62 cumulative plate appearances in 20 games. The right-hitting backstop only hit .208/.288/.302 in that very short action, but he owns a solid .284/.352/.415 line in parts of six triple-A campaigns. Heineman averaged a .264/.345/.310 in 41 games with the top affiliates of the Cardinals and Phillies last season. The UCLA product signed a minor league contract with the Jays this offseason and is quickly ending up back in the majors.
Unfortunately for the Jays, this is the result of an injury to their main catcher. An MRI revealed an oblique strain on Jansen, tweets TSN Sports’ Scott Mitchell. The Jays gave no indication of the severity of the strain or a timeline for his return, but it’s not uncommon for skewed issues to keep a player out of action for several weeks.
Jansen experienced ups and downs offensively in the majors. The right-hander hit 11 home runs in just 205 plate appearances last season and finished the year with a .310/.365/.707 crack last month. Jansen got off to a hot start, amassing four hits (including two homers) during last weekend’s series with Rangers. This is being put on hold for the time being.
Toronto now appears to be relying on a combination of Alejandro Kirk, ZackCollins and Heineman behind the bowl. All three players are currently on the active roster, but Kirk and Collins are bat-first options who could also gain some time as batsman-designated. The Jays have top prospects Gabriel Moreno at Buffalo, but he only has three games of experience there. Moreno is already on the 40-man roster, but Toronto have opted for veteran Heineman, giving the talented 22-year-old a more regular run in the minors.
Palacios, 26, is a former fourth-round pick selected for the 40-man in the 2020-21 offseason. He reached the majors for the first time last year but only appeared in 13 games after spending much of the season on the minor league injury list. Thanks to the canceled 2020 minor league campaign, Palacios hasn’t gotten extended game action since 2019 with Double-A New Hampshire.
To his credit, left-hander Palacios has performed well in a pitcher-friendly environment this year. He hit .266/.371/.416 with 15 stolen bases, drew walks at a robust clip of 13.2% while punching out 20.5% of the time. Palacios only hit seven homers, however, and that lack of power has kept him from establishing himself as one of the top prospects in the system.
Baseball America ranked Palacios 30th in the organization this winter, writing that he has enough touch skills and athleticism to serve as a reserve outfield guy. The Jays acquired Raimel Tapia from the Rockies in spring training to fill that role, seemingly pushing Palacios to the bottom of the depth chart. Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise if another team made a minor trade or waiver claim for the Brooklyn native. He still has a few option years left and could bring some outfield depth to another organization.