TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays have traded infielder Santiago Espinal to the Cincinnati Reds for right-handed pitcher Chris McElvain.
The trade was announced Wednesday by Toronto.
The 23-year-old McElvain from Columbia, Tenn., spent the 2023 season playing for both the Red’s single-A team and high-A squad, posting a 3.74 earned-run average and a 1.31 walks and hits per innings pitched in 23 game appearances.
The six-foot, 205-pound pitcher was selected in the eighth round of the 2022 first-year player draft by the Reds after playing three seasons at Vanderbilt. McElvain participated in 44 games, including 17 starts, for the Commodores and recorded a 4.83 ERA and 165 strikeouts over 141.1 innings.
Espinal, 29, played 93 games for the Blue Jays last year, hitting .248 with 16 extra-base hits and 25 RBI.
Toronto acquired the right-handed hitting infielder from the Boston Red Sox in 2018 in exchange for outfielder Steve Pearce.
Espinal made his Major League Baseball debut with the Jays in 2020.
He was selected to the 2022 all-star game as a replacement for Jose Altuve.
In his 347 career big-league games, Espinal achieved 56 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs, and 99 RBI.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2024.
