The Blue Jays announced they’ve traded infielder Tyler Fitzgerald to the Dodgers for cash. Toronto designated him for assignment last week. The Dodgers transferred Landon Knack to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Fitzgerald has an option remaining and will be assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
The Louisville product didn’t appear in an MLB game with the Blue Jays and has yet to play in the big leagues this season. Fitzgerald opened the season on optional assignment to Triple-A with the Giants. San Francisco designated him for assignment and dealt him to Toronto in early April. Fitzgerald spent a week on the Jays’ bench without getting any game action. He was optioned out and again DFA on Friday when the Jays traded for Willie MacIver to deepen their catching group.
That sends Fitzgerald back to the NL West. He’d previously spent his entire career in the division with San Francisco. A fourth-round pick in 2019, Fitzgerald briefly debuted four years later and had a nice rookie showing in ’24. He hit .280/.334/.497 with 15 homers and 17 stolen bases over 96 games. Fitzgerald’s propensity for swing-and-miss raised questions about how sustainable those numbers would be. The regression hit hard last year, as he stumbled to a .217/.278/.327 showing in 243 plate appearances.
Fitzgerald continued to struggle after being optioned in June. San Francisco’s signing of Luis Arraez to play second base essentially spelled the end of his time in the organization. Fitzgerald has struggled in the early going in Triple-A, striking out 19 times in his first nine games. The roster tumult probably hasn’t helped him establish any kind of rhythm, yet the whiffs have been the main concern throughout his career.
The Dodgers don’t have a great path to playing time available. Alex Freeland, Hyeseong Kim, Miguel Rojas and Santiago Espinal are all on the big league roster. Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández are on the injured list.
There’s minimal cost for the Dodgers in adding Fitzgerald as multi-positional infield depth. Knack has been out all season with an intercostal strain. There’s no timetable on his return, but he’s evidently not going to be ready before the final week of May.
Just lost his “forever Giant” status. And will now no doubt hit .400 with 30HR.
MLB the Show legend
Cool news
He’s gonna be Cody Ross in the playoffs watch. Yes I know it’s only April. I’m not being serious.
I know this is semi unrelated but has any other Giants fan (besides me) been impressed with Luis Arraez’s fielding? I saw a couple of gaffes the first week of the season but in all the games I’ve seen since then he’s been fielding, throwing and turning double plays beautifully. Maybe all the work with Ron Washington has paid off.
@wilmer
Arraez has been great. Probably a main reason the Giants are hanging onto 4th place.
This has nothing to do with the dodgers. I’m just ranting. Stupid manager terry lovululu of the diamond bums has thompson warming up in a rout. This is arguably their best reliever. He put the guy in in a rout a week or so ago and he got lit up. If he puts him in again in a useless situation I’m liable to go right through the TV screen. Get rid of this idiot manager.
Maybe you need a new hobby
I really think Fitzgerald could and should find a home on someone’s bench.
He did. In AAA
Wow, 14 strikeouts in 20 at bats down in Buffalo, and 19 in 32 across AAA overall this year.
“He hit .280/.334/.497 with 15 homers and 17 stolen bases over 96 games. Fitzgerald’s propensity for swing-and-miss raised questions about how sustainable those numbers would be. ”
A .380 BABIP largely answered that question
He’s projected (FGDC) for a .271 OBP/.143 ISO/74 wRC+