New Position Has Spencer Horwitz Catching Blue Jays’ Attention
Early in the season, Spencer Horwitz was a hot-hitting first baseman in need of a pathway to Toronto. Triple-A Buffalo manager Casey Candaele came up with one.
“Casey mentioned it a few times, like, ‘I really like you at second base, and I want to see it more.’ And I said, ‘OK,’ ” recalled the 26-year-old Horwitz.
“So we did some early work, just gradually more and more. And we’re going to try to stick with a little bit.”
Stick with it they did. Horwitz earned a June 7 callup to the big leagues, where he batted .314/.435/.486 through his first 23 games, 17 of them at second base.
The switch to the keystone provided some otherwise unavailable runway to Horwitz, a 24th-round pick out of Radford in 2019.
And to his credit, he did not look like someone who had appeared in just 17 pro games at second base.
“Am I getting more comfortable at second base? Yeah. But am I a Gold Glove second baseman yet? Probably not,” he said. “It goes back to that hard work I’ve just got to keep on doing.”
The door-opener for Horwitz was, of course, his bat—especially his on-base skills. This season, he hit .335/.456/.514 with four home runs and 44 walks in 57 games for Buffalo.
Horwitz has played a total of 208 games at Triple-A dating back to 2022. In that time, his .433 on-base percentage ranks No. 1 in the International League.
Horwitz was making the most of his opportunity.
“I’ve learned that the work’s never going to stop,” he said. “You always think about, ‘I want to get to the big leagues,’ and I got a taste of it last year. I had that feeling again in Buffalo this year.
“But not much changes (in MLB) besides the third deck (of stands). The stuff’s a little harder and a little sharper. I built a pretty good foundation this year . . . and learned much more about myself as a hitter.”
