Will Wagner was put into the Toronto Blue Jays lineup at second base and batting sixth for his major league debut on Monday against the Los Angeles Angels.
Will, the son of former left-handed pitcher Billy Wagner, who was a seven-time All-Star and is in the Houston Astros Hall of Fame, was brought up to the Blue Jays from Triple-A Buffalo. Meanwhile, infielder Luis De Los Santos was sent down to the minors.
Billy Wagner quickly gave his son some advice for his big day.
“He just said to relax and be present and have fun with everything,” Will Wagner said. “It’s just a game and have fun.”
Wagner hit a double with the first pitch he saw, a fastball from Angels right-hander Davis Daniel, into the right-center field gap in the second inning. In his next at-bat, he got an RBI single.
Wagner joined the Blue Jays on July 29 as part of a trade that sent left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to Houston. This trade happened on Wagner’s 26th birthday.
Wagner mainly plays second base but also has experience at first and third base. He is known as a line-drive hitter and has 25 home runs in 290 minor league games.
“Everyone, when they talk about him they say, ‘OK, he’s just a baseball player,’ and those guys usually find their way to do pretty well,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “A lot of contact, hits the ball hard, really smart in-game decisions.”
Schneider plans to use Wagner mainly at second base, with some chances to play third, and to have him in the lineup regularly for the rest of the season.
This roster move happened after Wagner had played only seven games at Triple-A Buffalo following the trade. In 77 combined games at Triple-A for both Sugar Land and Buffalo, he had a .315 batting average with six home runs and 43 RBIs.
