Giants sign shortstop Paul DeJong

The San Francisco Giants have signed shortstop Paul DeJong of Orlando, Florida on Tuesday according to Darragh McDonald of mlbtraderumours.com. The Giants are the third team DeJong has played for this season as he has shared his time with the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays. The financial terms of the contract have not been disclosed, however we do know the contract is a Major League contract rather than a minor league one.

2023 MLB Statistics

DeJong is batting .211 with 13 home runs and 33 runs batted in. During 94 games, 323 at bats and 350 plate appearances, he scored 39 runs and had 68 hits, 11 doubles, four stolen bases, 21 walks, 118 total bases, and one sacrifice fly. DeJong also has an on base percentage of .269 and a slugging percentage of .365. DeJong’s sacrifice fly came in a 4-2 Cardinals win over the Houston Astros on June 27.

Disastrous numbers in Toronto

The Giants will be hoping that they get the Paul DeJong during his days in St. Louis, because his short stop in Toronto (pardon the pun), was quite simply awful. In 13 games, he had only three hits in 44. DeJong scored one run, had one run batted in, three total bases, a batting average, slugging percentage and on base percentage of .068. DeJong also had terrible plate protection as he struck out 18 times and walked none. The run and run batted in came in Blue Jays blowouts. The run was in a 13-1 Blue Jays win over the Boston Red Sox on August 6, and the run batted in came in a 11-4 Blue Jays win over the Chicago Cubs on August 13.

Reason for the Blue Jays release and Giants signing

Toronto designated DeJong for assignment because they were ready to bring back Orlando native Bo Bichette back to the team. He was out with a knee injury. The DeJong trade was once again an awful move by Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins, who traded one of their top pitching prospects in Matt Svanson, for a two week rental flier. Unless DeJong drastically improves his statistics, expect a short stint in San Francisco too. When Brandon Crawford returns from a strained forearm, DeJong should get minimal playing time.