Grandson of Mets legend replaces son of Hall of Famer on Blue Jays roster

There aren’t too many people involved with the New York Mets who’ve seen or heard as much as Jay Horwitz. The PR Director for the team began his journey with the Mets in 1980 and has been through plenty of good and equally as many crazy times working for the Mets. A mainstay with the organization, it’s not always the easiest thing to stick around as a player in any capacity with a team.

Up in Toronto, Cavan Biggio found this out. He was designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays who finally had enough of the second-generation player. The son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, his career never quite took off like some of his teammates who also bear the name of a talented baseball player. Bo Bichette. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Daulton Varsho. This team loves their baseball blood.

They’re keeping with the theme. To replace Biggio, the team called up Spencer Horwitz, the grandson of Jay.

The Blue Jays have a different type of generational blood on their roster now

The 26-year-old Horwitz came into this world with his granddaddy already firmly cemented as a fixture in the Mets organization. This isn’t his first trip up the ladder to the majors. He debuted last year and appeared in 15 games. Slashing .256/.341/.385 with a home run, Horwitz is a 26-year-old whose round he was drafted in was nearly higher. The Blue Jays managed to pick him up in the now defunct 24th round of the 2019 MLB Draft.

Mostly a first baseman in his professional career, Horwitz has also dabbled in the outfield and is getting the Brett Baty treatment by playing some more second base in the minors this year. As the Blue Jays cling to life in the American League Wild Card standings, they’ll hope Horwitz can offer them much more than Biggio.

Maybe he can. Looking at those gaudy Triple-A numbers, it’s hard to see why he wasn’t here earlier. Horwitz slashed .335/.456/.514 in 259 plate appearances for Buffalo. Needless to say, he wasn’t aided by much warm weather. More of a doubles hitter, he had 22 of those versus 4 home runs. This has been a common trend in his career. From 2021-2023, there wasn’t a year without Horwitz reaching 30 doubles in the minors.

Overall a .307/.413/.471 hitter on the farm, it’s a bit disappointing to see him playing for the Blue Jays and not the Mets. In that same 24th round, the Mets drafted pitcher Hunter Barco whom they failed to sign out of high school. He later became a second round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022, several spots ahead of Blade Tidwell. The $1,525,000 signing bonus alone assures us Barco made the right call.

The Mets don’t play the Blue Jays until September 9 and they do it up in Canada. From afar, we wish Horwitz a lot of success. Toronto is playing the Oakland Athletics this weekend. Perhaps it won’t be much different from facing Triple-A pitchers.