The Toronto Blue Jays have added their second former Houston Astros slugger in as many days and agreed to a three-year deal with outfielder / designated hitter Michael Brantley on Wednesday, a source confirmed to ESPN.
The Jays agreed on a six-year $ 150 million deal with former Astros midfielder George Springer on Tuesday night, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The news of Brantley’s agreement was first reported by sports reporter Hazel Mae.
Brantley, 33, has suffered from injuries for much of his career – last season it was a quad bike that made him spend time on the injured list. While those injuries lowered his power numbers, he remains a dangerous hitter with a high contact percentage and low strikeout ratio.
In 46 games with the Astros in 2020, alternating between leftfield and DH, Brantley batted. 300, with five homers, 22 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.840.
He has batted at least .300 in five seasons since 2014, bringing most such seasons in baseball up to par with four others during that period. He has also batted in just 10.1% of his at bats since 2014, the third best baseball in that period, with a minimum of 2,000 at bats.
In a 12-year career with the Cleveland Indians and Astros, Brantley averaged .297, with 114 homers, 640 RBI’s, and a .794 OPS. He has been an All-Star four times, finishing third in the MVP voting in 2014.
Brantley was on a two-year $ 32 million deal that he signed for the 2019 season.
ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.