{"id":112479,"date":"2025-09-01T18:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112479\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:56:14","slug":"blue-jays-use-september-roster-spots-on-isiah-kiner-falefa-dillon-tate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112479\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays use September roster spots on Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Dillon Tate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a> and right-handed pitcher Dillon Tate<\/a> have been added to the team’s major league roster and will be active for the series opener against the Cincinnati Reds, the team announced Monday. <\/p>\n

Every team in MLB is granted two additional roster spots for September, giving the clubs the chance to add one position player and one pitcher for the final post-season push. <\/p>\n

Kiner-Falefa was claimed by the Blue Jays on Sunday before the deadline for post-season-eligible players came to pass on Sept. 1. He told Sportsnet<\/a> on Monday that the team plans to use him in a bench utility role, and he said he offered to serve as emergency third catcher \u2014 a position he last played in the minors.<\/p>\n

“I’m willing to do whatever they need me to do for giving me this opportunity,” Kiner-Falefa said<\/a>. “I’m just excited to be here. I’ll be the best 10th man I can be. I take pride in that. I’m going to be doing everything I can to just provide energy, provide help. It’s the least I could do.”<\/p>\n

Beginning the year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kiner-Falefa suited up for 119 games while putting up a .264 batting average, one home run, 15 stolen bases and a .632 OPS.<\/p>\n

He spent the first half of last season with the Blue Jays before being dealt to the Pirates at the trade deadline. A career utility man, Kiner-Falefa provides the Jays with versatility across the infield. <\/p>\n

The 30-year-old will be coming off the bench in his first game back with the Jays. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, everyday centre fielder Daulton Varsho will make his return to the lineup, batting fifth.<\/p>\n

Varsho didn’t start on Saturday or Sunday after crashing into the outfield wall to make a catch on Friday against the Brewers. He was a defensive substitute in the ninth inning on Sunday, however.<\/p>\n

Tate, meanwhile, has spent most of the season pitching in triple-A. He last made an appearance with the MLB club on May 6. <\/p>\n

In five games with the Blue Jays this season, he has a 5.06 ERA and a 2.438 WHIP with seven strikeouts. However, he’s been steady for Buffalo, making 31 appearances while serving up a 2.06 ERA and 1.314 WHIP.<\/p>\n

In addition to the above moves, reliever Nick Sandlin was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Tate on the team’s 40-man roster.<\/p>\n

Sandlin has been dealing with right elbow inflammation since early July and was originally placed on the 15-day IL. <\/p>\n

The Blue Jays get set to open an inter-divisional series against the Reds, with coverage beginning on Sportsnet at 12:30 p.m. ET \/ 9:30 a.m. PT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and right-handed pitcher Dillon Tate have been added to the team’s major league roster and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-112479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}