Anthony Santander got his first hit of the season Friday, a 106 mph line-drive single.

It came during Triple-A Buffalo's 2-1 loss to the Charlotte Knights, his second rehab game with the Bisons.

He'd gone 0-for-4 as DH on Wednesday. This time, Santander manned left field, his first defensive action of the entire rehab assignment.

He popped out in his other two plate appearances, seeing just three total pitches across those trips.

Defensively, he made one play in left, catching a soft liner on the run, before being replaced by Rhylan Thomas in the bottom of the seventh.

That hard-hit single is the real headline here. A 106 mph exit velocity shows genuine bat speed returning, even in a game where the rest of the results were quiet.

Manager John Schneider said Santander is set to continue his rehab through the middle of next week.

Why this progress matters after two lost seasons

Santander underwent left shoulder surgery in February and hasn't appeared in a single game for Toronto in 2026.

He also missed most of 2025 with an injury to that same shoulder, meaning this rehab stint represents his first real defensive action in a long stretch.

Before joining the Blue Jays, he built a genuine track record over eight seasons with the Orioles, capped by a Silver Slugger and a career-high 44 home runs in 2024.

None of that production has translated to Toronto yet, given how much of his tenure has been consumed by injury.

Both the hard contact and the clean defensive rep are exactly the kind of building blocks Toronto needs to see before considering an actual activation.

There's still no firm timeline attached to when he might rejoin the big-league roster, with next week's rehab schedule the next real checkpoint.

For a Blue Jays offense that's needed power all season, even incremental signs like a 106 mph single carry real weight right now.