When Josh Palacios showed up for work on Friday afternoon, he thought he must have done something wrong.

Palacios, an outfielder and the Blue Jays' No. 29 prospect per MLB Pipeline, was expecting to play in a game at the team’s spring complex in Dunedin, Fla. Then Casey Candaele, the manager of Triple-A Buffalo, called Palacios into his office with an urgent tone.

For a few minutes, Candaele and another coach toyed with Palacios, nitpicking elements of his game that he should be working on. They soon dropped the act.

“Just kidding, man,” Candaele said. “You’re going to the big leagues.”

Shock washed over Palacios, but he didn’t have much time for that because it was already 2 p.m. He filled the 11-minute drive from Toronto’s complex to TD Ballpark by calling his parents, his brother and his uncle, Rey, who played 101 games for the Royals from 1988-90. Then came the 25-year-old’s MLB debut, which was oddly familiar, given the venue.

“It felt like home,” Palacios said of playing at the makeshift MLB field in Dunedin. “I’ve been here for a whole season before, played many Spring Training games here, so it felt a lot more comfortable. I already knew the field, the atmosphere, how everything plays.”

Comfort on the field was one thing, but Palacios admits he was still a bit starstruck. Angels right fielder Dexter Fowler is someone he grew up watching and models his game after, plus Palacios appreciates the difference Fowler is making as a committee member with The Players Alliance.

Still, Palacios was too shy to make the first move in meeting one of his role models.

“I was a little nervous, I can’t lie,” Palacios said. “He was on the other team, I didn’t wanna be the guy, like, ‘Hey, what’s up Fowler? What’s up [Mike] Trout?’ It was kind of business once I got onto the field.”

Part of the reason Palacios was on the field was a pair of unforeseen absences in the Blue Jays’ outfield: George Springer has yet to debut due to a pair of injuries (left oblique strain, right quad tightness) and Teoscar Hernández was placed on the COVID-19 injured list on Friday.

Palacios operates with a mindset that anything can happen. He likes to treat every day as if he has already in the Majors. Finally, that mindset paid off.

“[Friday], I woke up thinking I was gonna be in the Minor Leagues,” Palacios said. “And then I went to sleep being the right fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays.”

Gurriel Jr. added to COVID-19 IL, Borucki back
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was removed from Friday’s game prior to the third inning as he dealt with side effects from his COVID-19 vaccination. Those side effects have lingered enough for him to land on the COVID-19 IL.

“He wasn’t feeling good last night when we took him out of the game, he had a tough time sleeping and stuff, and so he wasn’t feeling great today,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “That’s why we had to send him home.”

Montoyo added that most people seem to feel better after 48 hours -- with the caveat that “everybody’s different" -- which means Gurriel might be available for Sunday’s series finale. Gurriel has been slow out of the gate this season (5-for-26, 1 RBI, no extra-base hits), but he’ll be missed by a lineup that was already without two of its best bats.

Lefty Ryan Borucki was taken off the COVID-19 IL on Saturday and feels “normal,” Montoyo said. In a corresponding move, Ty Tice was optioned to the alternate training site one day after making his MLB debut (two scoreless innings, one hit, one walk and one hit batter).

Infielder Santiago Espinal was also recalled from the alternate site and was scheduled to make his season debut at third base.