2019 MLB Prospect Report: Toronto Blue Jays

A couple of years ago the Blue Jays had things rolling with two-straight playoff appearances, an AL East title, and two trips to the ALCS. The last two years however haven’t gone according to plan as injuries across the roster sapped a lot of their firepower and their dependability on the mound, finishing fourth in the vaunted AL East both years. But don’t fret Blue Jays faithful, they have a lot of help on the way. This is by far one of the deepest, most-talented systems out there and pairing it down to just 10-12 players to talk about was very tough to do. A brand-new core of talented youngsters shouldn’t just open the window for them to compete, it should break down the door too.

Minor League Affiliates

Rankings

Top-100 Prospects – 5

Organization Rank – 7^th

Divisional Rank – 2^nd

Top Prospects in the System

1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3B) - If you haven’t heard of Guerrero Jr. or his exploits down on the farm last year then I’m not really sure where you’ve been for the last year but welcome back to the party. In 95 games last year in the minors he slashed .381/.437/.636 with 20 homers, 78 RBI, 67 run and three steals between mostly Double-A and Triple-A. It’s clear that he has an incredibly elite hit tool, in fact it grades at 80 on the 20-80 scale, and in Triple-A he showed off his knowledge of the strike zone as he walked more than he struck out and in 91 games between Double-A and Triple-A, Guerrero walked 36 times and struck out 37. There is no doubt that he is a generational hitter the way that Trout and Harper were before him but there is still a chance that he takes time to adjust to the major leagues and starts off slowly. The only knock on him at this point is his defense at third base. He’s not a bad defender in the least but he has a tendency to be lazy at times and let some balls go that he should have no problems getting to. Defense doesn’t matter in fantasy, but it does play a role in him getting playing time and him getting called up to the bigs as well. Overall, he’s the best prospect in baseball in quite some time and is not one to be missed if he’s available in your league.

ETA: 2019

2. Bo Bichette (SS) – In most systems, Bichette would be hands down the best prospect, however the guy we just talked about is still in the minors and in the same system. Bichette is another son of a former major leaguer with his father being Dante Bichette. The shortstop played all of 2018 at Double-A New Hampshire at 20 years old and he too put up monstrous stats in the 131-game campaign. He slashed .286/.343/.453 with 11 homers, 95 runs, 74 RBI and 32 steals while striking out just 17-percent of the time. The 6’0”, 200 lbs. shortstop has the hit tools to play in the majors and be an impact bat at basically any spot in the order but there are questions about his defense. In those 131 games at Double-A he played almost all of them at short, nine at second as well, and posted a total of 27 errors, 25 at short. That is simply far too many errors at a key defensive spot in the infield. Now he did turn 79 double plays in that span as well which was nearly double what he did in all of 2017 while playing in 30 less games across Class-A and High-A. He is still very young, as is Vlad Jr., who is just about to be 20, and will start the 2019 season at Triple-A, and likely stay there all season based on how they are treating their top guys and trying to gain extra years of control from them, but he is another guy not to miss who will likely move to second base full time to help the defense.

ETA: 2020

3. Danny Jansen (C) – With the trade of Russell Martin to L.A. this offseason, this means that Jansen is the starting catcher for the Jays to start the 2019 season. He got a taste of the majors at the end of last year with a 31-game stint in Toronto following 88 games in Buffalo at Triple-A. In the minors he slashed .275/.390/.473 with 12 HR, 58 RBI, 45 runs, and five steals while walking (12.2-percent) nearly as often as striking out (13.6-percent). Jansen has managed to put up OBP marks that are nearly 100 points higher than his batting average nearly every step of his career which is great to see from a young hitter. There was only a 41-game stretch in his entire minor league career in which his BB-percentage is below double-digits and it was nearly at 10-percent in the 31 games in the majors last year as well. He’s improved in his receiving and pitch framing to the point where it’s adequate and his defense shows good blocking technique. The arm is fringy though throwing out five of 33 would-be base stealers in the 31 games at the majors last year and nine of 39 at Triple-A and a pop time of 2.08 seconds. The Jays are clearly enamored with his bat from behind the plate and the defense will be secondary as long as it’s at least average. The hype train is building around him and the dreaded helium is getting strong so if you want to take a shot on him, you may have to grab him sooner than you think.

ETA: 2019

4. Nate Pearson (RHP) – The first thing to know about the 22-year-old right-hander is that he has one of, if not, the best fastballs among starters in the minors. He routinely hits triple-digits with it in starts and it has run as well and not just velocity. The second thing to know is that his slider is nearly as good of a pitch as the heater is. It sits in the upper-80s with glove-side bite to it that simply eats right-handers alive at the plate. There are two other pitches in the arsenal as well with a 12-to-6 curveball that he can land for strikes as well as bury below the zone while making it look like a strike and he’s still developing a changeup that should be a slightly-above-average offering when all is said and done. At 6’6” and 245 lbs. he has the frame of a frontline starter and the stuff to match. He knows how to use that height to get downhill plane that keeps the pitches down and get on top of hitters and knows how to repeat the delivery to keep his command and control up, though he’s still working on those. Drafted in 2017, Pearson has thrown just 21.2 innings in pro ball mainly because a broken forearm from a comebacker last May sidelined him until the Arizona Fall League. Once he gets on the mound for good he should be a quick riser through the system and be at the top of the Jays rotation in a year or two.

ETA: 2020

5. Eric Pardinho (RHP) – Pardinho comes out of Brazil and was signed in July of 2017 for $1.4 million as one of the top-five prospects in the international class. The righty is a slight-of-frame pitcher at this point being 5’10” and 155 lbs., but he is only 18 years old still, having turned 18 in January, so there is still a chance that he grows and adds weight. That being said, he isn’t lacking for velocity in his pitches with a fastball that sits 92-94 mph and hits 96 mph with late life that makes it a plus-pitch. The second pitch in his repertoire is a plus-curveball has tight spin and good depth. Pardinho does have two other pitches in his arsenal in a slider that was just added in 2018 and a changeup, both of which are average right now but should improve with more use and better coaching. Even though he was only 17 years old at the time, the Jays decided to send the young Brazilian to their Rookie-ball team in Bluefield West Virginia because of his advanced feel for pitching and the move paid off. He threw 50 innings in the Appalachian League in 11 starts and pitched to a 2.88 ERA (3.75 FIP), 11.52 K/9, 2.88 BB/9, and a .274 BABIP. It is a small sample size but that 11.52 K/9 works out to a 31.5-percent K-rate and overall he posted a 64:16 K:BB ratio. With the feel and advanced stuff that Pardinho possesses he may be a fast mover through the system especially as the window to compete becomes wide open starting in 2020.

ETA: 2021

Others To Watch In The System

Jordan Groshans (SS/3B)

• Groshans was drafted out of the Texas prep ranks at 12^th overall in the 2018 draft and was moved to Rookie-ball right away.
• In 48 minor league games in 2018 he hit .296/.353/.446 with five homers, 43 RBI, and 21 runs with a 17.8-percent K-rate and 7.2-percent BB-rate
• He has the offensive profile to play third base and long-term that is likely his defensive home as well as he doesn’t have the range or the fluid motion needed to stick at short stop long-term

ETA: 2022

Kevin Smith (SS/3B)

• 2018 was a breakthrough season for Smith as he slashed .302/.358/.528 with 25 HR, 93 R, 93 RBI, and 29 steals in 129 games across Class-A and High-A
• He made swing adjustments between 2017-2018 to give him a shorter, more leveraged swing and it paid off immediately
• Smith plays above-average defense at shortstop with soft hands and a plus-arm but with so many shortstops in the system he may be moved off of it to possibly second base at some point

ETA: 2020

Adam Kloffenstein (RHP)

• A high school teammate of Jordan Groshans, he was taken in the third-round of the 2018 draft as a future number two starter candidate
• He works with a low-90s sinking two-seam fastball as well as a four-seamer that hits 96, a 55-grade slider that is hard and tight and morphs in a big looping curve when he wants it, and a 55-grade changeup to keep hitters off-balance
• The 6’5”, 245 lbs. righty repeats his delivery well and has the strength in his frame to be durable and an innings eating number two starter type

ETA: 2022

Cavan Biggio (2B/OF)

• The son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, Cavan was drafted in the fifth round of the 2016 draft out of Notre Dame
• In 132 games at Double-A New Hampshire in 2018, Biggio slashed .252/.388/.499 with 26 homers, 23 doubles, five triples, 99 RBI, 80 runs and 20 steals with 100 walks and 148 strikeouts
• He grades out as a versatile utility man in the majors who specializes in drawing walks and having 55-grade raw power

ETA: 2019

Griffin Conine (OF)

• Selected in the second-round of the 2018 June draft out of Duke after his Junior year and is the son of former major leaguer Jeff Conine
• He has a lot of raw power and good bat speed that combine for good loft in his left-handed swing to drive the ball to all fields; Put up seven homers in 57 games in Rookie-ball and Short-season A-Ball in 2018
• Conine has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game with 65 strikeouts in those 57 games but has a cannon of an arm in right field (10 outfield assists in Short-season A-ball) and profiles there long-term.

ETA: 2021