Toronto Blue Jays Top 34 Prospects
Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Toronto Blue Jays. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. This is the second year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers.
A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.
All of the numbered prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here.
Editor’s Note: Gunnar Hoglund (previously ranked third on this list), Zach Logue (10th), Kevin Smith (16th), and Kirby Snead (26th) were removed from this list following their acquisition by the Oakland Athletics as part of the Matt Chapman trade. They can now be found on the A’s list.
Luis Meza was added to the list after signing with the club in January.
Rk | Name | Age | Highest Level | Position | ETA | FV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Gabriel Moreno | 22.1 | AAA | C | 2022 | 60 |
2 | Orelvis Martinez | 20.3 | A+ | 3B | 2023 | 55 |
3 | Leo Jimenez | 20.8 | A | SS | 2022 | 45 |
4 | Jordan Groshans | 22.4 | AA | 3B | 2023 | 45 |
5 | CJ Van Eyk | 23.5 | A+ | SP | 2023 | 40+ |
6 | Ricky Tiedemann | 18.9 | R | SP | 2026 | 40+ |
7 | Rikelbin De Castro | 19.2 | R | SS | 2024 | 40+ |
8 | Sem Robberse | 20.4 | A+ | SP | 2024 | 40+ |
9 | Bowden Francis | 25.9 | AAA | SP | 2022 | 40 |
10 | Otto Lopez | 23.5 | MLB | 2B | 2022 | 40 |
11 | Manuel Beltre | 17.8 | R | SS | 2025 | 40 |
12 | Dahian Santos | 19.1 | A | SP | 2024 | 40 |
13 | Estiven Machado | 19.5 | R | 2B | 2024 | 40 |
14 | Hagen Danner | 23.5 | A+ | SIRP | 2022 | 40 |
15 | Miguel Hiraldo | 21.5 | A | 3B | 2022 | 40 |
16 | Hayden Juenger | 21.6 | A+ | SIRP | 2025 | 40 |
17 | Yosver Zulueta | 24.2 | A | SIRP | 2023 | 40 |
18 | Joey Murray | 25.5 | AA | MIRP | 2022 | 40 |
19 | Adam Kloffenstein | 21.6 | A+ | SP | 2023 | 40 |
20 | Irv Carter | 19.5 | R | SP | 2026 | 35+ |
21 | Kendry Rojas | 19.3 | R | SIRP | 2026 | 35+ |
22 | Chad Dallas | 21.7 | R | MIRP | 2025 | 35+ |
23 | Luis Meza | 17.4 | R | C | 2027 | 35+ |
24 | Sebastian Espino | 21.8 | A+ | 3B | 2023 | 35+ |
25 | Zac Cook | 23.9 | A+ | CF | 2024 | 35+ |
26 | Trent Palmer | 23.0 | A | MIRP | 2024 | 35+ |
27 | Gabriel Martinez | 20.7 | A | RF | 2023 | 35+ |
28 | Tanner Morris | 24.5 | A+ | LF | 2023 | 35+ |
29 | Graham Spraker | 27.0 | AAA | SIRP | 2022 | 35+ |
30 | Jackson Rees | 27.6 | AAA | SIRP | 2022 | 35+ |
31 | Nick Frasso | 23.4 | A | SP | 2024 | 35+ |
32 | Chavez Young | 24.7 | AA | CF | 2022 | 35+ |
33 | Samad Taylor | 23.7 | AA | 2B | 2022 | 35+ |
34 | Cameron Eden | 24.0 | A+ | CF | 2024 | 35+ |
Other Prospects of Note
Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category.
Young Sleepers
Yeuni Munoz, RF
Amell Brazoban, RF
Yhoangel Aponte, CF
Rainer Nunez, 1B
Jaden Rudd, CF
This group largely consists of young, developmental prospects. Munoz, who only turned 18 in October, is a compactly-built, well-rounded young player without big physical projection. Brazoban, 20, has average present raw power and room for more on his frame. Aponte, still 17, actually has a little less room for physical projection than Brazoban but impressed scouts during instructs coming off a decent year in the DSL. The ultra-stiff Nunez, 21, has the best max exit velo and barrel rate in this entire system, but he’s been at the complex level or below since 2018 and the track record for guys who spend that much time in rookie ball is not good. Rudd was Toronto’s 2021 seventh rounder out of a high school in Florida (though he was born in the U.K.) and is a slash-and-dash center field prospect to monitor.
Shot-in-the-Dark Arms
James Dykstra, RHP
Roither Hernandez, RHP
Eliander Alcalde, RHP
Keiner Leon, RHP
Naswell Paulino, LHP
Luis Quinones, RHP
Dykstra, 31, sits 94-95, has a plus curveball, and is super deceptive, but he’s had real issues staying healthy. Hernandez and Quinones still both have impact fastballs, Hernandez’s due to velo and Quinones’ due to underlying traits. They’re both well into their mid-20s now and haven’t developed as strike-throwers. Alcalde is only 5-foot-9, so to say he lacks prototypical projection is an understatement, but his arm strength (he sits about 90) and command are still pretty good for an 18-year-old. Leon was 17 all year and carved the DSL with a data-friendly fastball/slurve combo. Paulino is a converted outfielder who had two consecutive seasons of velo growth after moving to the mound, but that plateaued in 2021 and it looks like the cement on his heater is going to dry in the 92-93 range, definitely below the current relief pitcher standard.
Spot Start Types
Adrian Hernandez, RHP
Michael Dominguez, RHP
Jeremy Beasley, RHP
Eric Pardinho, RHP
Hernandez is a squat righty with a dandy changeup and a 30-grade fastball, sitting about 90-91. He reached Double-A as a 21-year-old throwing changeups 50% of the time, and could end up like César Valdez, but it’s more likely he’s spot-starting depth given this org’s present needs. Dominguez, also 21, missed a bunch of the year and got Fall League Reps, sitting 90-94 with an average slider and below-average change. Beasley reached the upper levels with Anaheim and had a cup of coffee with Arizona, then came to Toronto and had a four-tick velo spike out of the bullpen, while also reshaping his pitch usage to more heavily feature his slider. Pardinho is a cautionary tale about projectionless amateur prospects, as he’s barely thrown at all since 2018 for a variety of reasons, mostly injury-related.
Bench Types
Josh Palacios, RF
Damiano Palmegiani, 2B
Vinny Capra, UTIL
Luis De Los Santos, SS
Dasan Brown, CF
Cullen Large, UTIL
We like Palacios’ competitiveness and on-field makeup enough to consider him a luxury upper-level org player, but guys who play the role his skill set allows for and do so consistently on a big league roster tend to be better center field defenders than he is. Palmegiani is a Canadian prospect who was drafted out of the College of Southern Nevada. He has some pop and plays all over, but isn’t a good defender anywhere. Capra and Large have been solid on-paper performers into the upper levels and have bench ceilings. De Los Santos and Brown are toolsier but raw.
System Overview
The José Berríos trade cost the Blue Jays two of their top prospects in Simeon Woods Richardson and Austin Martin. That’s a good use of resources, even if it does knock the Jays down a few pegs on our overall farm system rankings. As is, there’s still plenty of potential star power: Moreno has a case as the game’s best catching prospect outside of Adley Rutschman, Orelvis Martinez has big-league explosiveness, and Hoglund was arguably the draft’s most tantalizing pitching prospect before his elbow barked.
If it seems like there’s a big gap between fifth and sixth on this list, you’re on to something. The next tier down is loaded with volatile players and this section could look quite different next season. Big years from Tiedemann and Robberse wouldn’t be a huge surprise; on the flip side, some of the more established pitchers in their orbit have significant red flags and could slide back if they don’t throw more strikes (Van Eyck), and the same is true if the hitters don’t hit (Jimenez and the teenagers). Don’t get too attached to the ordering we have here.
The back half of our list is chalk-full of high-minors relievers and up-the-middle reserves. That’s a luxury for a contender, and the assembled depth should go a long way toward ameliorating the short-term injury woes that inevitably strike every club at some point. There are also enough guys with either interesting data points or a scout who likes them that you’d think at least one of our 40 FV or lower types will break out in 2022.
I’m fascinated by Chad Dallas. He’s very likely not a star, but I wonder if he could carve out a Bronson Arroyo-ish career as a junkballing right hander. That’s still definitely a high-end outcome for a guy with a 40 fastball but it’s hard to imagine a guy with a slider never hitting the majors, not even as a middle reliever.
Unrelated: Chad Dallas is how I refer to every guy out in Uptown Dallas on a Saturday night before I know their real name.
cool story, Chad.