The Blue Jays’ system is way down right now after they used their system heavily to supplement the roster that came within two outs of a World Series win. In addition, the lack of results from their 2021-22 drafts has also left a gap in the upper levels.
(Note: Tools are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale; ages as of July 1, 2026. EV = exit velocity.)
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 225 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
I don’t want to overrate Yesavage based on a few incredible starts in September and October, but I don’t want to ignore them, either. At the very least, it looks like he’s ready to step right into a big-league rotation thanks to an improved slider and a ton of confidence in his stuff. Yesavage was Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick out of East Carolina, where he dominated with a plus splitter and a mid-90s fastball with good carry, throwing both from a very high slot that gives the fastball more riding life and generally makes it harder for hitters to pick the ball up out of his hand. The Blue Jays have leaned into this, raising his arm slot a little more and giving him the highest release point of any current MLB starter, while also helping him improve his slider by throwing it much harder, over 2 mph faster than it was in college. That meant that in one playoff start against Seattle, when he didn’t have his splitter, he had another weapon as a fallback option rather than just throwing fastball after fastball.
The separating factor for Yesavage will be his command; he’s succeeding much more with stuff than location or control right now, and that arm slot generally (but not always) makes it hard to repeat a delivery. If he’s healthy, he should be at least a solid No. 3/above-average starter, with further upside dependent on improved command.
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 200 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 19
The No. 8 pick in the 2025 draft, Parker is an outstanding hitter for contact who barely swung and missed on the showcase circuit in 2024, when he was facing some of the best prep arms in the country. He controls the strike zone well, has excellent hand-eye coordination and takes a short path to the ball that ensures he’ll put it in play at a high rate. He can drift over his front side through contact, losing some power there, although that’s a correctable issue. He’s a shortstop now and has very good hands for the infield, but he’s not going to have plus range and probably gets pushed to third base.
I’d be shocked if he doesn’t at least hit for high averages right out of the gate in pro ball. If you were looking for someone to be the next Kevin McGonigle from the 2025 draft class, it would be Parker.
Arjun Nimmala has plus power potential for a middle infielder. (Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 190 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 20
Nimmala tore out of the gate to start 2025, hitting .289/.372/.528 when the sun rose on June 1 with just an 18 percent strikeout rate, but it didn’t last, leading to a mixed second full year in pro ball. A combination of nagging injuries, fatigue and pitchers adjusting to him without him adjusting back led to a collapse in production. He hit just .184/.277/.290 the rest of the year, with a 24 percent strikeout rate that was still a huge reduction from the prior year. Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick, Nimmala was only 17 on draft day, and spent all of 2025 in High A at age 19, making him the fourth-youngest regular at that level — and two of the younger players ahead of him are on the top-100 list (Leo De Vries and Franklin Arias).
He still has plus power, improved his contact rate while moving up a level and projects to stick at shortstop. He’ll play all of 2026 at age 20, probably in Double A, and I expect him to continue to progress after an offseason of recovery. If he hits enough to get to his power, his profile is 25-plus homers with plus defense at short.
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 210 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 19
The Jays’ third-round pick in 2024 out of a Florida high school, King debuted in the Florida Complex League last year and was outstanding in seven short outings, throwing 24 innings where he walked seven and struck out 41 of 98 batters. He struggled with control after a promotion to Low A, walking 17.8 percent of batters he faced there in 37 2/3 innings, which is why he’s not on the top-100 list. The stuff is there. He sits 92-94 with a four- and two-seamer, throws a two-plane curveball that got a 61.5 percent whiff rate in Low A, spins an above-average slider and has the rudiments of a changeup, although it’s by far his weakest pitch.
His delivery is wildly inconsistent, leading to the issues with control, and he tends to release the ball too early and too high. He also has a stiff landing where he can spin off his front heel or hop off the ground entirely. (He does come back down eventually.) His arm swing is fine, and it’s not unreasonable to think that the Jays can help him fix those lower-half issues, especially since he’s still 19 and pretty athletic. If they do that, he’ll be on the top-100 list a year from now.
5. Ricky Tiedemann, LHPHeight: 6-4 | Weight: 220 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 23
Tiedemann last appeared in a game in July 2024. He’d already missed two months to injury that year before undergoing Tommy John surgery. He’s supposed to be ready to go for spring training. The Blue Jays added him to their 40-man roster this winter and will probably be on a very conservative program given how little he’s pitched in pro ball. He threw 78 innings in his first season in 2022, which is more than he’s thrown in total since, and that remains the only year when he was truly effective.
When healthy, he has big-time stuff from the left side, sitting 95-97, touching 99, with two potential above-average pitches in a sweepy slider and a changeup with some hard fading action. His delivery morphed starting in 2023, probably because that’s when the injuries began, and I noted in the fall of 2023 that his shoulder was staying open too long, putting too much pressure on his arm. I still think relief is the most likely outcome here, given (waves hands furiously) everything, but it makes more sense to bring him along as a starter so they can manage his rest between outings.
6. Gage Stanifer, RHPHeight: 6-3 | Weight: 208 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Stanifer added over 2 mph to his fastball last year. As a result, he improved everything in his arsenal while even getting more carry on the four-seamer. His slider missed a ton of bats, with sharp downward break despite just average spin rates. He has one of the shortest arm actions I’ve ever seen on a starter, and his ability to repeat it is just fair. His transformation wasn’t just limited to stuff, as he went from walking 18.1 percent of batters he faced in 2024 in Low A to walking 12.8 percent last year across three levels, mostly High A. It’s still fringy control, and I don’t love the delivery, but he is strong and seems to make that arm action work for him enough to have three pitches, with enough feel that I have to set my personal distaste aside and view him as a potential No. 4 starter.
7. Yohendrick Pinango, OFHeight: 5-11 | Weight: 170 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 24
Acquired from the Cubs at the 2024 trade deadline, Pinango cut his swing rate and chase substantially last year, destroying Double A and flashing elite power in Triple A, with a peak EV at 115 mph. He had some bad luck on balls in play in Triple A, hitting .235/.335/.379 despite a hard-hit rate of 48 percent, and also made some of his own luck by taking too many strikes. He swung at only 18 percent of the first pitches he saw last year, and, I mean, we all love Juan Soto, but sometimes that’s the best pitch you’ll see the whole at-bat. He’s a fringy defender in an outfield corner, so he’s got to hit. In one of the stranger roster stories I can think of, the Blue Jays did not put Pinango on their 40-man roster in October, allowing him to declare minor-league free agency. He re-signed with the Jays, but remained off the 40-man roster, so he was Rule 5 eligible, and no one selected him. I wouldn’t have protected someone like Davis Schneider over him, and there are at least a half-dozen clubs who could have easily carried him this year.
8. Jake Bloss, RHPHeight: 6-3 | Weight: 223 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 25
Bloss would probably have spent at least part of the 2025 season in the Jays’ rotation, but after finishing 2024 pitching with reduced stuff following an IL stint for shoulder inflammation, he came up sore in spring training and had Tommy John surgery in May. When healthy, he showed five pitches, topping out at 98, with nothing plus but most of his pitches average to above-average, led by a slider and curveball that showed good spin rates. I wrote last year that I thought he could become a fourth starter by learning how to mix all of his pitches more effectively to get better hitters out, since he doesn’t have a single out-pitch. If his stuff returns intact, that would still be his likely upside.
9. Victor Arias, OFHeight: 5-9 | Weight: 150 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 22
Arias had a modest breakout season in 2024 and then took off in the first half of last year before a quick promotion and an injury to end the season. He hit .294/.381/.437 in High A last year for 66 games, then moved up to Double A and hit .226/.293/.331 as he had difficulty with anything that wasn’t a fastball. He’s very strong, built like a running back, and has gotten his EV to 113 mph. It hasn’t translated into in-game power yet, as he gets so uphill that he’s often on top of the ball, posting a 54 percent ground-ball rate last year. Arias is an above-average runner who can stick in center. He finished 2025 on the IL and may not be ready for the start of 2026, which may be how he also passed through the Rule 5 draft unselected.
10. Brandon Barriera, LHPHeight: 6-2 | Weight: 180 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 22
Barriera, the Blue Jays’ 2022 first-round pick, had Tommy John surgery with the addition of an internal brace in 2024. He threw just once in a game that season for 1 1/3 innings, then returned to make five rehab appearances in the Florida Complex League last year and only made it out of the first inning twice. He had a small fracture in his ulna, so his season ended on the IL again. He has been throwing this offseason and is sitting 93-94 with minimal effort, raising some hope that he can be the guy he was in the spring of 2024 when he had substantially improved his conditioning and was lighting up the Blue Jays’ camp. He was sitting mid-90s then with a plus curveball and changeup, while his command and control lagged — a typical profile for a high school pitcher taken in the first round. I can start this sentence with “if healthy,” and you can finish it with any phrase you’d like.
Jake Cook converted from the mound to the outfield at Southern Miss. (Bobby Mcduffie / Cal Sport Media via Associated Press)
11. Jake Cook, OFHeight: 6-3 | Weight: 185 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 22
The Blue Jays’ second pick in 2025 (in the third round), Cook was a pitcher until the spring of that year, when Southern Miss moved him to the outfield to try to take advantage of his 80 speed. (Also, he wasn’t a very good pitcher.) He hit .350/.436/.468 with a 6.7 percent strikeout rate, using a very handsy swing that doesn’t generate power or even very hard contact. Despite his elite speed, he only stole three bases in eight attempts, as he hasn’t developed any instincts or acumen for baserunning yet. He’s super twitchy and athletic and kind of a blank canvas for player development, with crazy tools and minimal time with his current swing and approach.
I compared him at the draft to a high schooler in a college player’s body, and I think that’s still apt: He has a ton of growth potential in how he plays the game, and we’re not waiting on his body to mature and fill out. He could be more than the next Chandler Simpson or Kendall George.
12. Fernando Perez, RHPHeight: 6-3 | Weight: 170 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Hailing from Nicaragua, Perez had just a 5.6 percent walk rate last year between High A and Double A while setting career highs with 26 starts and 121 1/3 innings. He’s an efficient pitcher who fills the zone with average stuff — 91-94 with a fringy slider and a 50/55 changeup. He gets some bad swings out of the zone, but not much miss. He has a curveball, but used it far less in 2025 than 2024. I think he’ll eventually want to reincorporate that pitch and maybe even try a cutter as more weapons to keep hitters off-balance. Changing speeds and locations will be key for him as long as he doesn’t have a plus pitch or above-average velocity. I love watching pitchers like this, who just go after hitters with control and command and an actual plan of attack. His ceiling is limited, unfortunately, perhaps with a fourth starter upside if he doesn’t become homer-prone at higher levels.
13. Sam Shaw, OF/2BHeight: 5-10 | Weight: 180 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 21
Shaw was the Jays’ ninth-round pick in 2023 out of a high school in British Columbia and debuted in full-season ball last year, showing strong plate discipline and the speed to stick in center field, while not showing much power. He probably needs to swing the bat more. He’s veering into passive territory, with a swing rate on strikes of just 61 percent. The good news is he rarely chases (21 percent) and rarely whiffs on fastballs (11 percent). He’s played center field and second base, looking adequate at the keystone but more comfortable in the outfield. He doesn’t project to hit for much power, and his exit velocity data was below average, with a max EV of 106.8 while he was with Low-A Dunedin, so it’s a leadoff profile with contact and walks but maybe single-digit homer totals. The Jays promoted him to High A in July, but after seven games that included an 0-for-18 stretch, he went on the IL with a blood clot, ending his season. He should be good to go for spring training.
14. RJ Schreck, OFHeight: 6-1 | Weight: 205 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 25
Picked up in the 2024 trade that sent Justin Turner to Seattle, Schreck is an older hitter who just reached Triple A for the first time last year, about a month before he turned 25. He showed high walk totals with moderate power at just about every stop up the ladder. Originally drafted as a fifth-year player out of Vanderbilt in 2023, he’s been old for his levels almost everywhere since he signed. He doesn’t chase much, and in general doesn’t swing as much as you’d like, so the profile is more walk-first, with a lot of weaker contact and too much miss on pitches in the zone. He’s played all over the outfield and is best suited to a corner. He could be a solid fourth outfielder who can move all over and is a good on-base guy against righties, while he’s not hopeless against lefties. I have a hard time seeing more, given how much he’s faced off against younger or less experienced arms.
15. Josh Kasevich, SSHeight: 6-1 | Weight: 200 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 25
Kasevich was the No. 4 prospect in the Blue Jays’ system a year ago, but a stress reaction in his lower back ruined his year, limiting him to 29 games in Triple A, where he hit .173/.272/.184. He is a true shortstop with excellent bat-to-ball skills and has been showing harder contact in the last two seasons. Even in a washout 2025, he still peaked at 109.5 mph EV. He was putting the ball on the ground way too often before last year, but in 2025’s small sample — when he probably wasn’t 100 percent — he hit too many flyballs the other way, which are nearly always outs. He played in the Arizona Fall League and still didn’t seem to be himself, drawing a ton of walks (not hard to do when every other pitcher out there looks like Steve Blass) and hitting ground balls again. I was pretty sanguine about him at least becoming a solid regular, maybe a 55, off his 2024 season, and I’d like to believe that player was suppressed last year by the back injury.
16. Blaine Bullard, OFHeight: 6-2 | Weight: 180 | Bats: B | Throws: L | Age: 19
Bullard got the second-biggest bonus the Blue Jays handed out in last year’s draft, signing for nearly $1.7 million as their 12th-round pick out of a Houston-area high school. He’s a plus runner and plus defender in center who surprised even the Jays with the power he flashed in the bridge league after signing, hitting a couple of loud home runs there thanks to his above-average bat speed. He’s a lean 6-foot-2 right now, with some projection, although he’ll probably end up more wiry-strong than jacked. A switch-hitting center fielder with speed and maybe average in-game power is a valuable player, a regular on many clubs. If he hits well this year, that outcome will look more realistic.
17. Juan Sanchez, 3B/SSHeight: 6-3 | Weight: 180 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 18
Sanchez has the makings of a great right-handed swing for contact and power, already showing some of that in the Dominican Summer League last year, where he tied for eighth with eight home runs. He’s already shifted away from shortstop, playing more games at third than short last year, with at least a 60 arm that will play just fine at the hot corner. His approach was solid for a 17-year-old, although his .439 OBP was boosted by the 12 times he was hit by pitches, so it’s not indicative of great patience or discipline. Once he fills out, he might have enormous raw power, with a swing that’s already going to let him pull the ball in the air.
18. Micah Bucknam, RHPHeight: 6-1 | Weight: 212 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Bucknam was born in New Zealand and grew up in Canada, so, of course, the Jays drafted him, although he was at Dallas Baptist by that point. He moved to DBU’s rotation last year and struck out nearly 30 percent of hitters, working 94-95 with two above-average breaking balls. His arm action is very short, and he needs a proper changeup, as his current one is too firm and close to the fastball, which won’t be enough to hold lefties in check. A changeup or comparable pitch, along with some improvement in his control, could make him a fourth starter.
19. Tim Piasentin, 3BHeight: 6-3 | Weight: 200 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 19
Piasentin is also Canadian, in case you weren’t picking up on the theme here, coming to the Blue Jays in the fifth round last year out of an Alberta high school, so at least they’re spreading out their picks across various provinces. (I’ll be impressed when they find someone from PEI.) He’s very strong with good bat speed, hitting with a too-upright stance that makes him stiffer than he needs to be as he swings, even though he does take a medium-length stride to try to get his lower half involved. He’s at third base now, with right field a more likely eventual position.
Adam Macko will make history if he reaches the big leagues as the first player raised in Slovakia to play in MLB. (Diamond Images via Getty Images)
20. Adam Macko, LHPHeight: 6-0 | Weight: 170 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 25
Macko missed the start of the 2025 season after knee surgery, returning to Triple A in early June to be sort of mediocre as a starter, then moved to the bullpen and saw mostly better results. He works with four pitches, with the slider and curveball probably 55s and his fastball 92-94 as a starter. His command and control have always lagged behind his stuff. He gained almost a full mile per hour on the fastball when he moved to relief and was in the zone much more often, and hitters chased more of his pitches out of the zone, including the fastball. He should make his MLB debut this year, which would make him the first Slovakian-born big leaguer since 1961 and the first to grow up there in MLB history.
Others of note
Infielder Adrian Pinto played just 19 games last year as he was injured once again, the third year in a row he’s failed to play in even 40 games. His career high remains his debut season in the DSL in 2021, when he was still with the Rockies and played 54 games. He can run a little and has some pop despite his diminutive stature, although the seven homers he hit last year in High A are not indicative of actual future power. I can’t say he’s a future regular with these injury issues, and his size was always working against him, but he could be a good super-utility type who backs up multiple positions and adds speed off the bench … Right-hander Landen Maroudis returned last year from a July 2024 procedure that put an internal brace in his throwing elbow, but he was only sitting 90-91 and walked more than a man an inning in Low A. I don’t want to write him off just yet, but if his velocity and control don’t improve in 2026, the odds are they’re not going to … Catcher Edward Duran might be a backup, still more tools than performance on either side of the ball, hitting well in Low A as a 21-year-old last year but with much less production after he was at an age-appropriate level in High A later in the season.
2026 impact
Yesavage is in the Blue Jays’ rotation and should be on the short list of Rookie of the Year candidates coming into the season.
The fallen
Outfielder Enmanuel Bonilla signed with the Jays in January 2023 for a $4.1 million bonus, then showed further promise with a .307/.407/.429 line in the DSL that summer. He hasn’t hit now in two summers in the Florida Complex League, with a batting average of exactly .186 each year, OBPs of .257 and .260, and no power, along with a reduced strikeout rate last year that was still over 27 percent.
Sleeper
Cook is fascinating. I have never seen a player with his combination of tools, athleticism and total inexperience.