Jays focus on restocking system at MLB Draft

The walls in Steve Sanders’ Rogers Centre office are bare.

There’s currently a similar motif going on at his Toronto condo, too.

Since being hired as the Blue Jays’ director of amateur scouting last September, decorating hasn’t been at the top of Sanders’ list of things to do.
Instead, he’s been focused on the cupboards, which he’ll be in charge of filling for the first time when the 2017 MLB Draft gets underway Monday.

With two first-round picks at his disposal – Nos. 22 and 28 – thanks to Edwin Encarnacion signing with the Cleveland Indians, Sanders is in an enviable position.

“Anytime you get two shots at the top group of guys, we’re just going to have another shot to add an impact player to the system, so we’re definitely excited for it,” Sanders said.

“For us, it’s our Super Bowl. It’s the culmination of a year’s, and a lot of cases more, work. It’s three days and a culmination of all of our efforts and we’re hopeful that it’ll bear fruit for all of our labour.”

After spending six years in the Boston Red Sox organization, ascending all the way to assistant amateur scouting director before the Blue Jays came calling, this is the first time Sanders will be calling the shots.

Working alongside the president and CEO Mark Shapiro, general manager Ross Atkins, senior VP of baseball operations and assistant GM Tony LaCava and VP of baseball operations Ben Cherington, also a key figure in the Red Sox front office during Sanders’ tenure in Boston, Sanders is excited to put his mark on the Jays’ minor-league system.

In addition to the pair of first-rounders Sanders & Co. will have to work with, the Blue Jays also pick at No. 61 and No. 99 in the first three rounds.

“Excitement is definitely the overriding feeling,” said Sanders, who moved from Boston to Toronto in February, but admits he hasn’t spent much time in his new city yet. 

“I think we’re all excited. We’ve been working for a long time for June 12, so I think we’re excited for it to come. Anytime you talk about something of this magnitude with the draft and the impact it can have on the organization, anxiety and nerves are natural to be part of the equation – especially for me doing it for the first time in this role.”

As the new Blue Jays regime has slowly put its pieces in place since Shapiro came aboard some 21 months ago, this draft could provide a lot of insight when it comes to the philosophies the organization will adhere to when it comes to drafting and developing talent.

High school or college?

High floor or high risk?

Arms or bats?

Sanders points to balance and weighing all the risk/reward scenarios that come with the different types of players available to them.

“I think our philosophy is more as it relates to process and how we reach decisions,” Sanders said. “I don’t think we, as an organization, or myself have a philosophy that’s going to lend itself to specific players or types of players. I think our philosophy as a group is going to be to take the best players that are available to us, especially at the top of the draft, that have an ability to impact this organization at the major-league level. 

“Some years that may be a college player, some years that may be a high school player. But putting ourselves in a position to take what the draft gives us and maximize the impact that we can have.”

Sanders knows all about impact, taking a moment to harken back to the 2011 draft, one that netted the Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes and catcher Blake Swihart in the first round, lefty Henry Owens and outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. in the supplemental round, 2016 AL MVP runner-up Mookie Betts in the fifth round, and third baseman Travis Shaw (since traded to the Milwaukee Brewers) in the ninth round.

“No matter how big or small a role any of us had in any one of those players that came up, I think, there’s definitely a sense of pride when it results in an impact player getting to the big-league level,” Sanders said. “It’s exciting and it’s validation for a lot of the work that we put in at every level, from our scouts to our player development staff to the front office, and everybody had a little piece in that. Despite now having them as division rivals, I think that’ll always be the case and I look forward to seeing that happen here.”

Armed with a total bonus spending pool of $8,231,000 to spread amongst its selections through 40 rounds – that figure places them 13th among MLB clubs with the most money to play with heading into the draft – the Blue Jays’ first-round slots are worth $2,795,200 and $2,302,900, individually, which gives Sanders some options when it comes to potentially adding high-end talent that ends up sliding due to signability factors.

The general consensus is that the strength of this year’s draft class lies in the college arms, while the college position player group is thin. Sanders doesn’t necessarily agree, pointing to a good balance of college options, alongside a mix of high-end high school bats and arms.

“The draft landscape is constantly changing,” Sanders said. “I think the draft looks differently now than it did four months ago – not in a good way or a bad way, just in a different way. Every draft has strengths and areas of weakness and depth, and this one’s no different. In a lot of ways, I would say now the draft actually looks more balanced than it did a few months ago. There’s a good group of college players, there’s a good group of high school players, and we’re confident that the players we’ll be looking at where we’re picking will be good ones.”

As for decorating, Sanders will get to that shortly.

“That’s for June 15,” he said with a smile. “Then I’ll start worrying about what to hang in here.”