Toronto Blue Jays prospects had a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League with the Mesa Solar Sox, as three were named All-Stars for the abbreviated minor-league season.
Pitcher Jake Bloss and outfielders Aaron Parker and Jake Cook were honoured - Bloss has 11 strikeouts over 10.1 innings in five starts, while Parker has a 1.005 on-base plus slugging and Cook ranks second in the league with 14 stolen bases over the first 15 games.
Bloss, 25, was sent to the AFL in order to build up innings in hopes of being a real rotation candidate at the big-league level next year, Blue Jays player development director Joe Sclafani said per The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon.
After making his major-league debut with the Houston Astros in 2024, Bloss was acquired by the Blue Jays in the deal that sent Yusei Kikuchi to Houston that season. He had Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2025 campaign, and dealt with shoulder problems this past season that held him to 39.1 innings pitched.
“Part of it is him learning to pitch with a new skill set, some shiny new toys,” Sclafani said.
Cook was a third-round pick by the Blue Jays in the 2025 draft, and was also slowed by injuries this past season. He played in 77 games across Rookie League and Single-A, toting five home runs and 22 stolen bases.
The goal for him as he continues to develop is to continue working on the speed. “If we can get him to 60-plus steals a year, 50-plus steals a year, we’d be thrilled about that,” Sclafani said. “Really encouraged with where he’s at and how much pride he’s taken in it.”
Parker has had perhaps the most interesting run in the AFL of the three. A catcher by trade - 1,038.2 of his 1,062.2 career innings since being selected in the sixth round of the 2024 draft have been spent behind the plate - Parker has almost exclusively played in the outfield with the Solar Sox.
Parker has logged 45 innings of work in left field as the team tries to find more ways to get his bat in the lineup. Per MLB.com’s Jim Callis, Parker has solid arm strength but has work to do as both a pitch receiver and blocker.
“2026 is my first time playing outfield,” Parker said after Wednesday’s game. “It’s still new. Flyball goes up, your heart races a little bit, but you try to keep your wits about you. Stay under control out there and just be an athlete.
“Whatever will potentially get me in the lineup is what I’ll do. Defence is a huge priority. I’ll try to be a skilled player everywhere on the field and just add another tool to the bag.”
The 23-year-old Parker has smacked two home runs and hit .351/.479/.459 across 48 plate appearances in the AFL. His second home run on Wednesday went 451 feet, tied for the fourth-longest of the AFL season.
This production after Parker hit 19 home runs over 87 games this past season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. His 90th percentile exit velocities over the 2026 season averaged 107.9mph, which is in the top one per cent in the minors.
“I just hit it as hard as I can,” Parker said. “If you’re not erring on the side of being aggressive and trying to get the head out and hitting the good stuff, it can be challenging at times. This year I just leaned into, regardless of the adversity or how good the arms are, just trying to get my best swing off as many times as possible and hopefully good outcomes happen.”
Parker has also gone a perfect eight-for-eight on stolen base attempts this season, after identifying aggressiveness on the base paths as another skill he wanted to showcase at the AFL.
“If the transition to the outfield is a little bit more permanent, I think it would be really important to steal more bases and try to flash the speed a little bit,” Parker said. “So I’m definitely coming out here and testing the spectrum of how many bases I can possibly take as a runner.”
The Blue Jays have Alejandro Kirk locked in as their primary catcher until the 2030 season, when his five-year deal runs out. Brandon Valenzuela established himself as a strong option at catcher this past season as well when he finished as a Gold Glove finalist at the position.
The move from catcher to the outfield proved successful for one recent Blue Jay - Daulton Varsho made 61 starts at catcher over his first three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks before transitioning to the outfield full-time when joining the Blue Jays in 2023, where he was one of the best defensive outfielders in the game over his tenure.