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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The jump from the low minors to Double-A is seen as one of the biggest steps along the development path, an advancement that can just as easily send a prospect’s stock swirling down the sewer as it can help put them firmly on the big-league radar.

Many prospects — even the can’t-miss guys — struggle with the adjustment initially.

The pitching is more advanced, and some of the wheat has been separated from the chaff by the time prospects arrive in the upper minors.

As a first-round pick, Logan Warmoth hadn’t experienced much failure before entering the world of professional baseball after the Toronto Blue Jays selected him 22nd overall in 2017, six picks ahead of right-handed pitcher Nate Pearson, who has raced through the minors without much pushback from opposing hitters.

Warmoth was coming off an NCAA career that saw him slash .310/.378/.453 with 15 homers and 37 steals at North Carolina, including a junior season that produced a .958 OPS.

Since then, however, the 24-year-old shortstop by trade has hit just .255/.332/.346 in parts of three seasons in the Jays organization, showing an alarming lack of pop in an era where power is at an all-time high.

After seemingly getting things on track at High-A Dunedin to start the 2019 season, things did not go well for Warmoth when he was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire in June, as he hit just .200 without a home run in 65 games the rest of the way.

He’s not the first player to struggle in their first crack at Double-A, and he won’t be the last.

Learning to fail is one of the more underrated aspects of the journey through the minor leagues.

“I’ve learned — and I’m still learning — just to be the same guy every day,” Warmoth said. “How to handle the failure. It’s going to happen. You’re going to have bad streaks; you’re going to get injured. That’s just the nature of the game. But just approach it like it’s a new day every day, rather than thinking you have to change something. Just stay consistent. If you can stay consistent with your work, with your in-game plan, you’re going to be more consistent in the game. I think that’s something I got away from this year, especially in Double-A.”

With Bo Bichette now entrenched at shortstop in the big leagues, the Jays have been moving several young infielders in the pipeline around to different positions, and Warmoth is no exception.

Once he arrived in Double-A, Warmoth made 21 starts at his natural position, 36 starts at second base, one start at third base, and four starts in centre field.

The efforts to diversify the defensive portfolio continued in the Arizona Fall League, which wrapped up for another year over the weekend.

Not only did Warmoth play left field, centre field, second and third during his six-week stint with the Scottsdale Scorpions, the bat also came around with a .295/.394/.443 slash line and seven extra-base hits in 17 games.

One man who is very familiar with Warmoth is High-A Dunedin manager Cesar Martin, who was also doubling as the Scorpions skipper in Arizona this fall.

“I really like the way he competes,” Martin said of Warmoth. “He’s not afraid. He never panics, especially at home plate — he’s an aggressive swinger. Obviously, he has some stuff that he’s working on and he needs to get better, but he’s a very competitive player and that’s one of the things that I really love.”

That competitiveness keeps Warmoth well aware of his first-round pedigree, and he’s put a bit of pressure on himself to show the Blue Jays that they made the right pick back in June of 2017.

“It’s hard not to, I think,” Warmoth said. “You want to show the Blue Jays that they picked you for a reason. I think both years would’ve been totally different if I had just stayed healthy and, I think, that’s something I’m just doing my best to work on.”

Injuries have definitely set Warmoth back.

On a couple of occasions, it’s been his hamstring giving out on him, and the finicky nature of those types of muscle strains have taken some time to come back from.

Warmoth plans on spending his winter tweaking his routines in an attempt to avoid the injury list in 2020.

“We’ve been talking a lot about putting my body in better positions working out,” Warmoth said. “So often, after a season, you just go back into training rather than correcting some of the movements that you did for 160 days of the year. Being more flexible, being more mobile, and, I guess, just being more hydrated, especially down in Florida.”

While it’s looking like a utility-man profile rather than an impact player, the Blue Jays are willing to be patient with Warmoth, who they gave $2.82 million to sign, and the club’s director of player development, Gil Kim, is encouraged by both the defensive reports from the AFL as well as the extra juice in the bat.

“It’s about staying healthy and getting into a consistent rhythm and routine,” Kim said. “He’s put a lot of work into his hitting and we’ve seen progress with him as far as keeping the hands tighter to the body and narrowing his focus to right-centre field. That’s flattened his [bat] path out a little bit and translated to success in Arizona. We’re excited about Logan going into next year and it’s been encouraging also to get Cesar’s reports about how he’s looked on defence, both in the infield and in the outfield. We think that will be another tool to add to skillset moving forward.”

Another attempt to master the Double-A level is in the offing to begin 2020, and the Fisher Cats’ infield is likely to be made up of three prospects from the 2017 draft, with third baseman Cullen Large (fifth round) and shortstop Kevin Smith (fourth round) joining Warmoth.

All three will be looking to rebound from rough Double-A debuts.

“It’s the same baseball, just a little bit more challenging,” Martin said of his message to players when they get the call to Double-A. “Most of the time I just let them know, ‘Hey, just go there and keep doing what you are doing.’ Obviously, you’re going to face better pitching and there’s an adjustment you’re going to have to make at every level because the higher you go the more consistent the pitchers are at making a good pitch and you have to force yourself to be consistent.”