By: Scott Mitchell
TORONTO — I’ll fully admit that I wrote a much, much longer intro waxing poetic about the state of the Toronto Blue Jays’ farm system and how the now-open window of contention has shifted the philosophy of how it’s used.
That was apparent in the trades the club made over the past 18 months, with the exclamation point coming at the trade deadline, when they dealt away last year’s No. 2 prospect, Austin Martin, and No. 7 prospect Simeon Woods Richardson in exchange for a top-of-the-rotation starter in Jose Berríos.
From hoarding, collecting and adding prospects, to now picking and choosing who to keep and who to use as timely trade chips to get to a World Series.
Expect it to continue when baseball gets back to business.
Instead of rambling on about the state of the system — it’s good, not great, but with some precious high-end prospects — and the influx of talent coming thanks to a pair of compensation picks in the upcoming 2022 draft, I’ll let you get straight into the prospects.
As always, this list is built off a combination of personal preference and opinion, as well as the knowledge of many people around the game much smarter than me who’ve seen these players first-hand on a regular basis.
Here’s a quick look at how my top 50 lists have broken down in each of the past three years if you want to go back in time:
- 2021: TSN's Top 50 Blue Jays prospects
- 2020: TSN's Top 50 Blue Jays prospects
- 2019: TSN's Top 50 Blue Jays prospects
Past Top 50 Lists
Today, it’s 50-31, followed by 30-11 on Wednesday, with the top 10 unveiled Friday. In between, I’ll take at a handful of names that just missed cracking the top 50 on Tuesday and a contingent of potential breakout prospects from all tiers of the list on Thursday.
TOP 50 BY POSITION
Catchers: 4
Corner infielders: 6
Middle infielders: 9
Outfielders: 11
Pitchers: 20
HOW THEY WERE ACQUIRED
Trade: 2
MLB Draft: 23
International free agency: 23
Rule 5 Draft: 1
Undrafted free agent: 1
GRADUATED (3):
5—C Alejandro Kirk
8—RHP Alek Manoah
13—RHP Julian Merryweather
GONE (7):
2—CF/SS Austin Martin (traded to MIN for Jose Berríos)
7—RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (traded to MIN for Jose Berríos)
16—C Riley Adams (traded to WSH for Brad Hand)
26—RHP Patrick Murphy (claimed off waivers by WSH)
27—RHP T.J. Zeuch (traded to STL for cash)
36—RHP Curtis Taylor (selected by WSH in MiLB rule 5 draft)
45—C Javier D’Orazio (traded to ARZ for Joakim Soria)
FELL OFF (12)
32—1B/3B Peniel Brito
33—LHP Nick Allgeyer
34—RHP Elvis Luciano
35—RHP Jackson Rees
39—RHP Maximo Castillo
40—RHP Winder Garcia
41—RHP Roither Hernandez
42—LHP Naswell Paulino
43—RHP Alejandro Melean
44—RHP Edisson Gonzalez
47—C Philip Clarke
49—SS Martin Giménez
AFFILIATE LEVELS
Triple-A East: Buffalo Bisons
Double-A Northeast: New Hampshire Fisher-Cats
High-A West: Vancouver Canadians
Low-A Southeast: Dunedin Blue Jays
Florida Complex League: FCL Blue Jays
Dominican Summer League: DSL Blue Jays