TSN's Top 50 Blue Jays Prospects: 50-31

Expected starting affiliate: Dominican Summer League

YEAR IN REVIEW: After signing in the fall with the leftover international pool money the Jays had from the pandemic-delayed 2020 class, Cano showed up at the Dunedin complex during instructional league and looked like a bloodline player, aka very comfortable in the box and with a feel for making adjustments that other players his age don’t often have. His actions remind just about everybody of his older brother, borderline Hall of Fame second baseman Robinson Cano.

OUTLOOK: Despite a fairly modest $350,000 signing bonus and next to no fanfare, Cano has an in-the-box setup reminiscent of la familia and moves with the same controlled pace as Robinson. Unlike his keystone brother, Gregory’s strong arm has him working at third base for now, but most importantly he shows an early feel for hitting and seems to have that unteachable baseball IQ. Gregory, who’ll be 18 in July, signed with the Jays exactly twenty years after Robinson — now 39 years old and still on the New York Mets roster — inked his deal to enter professional baseball with the Yankees back in 2001.

MLB ETA: 2027

Expected starting affiliate: Dominican Summer League

YEAR IN REVIEW: Handed a $2.25-million bonus when the fresh international signing period opened earlier this month, it’s hard to argue with the Jays investing the majority of their bonus pool money in a Venezuelan catcher with the success so far of top prospect Gabriel Moreno. Meza, along with many other newly-signed teenagers, showed up in Dunedin last week for the club’s annual IFA camp.

OUTLOOK: The 5-foot-10 right-handed hitter is billed as a well-rounded prospect with both the bat and the glove, but he’s light years away and likely to creep up this list incrementally like Moreno and Alejandro Kirk did if things go well. The most exciting part of the profile is strong contact ability at such a young age and some hints of future power.

MLB ETA: 2027

Expected starting affiliate: High-A Vancouver

YEAR IN REVIEW: Drafted in the fifth round of the shortened 2020 draft out of the University of Louisville as an outfielder — he saved the Jays a little more than $300,000 as an under-slot sign designed to get fifth-overall pick Austin Martin inked — Britton has been transitioning back to catcher since, a position the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder was familiar with but hadn’t played since his freshman season in 2018. The results in 2021 were mixed in all respects. At the dish, Britton struggled to make enough contact, striking out 30.6 per cent of the time across 333 plate appearances and slashing just .225/.372/.371. Defensively, his blocking and receiving improved with reps, but the arm is below average.

OUTLOOK: Even with the middling results as a college-aged played in Low-A, Britton gets a bit of a break for the grind of moving back behind the plate in his first full season as a professional. The left-handed hitter also draws his walks and has decent bat speed with a good feel for the zone, but he’ll have to hit for more power in order to project as the corner outfielder/part-time catcher the Jays envision.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: High-A Vancouver

YEAR IN REVIEW: It was not the season Robertson had hoped for. A hand injury put him on the shelf in the first half of the season and when the big 6-foot-2, 215-pound left-handed hitter did finally return, he hit just .247 with five home runs in 49 games at High-A from July 22 through the end of the season. A .385 slugging percentage is not what you want to see from a bat-first corner outfielder who was drafted in the fourth round out of Creighton for his power prowess.

OUTLOOK: Robertson spent most of his summer hammering ground balls into the right side, leading to some attempted swing changes heading into 2022. There’s raw power in the bat, but he’ll have to hit more balls in the air to take advantage of that and it won’t get any easier in the upper levels of the minors.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire

YEAR IN REVIEW: Barely a prospect coming into the year, Lantigua pushed his way onto the club’s radar with sneaky strong exit velocities combined with solid numbers for the displaced High-A Vancouver Canadians. Across 80 games, the pint-sized right-handed hitter slashed .280/.375/.470, showing surprising pop with 11 home runs and a .190 isolated slugging percentage. Lantigua also posted a strong 12.1 per cent walk rate and played a capable second base, while also dabbling at short, third and all three outfield spots.

OUTLOOK: Every year, Lantigua seems to work his way from bit player at the start of the season to everyday player by season’s end, while also showing an ability to implement changes suggested by the hitting coaches. The Jays already have a player like this on the brink of a big league role, but Lantigua might have a bit more pop than Otto Lopez. He’ll have to prove he can hit like that again in Double-A this summer.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Injured

YEAR IN REVIEW: After not seeing any game action post-draft thanks to the cancellation of the 2020 minor-league season, the lanky 6-foot-5 right-hander out of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles made just three appearances in 2021 before suffering an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery in June.

OUTLOOK: Prior to the injury, Frasso was showing a fastball that was comfortably up into the mid-90s and the Jays were ecstatic with what they had seen behind the scenes. Frasso’s TJ came with a slightly shorter timeline due to the nature of the surgery, so there’s a chance he’s back on a mound less than a year removed from surgery, which would give him a chance to log a decent number of innings in 2022.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Injured

YEAR IN REVIEW: While Tommy John surgery has become mostly routine at this point, Pardinho’s case shows there can be bumps in the road. After making it back onto the mound last spring about a year removed from surgery, elbow setbacks limited the Brazilian right-handed to just three innings at the complex level and all the lost development time has tanked Pardinho’s prospect status. He’s a cautionary tale of never really knowing with pitching prospects, as Pardinho peaked at No. 6 overall on this list way back in 2019.

OUTLOOK: Having only thrown 40.2 innings over the last three calendar years, Pardinho needs to get back onto a mound and prove he’s healthy first and foremost. At that point, we can see whether the advanced command and smooth delivery are still part of the package. Pardinho consulted with a bevy of doctors in the fall to get a better read on the issue and there’s cautious optimism he’ll be ready to go at some point this spring.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Florida Complex League

YEAR IN REVIEW: Signed for $315,000 last January, Munoz is a compact 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-handed hitter whose legit bat speed and strength could lead to typical corner outfield production down the road if things click. Debuting as a 17-year-old in the Dominican Summer League alongside the rest of the 2021 IFA class, Munoz showed some pop, but also looked pretty raw at the plate at times. Not surprising.

OUTLOOK: There’s a glut of young outfielders vying for time in full-season ball at Low-A this year, and Munoz has a chance to be one of them because of his physicality. The key, like many raw international signings, will be developing a semblance of an approach at the plate, but there are some intriguing tools here.

MLB ETA: 2026

Expected starting affiliate: Florida Complex League

YEAR IN REVIEW: With the Jays’ emphasis on versatile, up-the-middle type position players, there aren’t a lot of prospects in the organization that look like Feliz. Checking in at 6-foot-4 and filling out more and more by the week, the lefty hitter possesses big time raw power and bat speed, but also some hitterish tendencies that led to a .291 batting average and a 132 wRC+ in the DSL.

OUTLOOK: Feliz split time between first base and right field in his 2021 debut, so the bat is going to have to hold up its end of the bargain all the way up through the system because there isn’t much defensive value here. He’s one of the more interesting Jays prospects to watch make their stateside debut this year.

MLB ETA: 2026

Expected starting affiliate: Low-A Dunedin

YEAR IN REVIEW: Thanks to a high-contact profile and a bat path that looks similar to Gabriel Moreno’s in the lower minors, Martinez is player many inside and outside the organization are picking to have a breakout 2022 season. As an 18-year-old in 2021, the smooth right-handed hitter had zero problems with the Florida Complex League, torching pitching to the tune of a .330/.448/.410 slash line in 31 games. He then had four hits in 12 at-bats in a late-season cameo at Low-A.

OUTLOOK: The one issue with Martinez’s line above is that it did not include a home run, and the power tool will be the separator between Martinez being an interesting prospect and a very good prospect over the next couple of years. Defensively, he’s likely going to be limited to left field.

MLB ETA: 2025

Expected starting affiliate: Triple-A Buffalo

YEAR IN REVIEW: One of only two players left on this list from the 2016 draft — Josh Palacios is the other, while Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio are in the big leagues and first-round pick T.J. Zeuch was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for cash last summer — Young has slowly worked his way up the minor-league rungs, slashing .265/.350/.409 with seven home runs in his first taste of Double-A last season.

OUTLOOK: There’s no secret what’s going to get the 39th-round pick to the big leagues: His glove. Young could capably roam centre field in the majors today and he’s been given at-bats during MLB spring training games in each of the past three years because of it. Offensively, Young profiles as a Jonathan Davis-type bench piece. A switch-hitter since entering the system six years ago, the Jays almost had Young ditch hitting from the right side last summer, but a hot stretch led them to reevaluate things for the time being. That said, Young posted an .820 OPS hitting from the left side, compared to .571 from the right, a career-long trend for the Bahamian that may have him hitting strictly left-handed before long.

MLB ETA: 2023

Expected starting affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire

YEAR IN REVIEW: A sixth-round pick out of the University of California in 2019, Eden came out post-shutdown and performed much better than he did in his debut. With speed as his calling card, the 6-foot-1, 180-pounder stole 30 bases in 32 tries and put himself on the map as one of the best defensive centre fielders in the organization. Despite hitting just four home runs across 218 plate appearances with High-A Vancouver, Eden’s line was buoyed by an 11.9 per cent walk rate that led to a .382 on-base percentage.

OUTLOOK: After working some as an infielder post-draft, the Jays decided to let Eden focus on centre field last season, and he took off. All that’s standing in the way of Eden and a breakout season is a bit more pop, which a couple people believe is going to happen with some more time in the weight room.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Low-A Dunedin

YEAR IN REVIEW: No Blue Jays prospect suffered more from the 2020 shutdown and the subsequent missed reps than the Oakville product. As raw as they come when he was drafted in the third round as a Canadian high schooler nearly two-and-a-half years ago, Brown has appeared in only 65 minor-league games and compiled just 289 plate appearances. That’s left him behind the curve, and it showed when he was sent to Low-A last summer, as he struck out 32.7 per cent of the time and slashed just .212/.310/.323 with four homers and 20 stolen bases.

OUTLOOK: Even though he slides from No. 14 on this list last year all the way down to No. 38 for 2022, don’t give up on Brown just yet. The tools — sneaky pop and legit game-changing speed — are intact, he just needs to find a way to put the bat on the ball more and refine the swing. On defence, the arm will never be a weapon, but his speed covers ample ground. Brown is getting a mulligan for his post-shutdown numbers, but it’s an important year for him to start showing progress.

MLB ETA: 2025

Expected starting affiliate: Triple-A Buffalo

YEAR IN REVIEW: A hand injury limited the left-handed hitter to just 29 games split between Triple-A Buffalo and the Blue Jays’ bench last season, so take the numbers with a grain of salt. Palacios didn’t hit a home run all year in 105 plate appearances, but he did chip in with a 4-for-5 game — all singles — last April when George Springer was on the IL.

OUTLOOK: As a left-handed bat and one of the only outfield bench options on the 40-man currently, Palacios is in line to play a role with the big club in 2022 if injuries strike. He’s a high-character player that you should bet on, but for this profile to work, Palacios has to hit. A lot.

MLB ETA: Debuted in 2021

Expected starting affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire

YEAR IN REVIEW: The University of Virginia product went out and put up a .285/.381/.401 slash line at High-A Vancouver in his first full pro season, showing off the elite bat-to-ball skills that got him drafted in the fifth round. On defence, Morris split his time between second base, third and short last season, but a lack of athleticism has him ticketed for some sort of bat-first utility role where all that’s expected of him is the routine play.

OUTLOOK: Another left-handed hitter with a good approach and not enough power to project any sort of major impact, the Jays have collected a number of Tampa Bay Rays-style bats that are about to spend time in the upper minors. Once in a blue moon, things click for this type of player, and they become Brandon Lowe or Jeff McNeil.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire

YEAR IN REVIEW: Mentioned to me as a potential sleeper last offseason, Horwitz didn’t make the top 50 cut in 2021 and the 6-foot, 190-pound left-handed hitter out of tiny Radford University in Virginia went out and proved he’s a lot better than that 24th-round draft pedigree would suggest. Sent to High-A where the Vancouver Canadians affiliate was displaced to Hillsboro’s Ron Tonkin Field in Oregon, Horwitz raked to the tune of a .290/.401/.445 slash line, highlighted by more walks than strikeouts at 70:66. Those who saw him this year raved about the approach, one that allowed him to pile up free passes due to a calculated plan and not simply taking advantage of more inexperienced pitchers. With just 10 homers, however, Horwitz has been working to add some pop to his profile.

OUTLOOK: While Horwitz’s regular season was impressive, he further solidified his reputation as a bat to pay attention to with an impressive Arizona Fall League showing, finishing sixth in batting with a .375 average and a .944 OPS across 16 games in the prospect-laden circuit. If that performance was any indication, Horwitz should have no trouble keeping things going inside Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in New Hampshire this season, where a handful of lefty power breakouts have happened in the past.

MLB ETA: 2023

Expected starting affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire

YEAR IN REVIEW: A prospect with a very Dodgers-type multi-functional feel to him, Cook signed as an undrafted free agent following the shortened 2020 draft thanks to in part to the relationship he had with Low-A Dunedin hitting coach Matt Young from back in Texas. A spring injury got Cook off to an even later start in 2021, but once he debuted in late May it was evident that he had an advanced approach and some power from the left side. Promoted from Low-A to a more age-appropriate High-A mid-season, Cook continued to produce and finished with an overall slash line of .255/.378/.489. He also hit 12 home runs and swiped 15 bags.

OUTLOOK: The most encouraging part of Cook’s season was his hot finish, as he slashed .333/.433/.657 with six homers in 31 games to close out the year. Cook dabbled at second base last year, but the spot where he impressed most was centre field. In an organization light on outfield depth, some even think he’s in the conversation for best defensive centre fielder already. He needs to keep the strikeout rate in check as he hits Double-A, but there’s a ton to like about Cook’s skillset.

MLB ETA: 2023

Expected starting affiliate: Triple-A Buffalo

YEAR IN REVIEW: Billed as a potential big-league contributor in spring training when the right-hander’s high-spin stuff looked impressive against major league hitters, Murray ended up suffering an elbow sprain that shelved him early and set him back on multiple occasions throughout the year. Murray made just one appearance all season but was healthy enough to make it back for instructional league in the fall.

OUTLOOK: While the elbow issue was what ruined his 2021 season, the high-spin arsenal that helped him shoot from Low-A to Double-A in 2019 needed some tweaking due to the sticky stuff ban, which isn’t surprising given the profile. If healthy, Murray could see big-league time in 2022.

MLB ETA: 2022

Expected starting affiliate: High-A Vancouver

YEAR IN REVIEW: Another prospect who had to wait out the 2020 shutdown to make his pro debut, Palmer’s season was a mixed bag. The stout 6-foot-1, 230-pound righty struggled to throw strikes for most of the year, issuing 42 walks, hitting seven batters and throwing eight wild pitches, but Palmer also struck out 83 over his 63 frames at Low-A and registered a 3.00 ERA. There were flashes of starter traits and excellent stuff when he was going well.

OUTLOOK: The reason for optimism with the third-round pick out of Jacksonville University is his finish. Over his final seven starts, Palmer posted a 2.33 ERA, striking out 54 and walking 16 over his final 38.2 innings, a stretch that included a pair of seven-inning no-hitters. If Palmer can’t find more consistency as a starter, his fastball/slider mix would work in a variety of different roles out of the bullpen.

MLB ETA: 2024

Expected starting affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire

YEAR IN REVIEW: Drafted in the sixth round out of Missouri State last summer, the Tim Lincecum-sized 6-foot, 180-pound righty impressed so much in post-draft bullpens down in Dunedin that he was immediately thrown into the bullpen at High-A Vancouver. Over 20 frames, Juenger dominated, striking out 32 batters and walking just four. It was an electric debut.

OUTLOOK: Despite starting just three games during his college career, there were draft evaluators who looked at Juenger’s three-pitch mix of a mid-90s fastball, slider and changeup and believed there was a chance he could start. The Jays do, too, and are at the very least evaluating the possibility of that this winter. If he stays on the fast-moving bullpen track — given the size and workload questions, this is most likely — there’s an outside chance Juenger could show up in Toronto this year.

MLB ETA: 2023