In this edition, I’ll wrap up the season that was in the Blue Jays minor league system, and rank the Top 10 prospects my eyes have seen this season.

What a difference a year makes. Exactly 12 months ago, nine pitchers in the organization had undergone surgical procedures to fix injured UCLs, huge question makrs surrounded the top two position player prospects, and the system was very much in the bottom third of the rankings.

Thanks to some draft picks coming on line, other prospects getting healthy, and some new names nudging their way into consideration, the system now easily in the top half of the rankings - Baseball America gave the system a B+ ranking, and called it a “system on the upswing.” There have been disappointments, too. None of the four full season teams made the playoffs, although the Complex League Jays brought home a championship, the first ever for the organization at that level. While minor league postseason accomplishments are not the primary goals of a farm system, they do give a team’s prospects a chance to learn to win together. And Orelvis Martinez, on the cusp of a big league job just 14 months ago before a PED suspension sidelined him, was released.

The organization may be light on premium hitting prospects but a bright light on the horizon is the system’s 7th place rating in BA’s hitting rankings. The evaluation includes barrel rate, chase and swing rates, xWOBA, among others. Simply put, something is working, especially at the lower levels (Buffalo and New Hampshire both finished next to last in team OPS in their respective leagues).

Let’s work backwards and rank the Top 10.

#10 - Landen Maroudis, RHP

As we continue to learn about the rehab process from a UCL repair (Maroudis had the brace, not the fully Tommy John procedure), it has become obvious that younger pitchers have a much harder time regaining command of their pitches. Maroudis, who had gained a lot of backfield attention in spring training a year ago

had a world of trouble this year; he walked 35 FSL hitters in 31 innings over 12 starts on his way to an unsightly 7.42 ERA.

But the Blue Jays are not concerned. To some extent, this is part and parcel of what all rehabbing pitchers go through. Maroudis’ velo was down slightly as well, but that may be the price he was willing to pay in order to buy in the organization’s new philosophy of attacking the strike zone. He found himself often in hitters’ counts this season, and gave up a corresponding amount of contact.

Maroudis shows feel for this three-pitch mix, has some deception with a lower arm slot, and has a starter’s build. Despite this speed bump in his career, there is still plenty of reason to dream on that mid-rotation projection.

#9 Victor Arias - OF

You have to go back to Anthony Alford to find a prospect with Arias’ dynamic athleticism.

A potential five-tool player, Arias’ lack of loft in his long swing (his 53.9% GB rate led the organization) seems to be might what hold him back. Arias broke out last year with Dunedin (.279/.386/.454) and added 17 stolen bases before a late season promotion to Vancouver. Arias began the season back in the Northwest League, but was in New Hampshire by the summer. His line in the Eastern League (.226/.293/.331) reflected the advanced pitching at that level; Arias’ K rate increased from 20 to 25%.

Arias’ speed translates well in the outfield - he can play all three positions. His arm has been rated at below average, but he added 8 mph to his outfield throws this season. Arias’ speed doesn’t play as well as might be expected on the bases. He’s still learning to read pitchers. But there is still so much raw talent there waiting to be developed.

#8 Edward Duran - C

We all know the old saw about players coming into spring training in “the best shape of their life,” as if there was some magic way to transform your body in four or five months. But Duran truly upgraded his strength, agility, and flexibility last off season, and the results showed this season.

Duran put together a 22-game hit streak with Dunedin, and reached base in 45 of his first 41 games. He was leading the Florida State League with 32 runners caught stealing when he was promoted to Vancouver in July. Relatively new to one knee-down catching, he didn’t miss a beat behind the plate in the Northwest League:

Duran’s numbers not surprisingly took a dip (.230/.329/.336) in the lower run scoring environment of the Northwest League. His is a contact-over-power profile at the moment, and likely will stay that way (he hit only two home runs in his first four pro seasons prior to this one). The Blue Jays have brought Duran along slowly since acquiring him from the Marlins at the end of August, 2022. With Alejandro Kirk currently in the first of a multi-year deal, there’s no need to rush Duran, although he is Rule 5 eligible.

#7 Juan Sanchez - 3B

The Blue Jays have not had a great deal of luck with their IFAs over the past several seasons. In the aftermath of the release of Orelvis Martinez, Arias, RHP Fernando Perez, and now Sanchez offer some hope.

We have yet to have eyes on Sanchez, of course, but his time is coming. BA certainly likes what they have seen:

A leader on the field other players gravitate toward, Sanchez stands out for his size and defense. He’s 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, a big frame for a 17-year-old shortstop, but he moves around with good quickness and agility in the field.

Sanchez almost evenly split his time on the field between 3B and SS; it’s likely he moves to the hot corner in the long term, but the Jays will give him reps at short - he has “surprising speed” for a player of his size. Sanchez was a DSL mid-season and post-season all star. With Christopher Polanco - whose signing bonus was almost triple Sanchez, with a corresponding production of about a third - will need to play. With Sanchez the more advanced prospect at least at this stage, we may get to see him early, as there may be a temptation to start him in full season ball next year.

#6 Ricky Tiedemann LHP

It’s hard to believe that it was three years ago that Tiedemann seemed on the verge of following the path taken by Trey Yesavage in helping the Blue Jays down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Three long years ago.

Tiedemann rocketed through the Blue Jays system in his first pro season in 2022. Toronto had selected the southpaw from Golden West JuCo in California the previous season; Tiedemann had the misfortune of graduating high school during the height of COVID in 2020; since teams were not able to get a full look at him that season, most were scared off by his agent’s salary demands in the year of the shortened (5 rounds draft). But the Blue Jays were one of the clubs that kept tabs on him, and took him in round three the following year. In that first pro season, Tiedemann pitched at 3 levels, fanning 117 hitters in just 78 innings. As his season wound down at New Hampshire, there was speculation that he could make a last season appearance in Toronto.

Since that heady debut, Tiedemann has pitched all of 61 innings, none of them this season after undergoing Tommy John last July. There was some optimism that he might get some late season innings in, but the Blue Jays held him back to bullpen sessions. The organization has been mum on his progress.

When Tiedemann is healthy, there is no doubt about his ability to pitch. Priot to his elbow woes, he was averaging 95 with his fastball from his deceptive three-quarters slot. His sweeper is the best in the organization, a pitch he can throw to any quadrant of the strike zone, or spot it off the plate to get chases. His changeup showed all the markings of a big league pitch.

As we saw with Maroudis and the recently DFA’d Alex Manoah, not every guy sails a calm ocean in his return from UCL surgery. There can be considerable ups and downs, often both of the physical and mental variety. In a perfect world, he spends the first few months of next season returning to form, and perhaps sees a late-season promotion to the big leagues.

#5 Johnny King LHP

One of the reasons why the Blue Jays front office didn’t panic last offseason when their system brought up a lot of publications’ rankings was the knowledge that King, one of their prized picks in 2024, would make his debut.

King lit up the Complex League this spring, and when I asked Joe Sclafani in jest in late June if he could give me a heads up when the young (at 17, he was one of the youngest players in his draft class) southpaw would move up to full season ball. “Yeah, take a number,” replied Joe.

King not only met expectations, he surpassed them. He moved up to the Florida State League without a hitch. King understandably faded a bit down the stretch, but he still fanned 105 hitters in just 61 innings at two levels.

King’s best pitch is his fastball, which comes at hitters from a lower arm slot, and can make for an uncomfortable AB when he locates the 95-96 mph pitch. His curve is his primary secondary pitch, but as he moves up in the system, it will be the development of his changeup as much as anything that will determine his future. For the vast majority of fire-balling high school pitching prospects, the change is the pitch they use the least, because the fastball does most of the work, with the curve taking up the slack. But the pitch certainly showed promise in Florida.

King has the frame and projection to become a Top 100 prospect sooner rather than later. Blue Jays MiLB pitching development director Justin Lehr wasn’t afraid to drop a Blake Snell comp in our conversation last month.

 https://x.com/DunedinBlueJays/status/1949524979902533923

#4 Arjun Nimmala - SS

Just four months ago, Nimmala was on top of the world. He was among the Northwest League leaders in several offensive categories. A move to AA seemed all but assured; Global News, one of Canada’s major news networks, even invited some prospect blogger to be part of a feature on the young slugger.

But something happened on the road to New Hampshire. After posting a first half OPS of .840, with 11 HRs, Nimmala went into a lengthy tailspin. Nimmala slashed a paltry .179/.267/.271 in the second half, hitting only a pair of long balls, walking less, and chasing more. It was the second season in a row that the prized young prospect went through a prolonged dry spell. Last year, he spent some time on the development list to work on his posture at the plate. This year, the organization let him work through his troubles, but there was no late season surge as there had been the year prior.

One thing we have seen in the new world of the minors is that the Northwest League is a unique loop. The ball doesn’t always carry well in the damp Pacific air. Teams in the six-team league play each other at least 26 times, which gives opposing pitchers plenty of opportunities to develop a book on hitters. Added to that for Vancouver hitters is the pitcher-friendly confines of Nat Bailey Stadium (where Nimmala only managed a .538 OPS), and you have an environment that tends to be low-scoring. Nimmala saw a ton of off speed pitches, most of them away. His .694 OPS ranked 24th out of 32 NWL qualifiers.

On defence, some “silly errors,” as farm director Joe Sclafani termed them when we talked in June, probably kept him at High A longer than had originally been planned. While Nimmala is not fleet afoot, he gets excellent reads, is sure-handed, and usually is accurate with his throws. Many of his 14 errors seemed to come from a lack of focus. But he has the tools to stick at the position for the foreseeable future.

So, while the player development staff is confident that Nimmala will fare better in the Eastern League next season, he’s shown some trends at the plate that are concerning. He was one of the youngest players in High A to start 2025 (Nimmala turns 20 this month), so some of his woes can be attributed to his youth. But I certainly am not as high on him as I was a year ago.

#3 JoJo Parker - SS

While a move to 3rd seems to be in his future, Parker adds to the Blue Jays up-the-middle depth, once again a strength of the organization.

Parker’s hit profile is more contact-oriented at this point, but at 6’2”/200 there’s lots of room for some power projection. The Blue Jays swung and so far have missed with several players to this contact-over-pop type over the past several seasons, but Parker seems more likely to develop that 20+ HR power to go with his whole field approach.

At the start of 2024, the Blue Jays chose to challenge Nimmala with an aggressive assignment by starting his career in full season ball. It will be interesting to see if they take that approach with Parker. Wherever he starts 2026, he’ll likely get the majority of his defensive reps at SS.

#2 - Gage Stanifer RHP

Longtime readers will know I’m not afraid to go out on a limb, and I usually favour upside in my evaluations. Perhaps you could call Stanifer Top Prospect 1B and Trey Yesavage 1A, but when you compare where the two are at in similar stages of development, Stanifer might be the better long-range prospect. Yes, you read that right - that’s how highly the player development staff think of him.

Yesavage came to the organization as an almost-finished product. Stanifer came, to borrow a pop culture reference from my demographic, as a little green lump of clay. In the time it took Yesavage to become a polished, ready-for-prime-time prospect, 19th round pick Stanifer has improved his body, learned to pitch, and has done everything the organization has asked of him - the farm department loves his work ethic. Stanifer pitched at three levels this year, and only his age and the organization’s desire to closely monitor his workload kept him from a fourth. If you suggested Stanifer had the best season of any pitching prospect in the system, I would not disagree with you. Certainly, he came farther than anyone else.

A year ago, Stanifer showed promise, but an inability to harness his command with Dunedin. His short arm stroke presents a different shape to his fastball - the four-seamer has a ton of vertical break, while his two-seamer gets plenty of arm side run. Stanifer’s “deathball” slider is the best in the system outside of Tiedemann’s, (Low A hitters went 0-fer against it - think about that for a second) and his change up, while more of a “show me” pitch right now, has made tremendous progress. Unlike last year, he is able to locate all of his pitches in any count and to any quadrant of the strike zone. Pity the FSL and NWL hitters who had to face Yesavage to start the game, followed by Stanifer in a piggyback role.

Stanifer gave up a bit of contact in his two AA starts to finish the season, but that appeared to be more of a case of him not quite trusting his stuff and nibbling - an affliction that impacts many pitching prospects as they climb the ladder. He’s a gym rat, and a bulldog of a competitor - after a pitch, he’s usually back on the rubber, peering in for the sign as the catcher throws the ball back to him. He actually was warned about it by umpires, and twice had balls called because he hadn’t given the hitter sufficient time to get set. But that’s something I love about him, and yet another thing that causes uncomfortable ABs.

Had he gone the college route (Stanifer had a lukewarm commitment to Cincinnati), Stanifer would be making his pro debut next spring. So, he’s at least a year behind Yesavage on the developmental continuum. And there are some concerns still about his command (he walked 4.8/9), along with suggestions he’s more likely to move to the bullpen in the long run. In the face of those negatives, however, in my head are the things I’ve heard from people in the organization. The ultimate complement came from Jays MiLB pitching development director Justin Lehr, who in his first year with the club was blown away by Stanifer’s compete level, dropping a Blake Snell comp in conversation.

#1Trey Yesavage

Even though he wasn’t able to follow up on his sizzling postseason debut, it’s still been a remarkable season for a guy who was in Instructs a year ago.

The Blue Jays did a masterful job with Yesavage, a testament to the new and improved pitching side of player development. At the end of last year, they split the minor league pitching coordinator into two roles. Justin Lehr came over from the Giants, where he had been their Director of Minor League Pitching Development, to accept a similar role with the Jays. Lehr’s role is to oversee things from more of a bird’s eye view, while the actual role of pitching coordinator (which is fairly administrative, and involves things like drawing up pitching rotations and bullpens for each level) went to new hire Ricky Meinhold.

The two teamed up with other members of the department to draw up a plan for Yesavage that would see him in the big leagues in September, if the Blue Jays were in a playoff position. No detail was overlooked - not only were his innings carefully planned out and monitored, but the analytics staff studied things like the spring weather in the Northwest League and its effect on the movement of pitches, so that Yesavage’s promotion to that level could be timed to maximum effect. His pitch usage also evolved over the season - his four-seam usage went down slightly as the season progressed, with a corresponding increase in his splitter as he learned to command the pitch better.

Yesavage’s promotion to the bigs also was designed to quickly but steadily acclimate him to big league life: his first start was in a minor league park, his second on the road, his third at the Rogers Centre, to give him exposure to a sizeable crowd. He was to be the secret weapon in game two of the series with the Yankees, and it could not have been timed or planned better.

I asked Meinhold in May, farm director Joe Sclafani in June, and Lehr in late August if we would see Yesavage in September. All three were kind of coy on the subject, but it’s clear now that if all went according to plan, the answer was yes.

His most recent start showed Yesavage has work to do on his command, but the Blue Jays rotation for the foreseeable future is going to be so much better with him in it.