Who’s the Next Blue Jays Breakout Prospect?

This is a post I’ve been looking forward to writing, and much of it revolves around the Dunedin Blue Jays.

After focusing on pitching (9 or their top 10 picks) in last year’s draft, the Blue Jays went all in on position players last July, using comp picks to help select non-pitchers with 4 of their first 5 selections.

And that crew, along with a late season influx of help from the Complex League club down the street allowed the D-Jays, 28-38 in the first half of the Florida State League’s split-season format, to a 38-25 record and a playoff berth. Dunedin lost in the finals to a talented Mets St Lucie affiliate, but the D-Jays second half was one of the more exciting developments in the Blue Jays farm system in some time.

Leading the way for Dunedin was infielder Cade Doughty, who came from a high profile college program at LSU to provide leadership and a much-needed spark to Dunedin’s offence. Drafted as a 2B, Doughty had moved over from 3rd in college, but split his time almost evenly between the two as a pro. Doughty’s bat slowed down a bit in September at the end of the longest season of his career to date, but he still posted an impressive .272/.370/.495 line in the pitcher-friendly FSL.

Like a pitcher who doesn’t light up the radar gun, Doughty doesn’t necessarily top the exit velo charts, but he shows a great feel for the barrel, and still has more room for added strength. Perhaps he profiles best as a utility guy in the long run, but you have to be impressed with his athleticism, baseball IQ, and blasts like this:

 Josh Kasevich is a glove-first player who helped solidify Dunedin’s infield defence at SS. With a contact-over-power profile at this point, Kasevich was a safe yet solid draft choice. His progress will be dictated by his bat’s development, but he has a good foundation with excellent plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills. While only an average runner, he has the quick-twitch reactions to groundballs which should allow him to stay at Short:

 Alan Roden may not have put up an overwhelming set of numbers for Dunedin, but there are a lot of things about the former Bluejay (drafted in the 3rd round from Creighton) trending in a solid direction. In addition to being an outstanding defensive player, Roden has a potential plus bat:

While Tucker Toman, a 2nd rounder who the Jays were thrilled to get, toiled in the anonymity of the Complex League, the switch hitting high school draftee put together a pro debut that the player development staff was very happy with. So was MLB Pipeline, which already lists him as the system’s 4th top prospect. A bat-first player, Toman will likely continue to get reps at SS, but a move either left or right seems to be in the offing. He certainly has the power potential for the hot corner, but reports suggest his hands and average arm are more suited to the keystone.

Toman has an interesting stance from the left side. There is no doubt about his ability to loft and barrel up balls. He should start the season in Single A, and finish in Vancouver.

 Dasan Brown started the season in Florida, and ended it on a dose of helium in British Columbia. The most athletic player in the system by a fair margin, and one of the fastest in the minors, Brown spectacularly put things together after the closing weeks of the season.

Brown began to drive the ball more over the final six weeks of 2022. He still needs to work on his plate discipline, but he seemed to finally be getting a sense of his own strike zone. An elite defender, Brown could probably play big league CF right now.

One of the new wrinkles of the restructured minor league hierarchy is the reps organizations are giving some of their more promising lower level prospects in the closing week of the AA season. With big league rosters expanded, a domino effect created room in New Hampshire’s roster for Robert Robertis, and the then-19 year old Venezuelan, who played in the Complex League, had a smashing audition:

If you’re looking for this year’s Gabriel Martinez, Robertis could be it.

After watching breakout pitching performance after breaking pitching performance last summer, it will be fun to watch these position players develop.