19th-round MLB Draft steal named Blue Jays' biggest prospect breakout

You never really know what to expect when the MLB draft moves into the later rounds. Sometimes it feels like teams are just picking a name out of a hat and hoping for the best. When the Toronto Blue Jays picked Gage Stanifer in the 19th-round of the 2022 draft, they were taking a 6'3" 210 pound high school pitcher who had 83 strikeouts in 38 innings as a senior. His fastball was sitting between 92-95 mph and he mixed in a hard-breaking slider and changeup.

The Blue Jays signed him for $125,000 and through his first two seasons he pitched just about as well as you would probably expect a 19-year-old 19th-round pick to pitch. He struggled, allowing 72 runs in 101 innings pitched, with 73 walks and giving up 99 hits. But in 2025 it looks like he's figured it out at the Single-A level.

Stanifer began the year in Florida with Dunedin and in seven games he struck out 38 batters in 26 innings, walking just 12 and giving up just two earned runs on 10 hits. His miniscule 0.69 ERA and 0.846 WHIP were good enough to earn him a promotion in May. He's since been with the Vancouver Canadians where he has continued to to improve, pitching to a 14.2 SO/9 rate and has yet to give up a home run in 48 innings, while striking out 77 batters.

His credentials have moved him up the ladder and MLB.com just named him as one of the fastest rising prospects in the Blue Jays system. Moving all the way up to the No. 5 spot on Toronto's farm, the report says, "The story of the Toronto system in '25 is the massive jump in its pitching quality, led by top pitching prospect Trey Yesavage, Johnny King and the recently traded Khal Stephen and Kendry Rojas. Stanifer -- a 19th-round pick in 2022 -- has enjoyed the biggest breakout of them all."

"The 6-foot-3 righty sits 94-96 mph with his fastball and shows a plus gyro slider in the 83-86 range -- two pitches that have helped him post a 2.92 ERA with 115 strikeouts in 74 innings between Single-A and High-A this season."

What he does well is that Stanifer hides the ball from the opposition hitters. He pitches exclusively out of the stretch, and his arm angle allows him to keep it tucked away a bit longer before he delivers it to the plate. At just 21-years-old, Stanifer has plenty of time to continue to develop all off his pitches and throw them more consistently for strikes as his walk rates have stayed on the higher side throughout the past three seasons.

Toronto's pitching depth has taken a huge leap forward this season and Stanifer is one of the reasons the Blue Jays were able to deal from this position of depth at this years trade deadline.