Top Blue Jays’ Draft Picks of All-Time

Apr 13, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New Security measures implemented by Major League Baseball stand ready for screening fans at Gate 10 of the Rogers Centre before the home opener between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

#4  

Jeffrey Franklin Kent was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1989 draft within the second round.

Relatively quickly, Kent broke onto the scene in Toronto but never actualized his potential in a Jays uniform and was traded to New York on August 27th, 1993 in the famous trade that brought to Toronto to help bolster their 1993 World Series Championship.

With the Mets, Kent flourished for five seasons hitting for average with medium grade power before being traded away for next to nothing to the Cleveland Indians. Not a season later he was shipped to San Francisco where he thrived on the protection of the infamous .

In 2000, Kent won the National League MVP with an impressive 33 home runs, 125 RBI, and .334 batting average. Although he and Bonds had some successful years in McCovey Cove, neither was able to bring home the championship their talent prophesied.

At the end of Kent’s 17 year career, he had accumulated 337 home runs–the most of any second baseman in the history of baseball– with a .290/.356/.500 slash and 56.1 WAR.

In a seemingly reoccurring theme, Kent recorded most of his success outside of the Blue Jays uniform. Nonetheless, he was one of the best Blue Jays to ever be drafted.