Blue Jays handling of Dalton Pompey a complicated matter

The past 18 months have been a roller-coaster for Blue Jays centre-fielder Dalton Pompey. After skyrocketing through the system and ranking as Baseball America’s number 30 prospect entering 2015 before some underwhelming MLB play, Pompey has returned to prospect status under the new regime.

He hasn’t been kept with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons due to a lack of opportunity. With Kevin Pillar on the 15-day disabled list with a thumb injury, Jose Bautista on the DL with a knee sprain, and Ezequiel Carrera out with an achilles issue, Pompey has been passed over for Darrell Ceciliani and Junior Lake.

Both players fit the immediate bandaid need of the Blue Jays and better match the profile of a quadruple-A player teams like to bounce back and forth for roster flexibility. In terms of impacting the 2016 roster, the front office’s long-term belief in his abilities is keeping him put.

Pompey has hit the DL a couple of times himself, but appeared in 73 games this season and taken 273 at-bats. He’s been short on power (.359 SLG%), but has brought his average up to .282 and his on-base percentage to .349.

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With both Michael Saunders and Bautista set to hit free agency, the Mississauga native is the top in-house option to join Pillar and Upton and form one of the most athletic outfields in Major League Baseball. So instead of being a question about readiness and talent, this is a question of development philosophy and how the current front office views Pompey.

While many prominent decision-makers remain from the Anthopoulos days, Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro bear no affiliation to Pompey. From their perspective, Pompey could be seen as a talented-but-developing young asset with a .708 OPS in need of more time. The more emotional appeals of him being a young, home-grown fan-favourite with a Canadian passport don’t carry much weight.

Still, there comes a time to value current impact over triple-A at-bats, especially in a playoff run with several prominent pending free agents. Pompey should surely be a September call-up, but even prior to then, regular reps could be available in a corner outfield position. From the front office view, though, the eventual return of the injured starters that would then bounce Pompey back may be too jarring a strategy.

Long-term, all of the can’t-teach tools are there. Pompey is a smooth and natural athlete with 15 stolen bases in 20 attempts this year, a talent he flashed in last year’s playoffs. He’s also a switch-hitter with potential to bat leadoff down the road and plays excellent defence.

For now, though, Pompey stays put. To call it unfair is to view this in too narrow a scope, but Pompey’s current obstacles should naturally clear in 2017.

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