Blue Jays: 5 Prospects off to disappointing starts on the farm

Prospects break our hearts more often than not, hardly ever living up to the lofty expectations placed upon their fragile psyches. For every Marcus Stroman an organization churns out, there are five Chad Jenkins that fade into the baseball stratosphere, never to be heard from again.

The Blue Jays farm system is trending upward, rebounding nicely after being nearly depleted for the franchise’s first playoff push in over 20 years in 2015.

The evolution of players like Anthony Alford and savvy drafting over the past few seasons have restocked the prospect cupboard in fairly short order.

One transaction by the Jays brain trust that has helped strengthen the depth on the farm was the trade involving pitcher Francisco Liriano. The Jays shipped the inconsistent Drew Hutchison to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Liriano and prospects Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez. Both prospects have a future at the major league level at this point in the game.

However, in saying that there a number of prospects who have stumbled out of the gate in 2017, faltering on the farm and making prognosticators question their upside. We have scoured the farm from Buffalo to Dunedin and everything in between to bring you the 5 most discouraging prospects thus far in mid-May.

So without further ado here are five of the most disappointing farm hands in 2017.