Blue Jays’ top prospects over the last decade

2017- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 

I figured it was worth mentioning a few things about Guerrero, as he really is an exciting player and seems like a no-doubt future franchise cornerstone. When you package him with Bo Bichette, the Blue Jays have two pieces to build their offence around for many years. They aren’t guarantees by any means, no prospect ever is, but the future looks bright in Toronto.

For Guerrero, he spent 2017 split between the Lansing Lugnuts in Low A, and the Dunedin Blue Jays in High A. He thrived in both leagues, and finished with a .323/.425/.485 slash line between the two levels. He also posted 13 home runs, 28 doubles, and 76 RBI in 119 games and 437 at bats. He was a minor league All-Star, and is now ranked behind just Ronald Acuna and Shohei Ohtani on the Baseball America list. He’s been ranked first on some lists as well, including one from ESPN late last year.

2016- Anthony Alford

As mentioned earlier, Alford also made Baseball America’s list ranking at #60 and garnering a fair amount of attention with his performance in 2017. He battled injuries unfortunately, and hasn’t really had enough time to get the minor league seasoning that he’ll need to thrive in the big leagues, but his tools are off the charts.

Last season he slashed .299/.390/.409 across three levels, spending the majority of his time in AA with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He’s expected to challenge for a big league job this spring, but will ultimately end up in Triple A with the Buffalo Bisons, at least in all likelihood. As a third youngster will all kinds of tools, including speed and elite defence, the Blue Jays should be excited about what he will bring to the table in the future.

2015- Daniel Norris

Daniel Norris was once one of the most exciting pitchers in the Blue Jays minor league system, but an awful lot has changed since then. It starts of course with the fact that he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in 2015 in the David Price blockbuster, so it’s understandable if you’re not quite as familiar with how things have gone for him in recent years as you might be with Alford or Guerrero.

Norris is still immensely talented, but he hasn’t been able to put things together at the highest level, at least not yet. Last season he appeared in 22 games and made 18 starts, but posted a 5.31 ERA in 101.2 innings pitched. He made 13 starts in 2016 and posted a 3.89 ERA then, but he struggled to find similar success last season. Fortunately for the former Blue Jay, he’ll likely see plenty of opportunity with the rebuilding Tigers.

2014- Aaron Sanchez

The Blue Jays have had a few talented pitchers come through their system in recent years, and Sanchez was once at the top of the list in terms of rankings. As anyone who watched the Jays over the couple of seasons knows, Sanchez is a cornerstone to the franchise’s success, and they’ll hope for a big rebound from him in 2017 in terms of health.

He was the American League’s ERA leader in 2016, but last season was unfortunately held to just eight starts and 36 innings pitched due to blister/fingernail/tendon issues. He’s been throwing without issue this offseason, and Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are optimistic that he’ll be able to start spring training on a healthy note. Whether or not he can sustain that health will be a tremendous key to any success the Blue Jays have next season.

2012-13- Travis d’Arnaud

Once thought of as the Blue Jays’ catcher of the future, Travis d’Arnaud‘s career has had a lot of ups and downs since then. He of course never played a game in a Blue Jays’ uniform, and was a part of the trade that brought R.A. Dickey to Toronto prior to the 2013 season.

d’Arnaud was the starting catcher for the New York Mets last season, and finally put together a reasonably healthy campaign. He played 112 games and hit .244/.293/.443 with 16 home runs and 57 RBI, with the power categories being new career highs.

He’s mostly struggled to stay healthy as a big leaguer with the Mets, but last season he showed more of the promise that made him a key prospect in the Blue Jays/Mets’ systems a few years ago.

2011- Kyle Drabek

Speaking of players from big trades, Travis d’Arnaud was involved in another of the bigger deals the Blue Jays have made over the last decade. He was acquired alongside a starting pitcher named Kyle Drabek in the infamous Roy Halladay deal. That trade sent the future Hall of Famer to the Philadelphia Philles, and also had Michael Taylor sent to Toronto as well, who was eventually flipped in another trade.

Drabek is the son of former big leaguer Doug Drabek, and was once thought of as a prospect who could develop into an ace-level performer. Unfortunately he’s battled a lot of injuries throughout his career and things just didn’t develop the way everyone hoped they would. In fact, his last big league appearance was in 2016 was the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he threw just 2.0 innings that year. What was once a promising career just didn’t or hasn’t panned out that way for Drabek, and unfortunately it’s a common tale with prospects, regardless of how talented they are.

2010- Zach Stewart

If there’s a player on this list that surprised me a little bit, it was Zach Stewart. Not that didn’t remember him well, it’s just that I didn’t realize he was once the top prospect in the organization. Ya learn something new every day I guess.

The hard throwing right-hander made just three starts for the Blue Jays before he was traded to the Chicago White Sox. It was a complicated deal that sent Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to Toronto, then ultimately tied in the St. Louis Cardinals and brought Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays, sending Jackson to the Cardinals. That’s the Cole’s notes version anyway.

Unfortunately Stewart was unable to find much success to any major degree either, and hasn’t appeared in a MLB game since 2012 when he threw 5.2 innings with the Boston Red Sox.

https://twitter.com/BUCNbaseball/status/918629999896399873

2008-09- Travis Snider 

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If there’s one player I lament over the last decade, it might be Travis Snider. I remember believing that he would be at the centre of the heart of the lineup for years to come, and it was easy to see the power he possessed at the plate. Unfortunately for one reason or another, he just never fully put things together at the highest level, and hasn’t played in a MLB game since 2015.

Many Blue Jays fans and writers have expressed over the years that Snider’s development was bungled a little bit, and we’ll never really know how much truth there is to that. He was shuffled back and forth between Triple A and the big leagues a fair bit, but he also struggled to consistently deliver at the plate as well, so it wasn’t without justification. Still, it always seemed like for someone the organization claimed to hold in such high regard, the leash was often very short, and his place in the lineup was a constant question mark.

He’ll turn 30 in February and is actively playing in the minor leagues in pursuit of another opportunity, but the older he gets the more difficult that’s going to become. Here’s hoping he’s one of those feel good stories who finds his stroke and fills his potential in the back half of his career.

Next: Ross Atkins has the chance to win us over

As you can see, sometimes prospects worth out like in the case of Aaron Sanchez, and sometimes they don’t at all, like with Stewart, Drabek, and unfortunately more.