Blue Jays Draft: Where will they go with pick #11?

Major League Baseball’s draft is easily the most volatile when it comes to major sports drafts, often times not knowing for several years whether the pick worked in your team’s favour.

Will the Toronto Blue Jays take the college kid who’s more mature, polished and will be able to progress through the minors quicker, or roll the dice and go with a high-risk, high-reward high school prospect who often times need a little more patience from their club in regards to development?

The Blue Jays have gone every which way under Mark Shapiro when it comes to the draft, going with a college arm, college bat, junior college arm and a high school player with his four first-round picks.

Three of those four picks currently find themselves in the Blue Jays top 13 prospects according to MLB Pipeline, including Nate Pearson at # 3 and Jordan Groshans at # 5.

Can Shapiro and company keep the first round success going with tonight’s # 11 pick and who will they look to deepen one of baseball’s best farm systems?

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With the current need for pitching and outfield depth in the organization, the two players analysts have linked most to the Blue Jays pick is 20-year-old junior college pitcher, Jackson Rutledge, and 18-year-old high school outfielder Corbin Carroll, a UCLA commit.

Rutledge is a hard-throwing right-hander with a fastball that sits 94-97 and has the body organization’s dream upon, standing at 6-foot-8, 240-pounds. Carroll is a speedy outfielder who’s game translates on both sides of the ball. Aside from his speed, his hit tool and overall approach at the plate is what makes him dangerous.

Here’s where analysts and others think the Blue Jays go with their first-round selection.

MLB Pipeline: Alek Manoah, RHP, West Virginia
FanGraphs: Jackson Rutledge, RHP, San Jacinto JC (Texas)
Prep Baseball Report: Corbin Carroll, OF, Lakeside HS (Washington)
Bleacher Report: George Kirby, RHP, Elon University

If both Carroll and Rutledge are still on the board it appears the Blue Jays may lean towards the pitcher seeing as there’s more of a need. The other reason to believe they would rather take a pitcher is that Carroll is the only position player that has been linked to the club.

If both names have been called prior to the Jays pick, the organization could lean towards these three pitchers as they will likely just be taking the best pitcher still available. Previously mentioned Manoah who’s ranked # 11 by MLB Pipeline Kirby who ranks # 18 and lastly, left-hander Zack Thompson of Kentucky who’s ranked # 14.

Manoah is the most polished of the three after racking up 10+ strikeouts in seven starts this season while Kirby did so in five starts. Thompson is the only lefty in the group which is something the Blue Jays could use in their future rotation but some teams have been wary about the 21-year-old due to shoulder concerns in high school and elbow concerns last season.

The Major League Baseball draft seems to be the most difficult to predict which means there’s the possibility the Blue Jays don’t even select anyone mentioned in this article.

With that being said, there should be no surprises if the club ends up with a new pitcher in the organization by the end of Monday night, pending a contract agreement.