Blue Jays: Drafted, But Not Signed All-Stars

Each June, Major League Baseball does their Amateur Draft.  Typically in these drafts, the players being selected are either high school ballplayers or college players that have just finished their third year.

While this isn’t always the case, it is most often the case.  These players will use the threat of going back to college for one more year or the high school players to go to college.  This means if teams want to bring in this player, especially high school baseball players they may have to offer a higher signing bonus to get the player to commit to the organization rather than the education route.

Over the years, the Blue Jays have made some excellent draft choices and signed those players, other times they have taken the chance on drafting a player who was committed to a school and couldn’t entice them enough to change their route.  At times, the player may not be turning down the contract because of money offered isn’t enough by the team, sometimes it could be the player hopes they increase their value by continuing to play amateur ball, they want a school degree or the team just may have not have offered a contract.

Here is a look at some of the top players the Blue Jays drafted, but things didn’t work out for two sides to come to an agreement and the player went to school, later was re-drafted by another organization and had a superb career.  The list does not include players like Orlando Hudson who was drafted by the Blue Jays in 1996, turned them down and went on to play at Spartanburg Methodist College for a year before being drafted again by Toronto in 1997 and signed.

Pan American Games Medalist

Jim Abbott
In 1985, Blue Jays scouts went looking at an interesting 18-year-old playing high school baseball and football in Flint Michigan.  Jim Abbott who became one of the most famous pitchers in baseball history, not just because he was a great pitcher, but he only had one hand which meant he had to throw and field with the same hand.

The Blue Jays selected Abbott in the second last round of the draft (36th Round), however, they could not come to terms and Abbott attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  After three successful years of college baseball, which also included participating in the 1987 Pan American Games where he won a silver medal he would go selected once again.

The California Angels selected Abbott with the eighth overall pick in the 1988 Amateur Draft.  Instead of starting through the Angels minor league system, Abbott represented Team U.S.A. at the 1988 Olympics winning a gold medal when baseball was being positioned as a demonstration event.

Abbott would skip the minor league system and play with the Angels in 1989 and finished with a 12-12 record and 3.92 ERA.  Abbott finished second in wins by a rookie and also finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting.

Despite having just one hand, Abbott would record 18 wins in 1991 and finished third in Cy Young voting and in 1993 he would do what has only been done 303 times in the history of baseball which was throw a no-hitter.

Abbott finished his career with 87 wins and a 19.6 WAR over his career.  He is the only player to ever make the major leagues from his high school and has the third-most career wins of any pitcher drafted out of the University of Michigan.

A Canadian Star

James Paxton
Do you remember the hope of the Blue Jays starting rotation in 2006?  They had a triple-headed monster going into the season of Roy Halladay, Ted Lilly, and A.J. Burnett.  Burnett had just signed a contract that would let him opt-out after his third year, which after finally having a healthy season and going 18-10, he decided to capitalize and opted out.  Because of the Blue Jays losing Burnett, they received a compensation pick in the supplemental round (between the first and second rounds) in the 2009 Amateur Draft.

With that extra pick, the Blue Jays selected a British Columbia kid playing at the University of Kentucky named James Paxton.  Paxton had played his high school baseball for the North Delta Blue Jays winning the B.C.’s Best tournament and league title twice.  He had also played at the Junior National level for Team Canada.

Paxton went undrafted out of high school and then played three years at the University of Kentucky and it all seemed to be lining up for Paxton and the Blue Jays.  Paxton finished the 2009 season with the fifth-most strikeouts in his team’s history and it was destined as the Blue Jays drafted him with the 1st Round supplement pick they had.  It seemed too good to be true that a high-level Canadian kid would come to Toronto and it was.

There have been reports that the Blue Jays offered between $873,000 and $1,000,000 to sign Paxton, but the Kentucky pitcher had an advisor by the name of Scott Boras who may have swayed him in a different direction and the two sides never agreed on terms.  Paxton was intent on going back for his final year of college, but due to the NCAA’s opinion on the Boras/Paxton relationship, they felt it violated their rules, thus causing Paxton to be ineligible for the 2010 NCAA season.  It is speculated that an investigation on Paxton started after comments from Blue Jays upper management made about their dealings with Boras.

Paxton would go and play his 2010 season for the Independent Grand Prairie AirHogs in Texas where he pitched in four games before the June 2010 Amateur draft.  In that draft, Paxton would be drafted in the fourth round by the Seattle Mariners and sign for $942,500.

Paxton has stated he has no ill feelings towards the Blue Jays, but over his career, he holds a 5-3 record, which includes a no-hitter on May 8, 2018, in Toronto.  Paxton has become a front of the rotation pitcher and is coming off a career-best 15 wins in 2019.  Over his first seven years of his career, he has posted a 56-32 record with a 3.50 ERA.  Paxton has amassed a 13.3 WAR through the first half of his career.

Paxton is still in the midst of his career at 31 years of age and becomes a free agent at the end of this season after being acquired by the New York Yankees prior to the 2019 season.  Who knows, Paxton could end up in Toronto and we can put this all behind us.

The Superstar You Missed

Kris Bryant
There has been just a handful of kids get drafted out of Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In fact, only one player has ever made it to the major leagues from that high school.  In 2010, the Blue Jays were looking at a shortstop named Kris Bryant after he had batted at .453 with 17 home runs over his last two seasons.

The Blue Jays used their 18th Round Selection to take Bryant and you would think the negotiations would be on.  It was speculated that Bryant was still available so late in the draft because many teams thought he would be tough to talk out of going to College.

In an interview years later Bryant commented that the Blue Jays didn’t approach him.  Bryant was quoted years later by Gregor Chisholm saying “[the Blue Jays] had other priorities in terms of other guys they picked…. I guess they just never got to me”.  The decision not to even approach Bryant would be something a general manager has to regret.  Whether he was going to sign or not, you have to at least approach him to see where he stands.

In his final year at San Diego in 2013, Bryant hit .329 with a whopping 31 home runs, this led him into that June’s Amateur draft and him being selected second overall by the Chicago Cubs.  Chicago quickly came to terms offering him a $6.7 million signing bonus.

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Bryant became well known around the league prior to starting his major league career.  After dominating the minors in 2014 where he hit .325 with 43 home runs and 110 RBI over AA and AAA he was showing that he was major league ready.  He arrived at Spring Training in 2015 and hit nine home runs and batted .425, yet he was sent back to the minors.  General Manager Theo Epstein stated he needed more development to learn how to become a major league ready player.  What Epstein didn’t mention, was that Bryant needed to be on the major league roster for less than 172 days so the Cubs could have him for one more year of control.  Bryant played just seven more games in AAA and was recalled and played his first major league game on April 17, 2015.  Bryant went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

Bryant finished the season leading the league in strikeouts with 199; however, he also hit .275 with 26 home runs, 99 RBI and 31 doubles which led to him being named the Rookie of the Year.  The next season he got even better as hit 39 home runs and 102 RBI which now led the second-year player to be named the National League Most Valuable Player.

Bryant is now just five years into his career with a World Series ring, two major awards, three All-Star appearances a new contract worth $18.6 million and two years away from becoming a free agent.  Bryant already has a 23.9 WAR to his name which is the third highest of any Blue Jay drafted player not to sign with the club out of the draft.

Front End Starter

Scott Erickson
While it isn’t uncommon for a player to get drafted twice, it is rare for a player to be drafted three times, but it is nearly never a player will get drafted four times.  In 1986, high school pitcher Scott Erickson was selected in the 36th Round by the New York Mets, but elected to turn them down and go to San Jose City College.  He again was drafted the following year this time in the 34th Round by the Houston Astros but again decided he was going to go back to school.

Erickson finished up his two-year degree in his junior college and was named a Junior College first-team All American.  The Blue Jays must have thought since he finished up his two-year junior college career they would be able to sign Erickson and selected him in the 44th round.  Erickson decided to go for more education and attended the University of Arizona where he recorded an 18-3 record; leading the country in wins, innings pitched and complete games.

With a successful season, Erickson was drafted a fourth time, this time in the fourth round to the Minnesota Twins and he turned pro.  Erickson climbed through the Minnesota organization quickly and was starting for the club just one year after being drafted.  In his second season and just two years after being drafted Erickson finished second to Roger Clemens in AL Cy Young voting, despite recording more wins (20) and fewer losses (8).

In that season, Erickson would face the Blue Jays in the ALCS during Game 3 of the series.  With the series tied 1-1, Erickson was given the ball to start at Skydome.  Erickson got into some trouble in the first inning after giving up a solo home run to Joe Carter and an RBI double to Candy Maldonado (scoring John Olerud) but was able to settle in after that.  Erickson pitched into the fifth inning without allowing another hit which helped the Twins come back and win 3-2.  The Twins would win the next two games and eliminate the Blue Jays from the postseason.

Throughout the 1990s, Erickson was known as one of the top starting pitchers and finished with at least 13 wins seven times.  Erickson also finished with 142 wins and a 24.8 WAR over his career.

Lilly for Later

Ted Lilly
The player with the highest WAR (27.1) over his career actually collected almost a quarter of it playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.  However, unlike Orlando Hudson who was drafted twice by the Jays and signed the second time, Ted Lilly wad drafted a second time and signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1995, Lilly was finishing up his first year of junior college baseball with Fresno City College in California and the Blue Jays tried getting him to leave school.  The Blue Jays drafted him in the 13th round, however, nothing materialized and Lilly went back to school.  Lilly finished up his two-year degree and was drafted a second time, but this time in the 23rd round by his hometown Dodgers in 1996.  Lilly signed with the Dodgers and got to work in their minor league system.

Before ever playing a game for the Dodgers, Lilly was traded to the Montreal Expos in a deal that included now Blue Jay Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s uncle Wilton Guerrero.  Lilly didn’t quite have the immediate success other players on this list had as it took him until he was 27 years old before he had any notable season.  In 2003, Lilly started to break out which included a superb Game 3 ALDS performance that saw him pitch seven innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits and five strikeouts.  The A’s would go on to lose the game in extras and eventually the series.

That offseason, things would come full circle as the Blue Jays stole Lilly from the Athletics for Bobby Kielty.  Lilly would build on his success in 2003 with the Blue Jays for the next three years which led him to pick up 37 wins over that span and his first All-Star appearance in 2004.  When Lilly turned 30, his game seemed to get even better which would lead to three years with the Cubs and putting up a 47-34 record in those years.  Finally, Lilly would get his opportunity with the Dodgers finishing out his career for three years, two of those would be injury-filled.

Lilly who decided not to sign with the Blue Jays when they drafted him ended up having three successful years with them finished his career with a 130-113 record, had two All-Star Game selections and pitched in five different playoff games.