Blue Jays: It’s early, but so far this front office can really draft

The Blue Jays haven’t always been the strongest organization when it comes to the MLB draft, but things have gone well in recent years.

I’ll admit that there was a time when I was pretty critical of the front office led by Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins, but I’m also someone who is willing to change their mind. Slowly but surely, the Blue Jays’ front office duo and their staff have really impressed me over the last couple of years.

I was thrilled with the way that this past winter had gone, prior to the season being shut down because of the Coronavirus pandemic of course, as the Blue Jays were able to add some solid free agents, especially improving a needy rotation. In particular, it was very encouraging to not only see them ink an impact free agent in Hyun-Jin Ryu, but it also helped to improve the frosty relationship with MLB super-agent, Scott Boras.

However, more important than that is the way that this front office has drafted since taking over in 2016. The MLB draft is always a bit of a crapshoot, but so far they’ve managed to add some impact players in a short time, and you can count me as a believer in those that are closer to the beginning of their MLB journey. Their work hasn’t been perfect by any stretch, but there is a lot to like about the minor league system at the moment, even if it was recently thinned out.

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Thanks to baseballreference.com, we can go back and look at a complete list of the players the Blue Jays have drafted from 2016-present. In that first year, they might have missed a bit on their first-rounder in T.J. Zeuch (although he could still change my mind), they did manage to make a pair of selections that have already impacted the big league roster. In the second round with the 66th pick overall, the Blue Jays seemingly struck gold by taking Bo Bichette. They managed to do it again with their 5th round pick, this time stealing Cavan Biggio 162nd overall. Let’s just say that if this draft had a do-over, neither would have lasted past the first round.

From there it gets a little harder to quantify the argument, and I can already hear the “prospects are still prospects until they prove it” crowd chiming in. That said, I’m a big believer in several of the names the Blue Jays have drafted over the last few years, and I think it’s certainly worthwhile having a look.

After losing Edwin Encarnacion to the Cleveland Indians after the 2016 season, the Blue Jays were given a compensation pick at the end of the first round. With the 28th overall pick they nabbed Nate Pearson. There are a handful of other premium names from that class, but Pearson would certainly be a top five pick with a draft do-over from that year. It remains to be seen if others like Logan Warmoth, Kevin Smith, or Hagen Danner can provide additional value from that class, but Pearson looks like a pretty huge win on his own.

The Blue Jays’ draft class from 2018 has the chance to make a big impact down the road as well, although we’re likely a few years away from seeing that come to fruition. That said, you’re likely familiar with names like top 100 prospect Jordan Groshans, and others such as Adam Kloffenstein and Griffin Conine. There is still plenty of time for others to emerge, and I’ll be keeping an eye on another pitcher named Joey Murray as well, but I’m confident the Blue Jays made out well in 2018.

Last year’s draft has the potential to be an important one as well, even if it’s quite early to know the results. At the top the Blue Jays selected Alek Manoah, and after interviewing him recently I’m an even bigger fan than I was before. Kendall Williams could also prove to be a steal from the 2nd round, and 3rd rounder Dasan Brown looks very promising too. Of course, there is plenty of time for the rest of the draft class to make strides over the next few years as well.

Then there was this year’s draft, one that saw the Blue Jays have arguably the best player on the board in Austin Martin fall to them with the fifth pick. That was more a product of their good fortune than their planning, but they were ready to select an impact player when the opportunity came along. There’s a lot to like about the other four picks they made this year as well, as CJ Van Eyk was viewed as a first-round talent by several scouts, and Trent Palmer, Nick Frasso, and Zach Britton all have nice upside. This year’s draft was very different than in a typical year, but the early indications are that the Blue Jays made out very well.

When you look at the body of work in the draft from 2016-2020 from the Blue Jays front office, there’s an awful lot to like. As I said above, no draft ever goes perfectly, and they’ve missed on several impact players just like every other team in baseball. That said, overall they’ve done a great job of adding to the big league roster through the draft with Bichette and Biggio, and it looks like there is plenty more where that came from. Pretty soon it’ll start being time to give credit where it’s due.