Blue Jays: Pair of Prospects Heading to Australia

On Tuesday afternoon, the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League announced that the Blue Jays were sending two prospects to play for their team for the 2020-21 Season.

The Blue Jays will send 22-year old infielder Samad Taylor and 23-year old outfielder Chavez Young to the “Land Down Under”.

Taylor was acquired at the 2017 Trade Deadline, along with Thomas Pannone from the Cleveland Indians for Joe Smith.  Since joining the Blue Jays organization, Taylor has had mild success at the plate as he is prone to strikeout, but has top end speed on the bases.  In 2018, he hit 32 doubles, seven triples and nine home runs to go with 44 stolen bases at Lansing.  He has played the majority of his defensive time at second base, but has seen a bit of time at both shortstop and third base.

Young was a 39th round draft pick by the Blue Jays in 2016 out of Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Georgie.  The Bahaman born outfielder is another base stealer as he also stole 44 bases in 2018 with Lansing, and then 24 the following year in Dunedin.  Young has split his time between right and centre field.

Both players missed out on a develop season in the MiLB during 2020, so to have this outlet to send some players is a win-win situation for both Canberra and Toronto.  This will be the first time since 2017 that the Blue Jays have sent any player over to the ABL when they sent both Anthony Alford and Mike Ohlman.

If you are curious what the league is, it became a partnership in 2010 between Baseball Australia and Major League Baseball to help develop local talent accompanied by the best prospects around the world.  The season is played from November until February each year.

Some of the top major league players to have stints in the ABL include: Liam Hendriks (2011), Didi Gregorius (2011), Kevin Kiermaier (2012), Ji-Man Choi (2013), Rhys Hoskins (2015), Ronald Acuna Jr (2017) and Mike Brosseau (2018).