Blue Jays: Five Underrated Players To Watch During Spring Training

I’m sure by now we’re all aware of who the Blue Jays’ stars are.  We all know guys like Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Lourdes Gurriel Jr and Hyun Jin Ryu, and we’re aware of what roles they are going to play on this team.  Spring Training is a time to focus on some of the lesser known players.  Whether it is a highly touted prospect, or a journeyman fighting for a roster spot, I love Spring Training as it is a chance to see the depth of the organization.

During Spring Training, you get a glimpse of young players who may be superstars in the future, but you also get to see guys who may contribute off the bench, in a bullpen role or as a mid season call up for the coming season.  The Jays are by no means a complete team right now, no team is.  You look back to 2015 and 2016 where yes, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion were definitely the stars and the driving force of the team.  Along with these guys, the Jays got huge contributions from lesser known players like Chris Colabello, Marco Estrada and Devon Travis (when healthy).

The Jays are going to need players like this on this year’s team if they are going to contend for a playoff spot.  They have great depth in the organization and I wanted to take a look at some of the more underrated players who I think have a chance to make an impact on this team.

C Riley Adams

The Jays backup catcher job is wide open.  I don’t see Alejandro Kirk making the opening day roster unless he can show that he is head and shoulders better than Danny Janson both offensively and defensively.  I don’t think Kirk is quite there yet defensively, and I think that the Jays’ management will want him to play every day in AAA instead of riding the pine at the big league level.

This leaves room for another catcher on the Jays roster and I think that Riley Adams may be able to claim that role.  Adams is one of the more underrated prospects in the Jays’ farm system as he is only ranked 23rd on their Top 30 according to MLB Pipeline.  Despite his ranking, Adams is one of the players who I heard got rave reviews from the alternate site, so I would expect to see him climb up the Jays’ Top 30 when Pipeline releases their updated rankings in a few weeks.

Adams has great power at the dish, and it’s the best in the Blue Jays farm system according to Baseball America.  He showed off this power in 2019, hitting 14 long balls across two different leagues in only 100 games.  Adams’ defence is developing and is one of the things he supposedly made major strides in at the alternate site.

Unless the Jays make a signing over the next couple of weeks, the backup catcher job is really between Adams and Reese McGuire.  With how bad McGuire was last season, I think that Adams has a great shot to make the team if he has a strong spring.

OF Josh Palacios

Josh Palacios is a recent 40 man roster addition.  The Blue Jays added Palacios to protect him from the Rule 5 draft earlier this offseason so that they can fully evaluate him during Spring Training.  Palacios is a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, as he does many things well but doesn’t have an outstanding trait to hang his hat on.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Palacios, as he projects as a fourth outfielder at the big level, and having a guy coming off your bench that can do a little bit of everything could be beneficial to a team.  Palacios will definitely have a shot to make the Blue Jays opening day roster, as they are probably going to want to carry an extra outfielder on their bench so they can have Teo, Springer, Grichuk and Gurriel Jr. all in the lineup at the same time.

Palacios will be competing with Derek Fisher and Jonathan Davis for this role.  Davis seems like he has the inside track because of his speed and defence, but if Palacios can show enough with his bat during the Spring, I think he has a real shot of beating him out.

What makes Palacios a really interesting guy to watch is that he may not be a Blue Jay after Spring Training.  The Jays have a full 40 man roster right now, so if they want to add someone like AJ Cole or Francisco Liriano to their active roster, someone is going to have to be DFA’d to make room.  Being 25 years old and not having a great minor league track record, slashing .266/.371/.416 in AA in 2019, Palacios could be the odd man out if he doesn’t show management enough in the spring.

We’ve seen this before with Dalton Pompey, where management kept him on the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but then DFA’d him the following spring because he didn’t show enough in camp and they needed the roster spot.  Palacios is definitely someone to watch out for because there is such a wide range of possible outcomes for him.  We could see him on the big league roster on opening day, or we could see him with a different organization.

RHP Joey Murray

If you don’t know the name Joey Murray yet, he might be someone you want to get familiar with.  Murray is only the 28th ranked prospect in the Jays system, but I think that he is much better than his ranking might lead you to believe.  In 2019, as a 22 year old, Murray threw 137 ⅓ innings, posting a 2.75 ERA across three different levels, finishing at AA New Hampshire.  This is a very impressive season, not only statistically, but because he almost totalled a big league starters work load, logging nearly 140 innings.

This is a rarity in the minors, as you see guys like Nate Pearson who are coming to the big leagues and barely have100 innings under their belt, and need to have their workload managed because of it.  This won’t be a problem for Murray, who has already shown that he can handle the workload of a big league starter.

Murray won’t blow you away with his fastball as it sits in the upper 80’s, and it’s a huge reason why he is not a highly touted prospect.  Despite his lack of velocity, Murray makes up for it with deceptive arm action that makes his fastball “invisible” according to evaluators.  Because of his deceptive arm action, Murray was able to strike out 11.1 batters per nine innings in 2019 despite his lack of velo.

The Jays have a wealth of back end starters, so there’s a slim chance that Murray cracks the opening day roster.  Like Lopez, I think Murray is fully capable of having a great spring, which will boost his stock in the organization, making him a candidate for a mid-season call up.

 SS Richard Urena

The final player that I have on this list is one that Jays fans should be familiar with: Richard Urena.  Urena, a former Blue Jays farm hen was a highly touted prospect in their system back in the mid-10’s.  He was a former top 100 prospect that just couldn’t figure it out offensively at the big league level.

Urena showed flashes of his potential from time to time, but overall looked over matched by big league pitching.  He was eventually passed on the shortstop depth chart by Bo Bichette and was DFA’d, claimed by the O’s after the 2019 season.  Urena didn’t see any time at the big league level with Baltimore last season but the Jays front office must have seen something they liked from him, whether it was from the alternate site or during his time in the Dominican winter league, to bring him in.

The Jays are going to need a utility player on their roster this season.  Right now it seems like that job is going to go to Santiago Espinal, who was serviceable last season both at the dish and in the field.  Urena’s advantage over Espinal is that he brings more to the table as he’s a switch hitter, which could be super beneficial to a roster that is right hand dominant, and has plus speed that could be used as a weapon coming off the bench late in games.

Unless the Jays bring in another infielder, the utility job is definitely Espinal’s to lose, but if Urena can show that he is at least a competent hitter during the spring, his other tools may help him claim a roster spot.