Blue Jays: A Look At The Prospects Going To Oakland

Gunnar Hoglund
The top prospect in the trade is 2021 first round pick Gunnar Hoglund, who the Blue Jays got at 19th overall.  The 6’4” starting pitcher was originally predicted to be a top 10 pick, however, Hoglund slid down the board because he underwent Tommy John surgery shortly before the draft.  Even with the surgery, MLB Pipeline had Hoglund rated as the Toronto’s fourth best prospect in their organization.

Hoglund pitched three seasons for Ole Miss, which had him finish last year with a 2.87 ERA while striking out 96 over 62.2 innings and surrendering only 17 walks.  Lookoutlanding.com posted that that Hoglund has a fastball that was hitting between 92-95 mph before his surgery, while having a top end slider that is his best pitch, and he also adds in a change-up.

Hoglund has the most upside of any of the players that the Blue Jays traded to the Athletics, but he reminds me a lot of the same situation Toronto was in back in 2015 when they traded another top prospect pitcher.  The Blue Jays drafted another pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery in 2014, which this time was ninth overall and his name was Jeff Hoffman.  Hoffman had a lot of upside, but as he was still a couple levels below the Major Leagues, he was the main prospect traded to the Colorado Rockies for Troy Tulowitzki.  Seven years later, Hoffman has become a major leaguer, but it took until 2021 to establish himself, which was a swingman that started 11 games and came out of the bullpen 20 times.

In Hoglund, the Athletics get a prospect who just turned 22 during the offseason and could end up with an elite arm.

Kirby Snead
The Blue Jays selected Kirby Snead in the same draft as Kevin Smith, just a few rounds later as he was taken in the 10th round of the 2016 MLB Draft and signed to a $125,000 signing bonus.

If I were to predict which player in the draft would have the most productive MLB career it would be Snead.  He has already performed well at the Major League level, as he made seven appearances for the Blue Jays during last July and August.  Over 7.2 innings pitched he allowed two earned runs, while striking out seven.

Snead has continually proved his ability to be a bullpen arm at each level of the Blue Jays organization since being drafted.  He has two minor league seasons of having an ERA under 1.80, while never posting a mark higher than 3.88.  Through the first part of his minor league career he struggled with control, but he has been able to cut his walks nearly in half over the last couple of years compared to the start of his career.  Over his entire professional career, Snead has allowed just 11 home runs over 244 innings pitched, which equals out to one every 34 innings.  Snead has never been rated in the top 30 prospects in the Blue Jays organization, but that is more due to his role being a one-two inning bullpen arm.

Snead will turn 28 years old at the end of the season and the Athletics will have team control of him until 2028, which if he is able to continue the success he has had in the minor leagues, they could have a team-friendly contract.  The Athletics should be able to count on Snead making the 26-man roster out of Spring Training this year.

Who do you think will have the best career of the four prospects going to Oakland?