Blue Jays: Areas to focus on with their first pick at the 2022 MLB Draft

The Best Player Available

An easy slam dunk decision for any General Manager, am I right? If a highly touted player is still available by the time the Jays step up to the podium, they should select that player regardless of position and walk back to their tables with their head held high.

This scenario most likely isn’t the easiest choice because draft days can get pretty wild in a hurry, but the Jays have had two consecutive drafts where a top player was still available when the club was put on the clock.

The first was Austin Martin in 2020, one of the best college bats in the draft that season, and was available for the Jays when they were on the clock at pick #5 and they wasted no time in both drafting and signing him. Last year was similar with pitcher Gunnar Hoglund, whose stock fell due to Tommy John surgery and was available for the Jays at pick #19. Oddly enough, both players are no longer with the organization as they were used as trade pieces, with Martin heading to Minnesota as part of the Berrios deal and Hoglund heading to Oakland in a package for Matt Chapman.

With a draft filled with quite a few high school players and sons of former Major Leaguers, it will be interesting to see if any of the top-ranking players will be available once the Blue Jays are set to select. One would usually think that their price may be too high or they are dead set on honouring their college commitments if they fall down the leaderboards, but some players also want to go to the franchise of their choosing, which was the case for Bo Bichette back in 2016.

Each MLB Draft is full of surprises and I am sure the 2022 version will be no different. There are some intriguing prospects on the board and it will be interesting to see what the Blue Jays’ front office game plan will be for the 20 rounds this summer.