Keep: OF Alan Roden
Outfielder Alan Roden has been one of the fastest rising prospects in the Jays’ system in recent years. Taken in the third round just two years ago from the 2022 MLB Draft, Roden has progressed through four minor league levels in just a short time span. Other than his less-than-stellar showing with the Jays’ Single-A affiliate Dunedin to start his professional baseball career, he has actually been killing it in all the other levels ever since.
Despite starting this past season in Double-A New Hampshire, the tremendous growth and advancement of Roden’s game led to his eventual promotion to Triple-A Buffalo midway through the year. More impressively was the fact that his numbers actually improved after moving up to Triple-A, showing that he is well on his way in being able to handle MLB pitching soon.
In the end. Roden amassed a .293 average, .865 OPS, 72 runs scored, 26 doubles, 4 triples, 16 home runs, 75 RBI, 14 stolen bases, 64 walks and 75 strikeouts over 125 total games split between New Hampshire and Buffalo. On top of that, he has also displayed solid defence in the outfield, posting a strong .991 fielding percentage along with 9 outfield assists over 932.1 innings. With such a convincing performance, he was recently named the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year.
With the Jays not having a concrete plan in place for their left field position for 2025, along with the uncertainty of George Springer in an everyday role in the field going forward, Roden currently represents their best internal solution to their outfield. In fact, barring any major signings in free agency or acquisitions via the trade route, Roden looks MLB-ready and has a solid shot at making the Jays’ Opening Day roster in 2025 as of this moment.