Biggest surprises on Baseball America’s Blue Jays top 10 prospects list

Baseball America recently came out with their latest Toronto Blue Jays top 10 prospects list. Our very own Matthew Sookram gave a nice rundown of the up and coming exciting young players that happened to make the distinguished group. But there were actually a few surprises, whether it was particular prospects that were ultimately included or excluded from the list.

First of all, the inclusion of infielder Juan Sanchez certainly stood out, especially with his #7 rank. With MLB Pipeline, Sanchez actually finds himself down in the #18 spot behind the likes of Micah Bucknam and Fernando Perez. On top of that, the young 18-year-old prospect just completed his first year with the organization playing in the Rookie Dominican Summer League, so his development is still at the raw stage. 

Biggest surprises on Baseball America’s Blue Jays top 10 prospects list

But with the high ranking with BA, it speaks volumes of his potential and his ceiling going forward in the Blue Jays system. Sanchez gave a glimpse of that during his 2025 campaign when he batted a strong .341 with a 1.004 OPS, along with 47 runs scored, 16 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 40 RBIs in just 56 games of action. Sanchez will likely start in Single-A next season as he looks to build on his impressive start to his professional baseball career.

The other surprises happen to be the exclusions of Yohendrick Pinango and Victor Arias from the list. After all, both players are currently found among the top 10 players in MLB Pipeline’s Blue Jays prospects list, along with having strong performances in their 2025 minor league seasons. 

Pinango was one of the Blue Jays’ fast-rising prospects in recent years, having gone from High-A in 2024 all the way up to Triple-A already in 2025. Last season, the 23-year-old outfielder compiled a solid .258 average, .790 OPS, with 57 runs scored, 29 doubles, 15 home runs, 70 RBIs while going six-for-six in stolen bases over 131 minor league games played. If it hadn’t been for the BlueJays crowded outfield depth, Pinango might have already made his debut with Toronto in 2025.

As for Arias, he has a ton of upside with his attractive combination of speed, defense, solid plate discipline and potential power at the plate. The 22-year-old prospect has definitely raised his game during the past couple of seasons and put together a strong 2025 campaign split between High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire. In 102 games, Arias amassed a .272/.353/.403/.755 slash line along with 69 runs scored, 19 doubles, seven triples, seven home runs, 47 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. 

Perhaps the fact that the Blue Jays leaving both promising prospects unprotected for the upcoming Rule 5 Draft had something to do with their omission from BA’s version of the Blue Jays top 10 prospects, as they may be speculating the potential of them being picked up by another MLB team. Nevertheless, no matter who still made the list, it should excite Toronto fans as their next generation of players looks to be just around the corner.