Blue Jays may have quietly stolen a big bat in the eighth round

After a few rounds of the MLB draft, it always becomes a crap shoot on which prospects teams end up getting. Even in the early rounds there is no gurantee any prospect will fulfill their potential, but the later the picks get, the less likely it becomes that any of them have any impact on the team.

However, every once in a while a prospect comes along in the later rounds that showcases tantalizing tools which the scouts would love to mold into MLB level production. That can be attributed to Jake Bennett, the Toronto Blue Jays' eight round pick from last months draft.

Bennett, Toronto’s 252nd overall pick out of Dallas Baptist University, has wasted little time showing that his college power can translate to professional baseball. Through his first 12 games with Single-A Dunedin, the right-handed hitter has already launched four home runs, driven in 14 runs and posted a .940 OPS. That production includes his first two professional home runs in the same game, one of them a grand slam, as part of a six-RBI performance for the Dunedin Blue Jays.

For a player who was drafted for his offensive upside, this is exactly the kind of first impression the Blue Jays would have hoped to see. Bennett’s slash line may not immediately jump off the page with a .244/.354/.585 in 48 plate appearances, but it's early days for the 22-year-old and six of his first 10 hits have gone for extra bases. Perhaps most importantly, his .632 slugging percentage makes it clear that when he is making contact, he is doing it with authority.

The scouting reports of Bennett out of DBU showed that he has power an MLB team can dream on. With the Patriots, he hit .346 with 19 home runs, a .475 on-base percentage and a 1.251 OPS while earning Third Team All-America honours from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, First Team All-Conference USA recognition and ABCA All-Central Region honours. DBU also noted that he reached base in 40 of 43 games and carried a 43-game on-base streak dating back to April 2025.

Jake Bennett's power will play, but the Blue Jays will need to develop the rest of his game may need some work

The biggest question with Bennett will be "where can he play defensively?" He was drafted as a catcher and is still listed there by MiLB, but even at the time of the draft there was an expectation that his future could move him toward first base or designated hitter. At 6-foot-2 and 231 pounds, with the kind of raw power that allowed him to lead Conference USA in home runs, the Blue Jays do not need him to fit a perfect defensive profile right away. They also are developing a pipeline of catching talent that could potentially block Bennett.

They drafted Will Brick earlier in this very draft. Brick was regarded as possibly the best high school aged catcher in the draft. They've also got a pretty decent tandem at the MLB level right now in Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Valenzuela.

Of course, it is still early. Bennett has struck out 20 times in his first 41 at-bats, so there is refinement needed as he adjusts to professional pitching. But even with swing-and-miss in his profile, he has already done enough damage to make Single-A look like a level he may not need to spend much time in.

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