Choosing Blue Jays' best option for first-round 2026 MLB Draft pick after recent links

A big day is looming for the Toronto Blue Jays. The 2026 MLB draft takes place on Saturday, July 11 with rounds 1-4 taking place that day, beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST. Rounds 5-20 take place the following day. While the Blue Jays may not have a first round selection this year, thanks to a 10-pick penalty due to their offseason spending, it doesn't mean they won't have a chance to get a quality prospect with their first pick.

A lot of mock drafts see some big names still available once the Blue Jays get to take their turn early in the second round with the 39th overall pick. Interestingly enough, Baseball America and Kiley McDaniel (of ESPN) both think the Blue Jays will be targeting shortstop Archer Horn, while MLB Pipeline thinks they'll pursue one of two pitchers; Logan Reddemann or Taylor Rabe.

Reddemann is a 21-year-old playing at UCLA. The six-foot-two, 185 pounder has steadily regained a lot of pre-draft value after his stock dropped in April. That's when he was put on the shelf due to arm fatigue and missed the remainder of the season. But following his recovery he has shown he's ready to contribute within a team's minor league system as his fastball sits in the mid-90's and he's on track to reaching the high 90's velocity he showed previously. He's currently ranked on MLB pipeline as the 31st best prospect entering the draft.

Rabe, also 21-years-old, stands six-foot-five and weighs in at 200 pounds. He's already under gone Tommy John surgery but has not only fully recovered, he came back and dominated for Ole Miss, taking the team right to the College World Series. He started in a piggy back reliever role and ended the year as the team's number one starter. He got plenty of chases from opposing batters with his fastballs sitting mid-90s but sometimes getting into triple digits. He managed a five percent walk rate, and posted a 7.0 K/BB rate this past year. He's currently ranked as the 40th best prospect entering the draft.

Horn is an 18-year-old left-handed hitting shortstop who is playing for St. Ignatius in California. He is currently committed to Stanford but could very well be worth spending a first round pick spot on. Scouts like his bat speed and the ability to get the ball in the air, though there's mixed feelings on how much power he'll be able to bring as he adds strength.

He can throw mid-90s from the mound, which translates well to his 60 arm grade at shortstop (on the 20-80 scale), but his average speed may mean he'll need to transfer to second or third by the time he gets to the MLB level. Horn ranks as the 54th best prospect entering the draft.

Blue Jays have targeted these types of players over the past few seasons

It feels like right now the safer bets are one of the two pitchers, however, they are ranked higher and they could be gone by the time the Blue Jays step up to the podium. But there's a reason why some mock drafts see them falling to the Blue Jays, and that's because of the injury history and, perhaps, more polished pitching prospects available in those higher spots.

It's also never a bad idea to continue adding pitching to your system. As the Blue Jays have seen first hand this year that you can never have enough pitching. While they are having somewhat of a renassaince this year with several pitching prospects posting gaudy numbers in the minor leagues, every team still needs to stockpile on arms any chance they get.

The Blue Jays have also drafted a couple of shorstops in the past few seasons that seem to be on a fast track to earning their major league debuts. Both Arjun Nimmala (2023, first-round) and JoJo Parker (2025, first-round) are backing the Blue Jays' decision to draft them in the first round. Nimmala has moved up to Double-A this year, while Parker is raking in his first year in Single-A and is heading to the All-Stars Futures Game.

But if the Blue Jays really like Horn, there is also nothing wrong with trying to stockpile athletic middle infielders. Long-time Blue Jays fans will remember the mistakes of a prior GM, J.P. Ricciardi, who decided not to draft a player that could have been a franchise cornerstone because they "already drafted two shortstops" in prior years.

With Russ Adams and Aaron Hill already in the system, Ricciardi drafted Ricky Romero instead of Troy Tulowitzki and, no offence to Romero, but Tulo went on to produce at a border line Hall of Fame level over his first decade in the big leagues (37.8 bWAR, 176 home runs, .891 OPS) while Romero was out of the league before the age of 30.

This isn't to say Horn is the next Tulowitzki, only to suggest that the Blue Jays should make their assessment on who they truly feel is the best player available at that pick and not based on their current surpluss, or lackthereof, in the system like a prior regime.

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