ESPN MLB insider believes the Blue Jays outperformed their draft position

The Toronto Blue Jays won't know for several years whether their 2026 MLB Draft class lives up to expectations, but one of ESPN's top draft analysts believes the organization immediately accomplished three important objectives.

In his post-draft analysis, Kiley McDaniel praised Toronto's approach despite the club entering the draft with the second-smallest bonus pool in baseball, no second-round selection and its first pick not coming until No. 39 overall. Rather than focusing on what the Blue Jays lacked, McDaniel highlighted how the front office maximized its limited resources.

McDaniel writes that the Blue Jays got the best bang for their buck by selecting Will Brick in the fourth round. He says that the high school catcher, "has plus to plus-plus raw power and a plus arm and split his time this spring between catching and playing shortstop; pro teams prefer his upside behind the plate. He performed well over the summer, but there are questions about his pure hitting ability. The rest of the package could still carry him to being an every-day player."

Usually, teams rely on their first round pick making big gains in the shortest time and McDaniel says that will likely be the case with Cole Carlon, a left-handed pitcher out of Arizona State. The Blue Jays took Carlon with their first round pick, No. 39 overall and McDaniel says, "Carlon had mid-first-round evaluations until he missed some time with arm soreness later in the season.

This created some uncertainty about how teams would look at his long-term health, in addition to also having some relief risk inherent to how he pitches. The good news is his fastball/slider combo is probably the best in the draft, both plus pitches, and his rarely used changeup has above-average action to it. There's front-line or late-inning potential here, with some risk."

The Blue Jays then tried to get some quality in the later rounds, but were also satisfied with just stock piling on quantity when they exclusively drafted pitchers from the 12th round through the 18th round. McDaniel thinks that at least one of them will be a player to watch. He grades LHP Santiago Garcia (12th round) as that guy. McDaniel says, "Garcia was someone I flagged early in the spring because his pitch grades were excellent: above to plus on four distinct pitch shapes.

His command is well below average, leading to a 16% walk rate this spring in relief. This is exactly the kind of pitcher who has the upside to justify a role in the minors with a high walk rate as he works things out but is hard to run out there in tense weekend moments for an SEC school."

McDaniel added, "With diminished draft capital, the Jays landed two first/comp-level talents with no picks in those rounds, then added some interesting sleeper types, including Garcia and UT Brayden Martin (11th round) -- a 20-year-old junior from Maryland with plus speed and bat-to-ball ability."

2026 Blue Jays showing the strength of their farm system

While it's unlikely Brick, Carlon or Garcia make an impact before the 2028 season at the very earliest, the 2026 Blue Jays are showcasing how important it is to have depth on the farm and invest in your prospects.

The Blue Jays have seen a number of prospects graduate to the big leagues and have meaningful impacts on the team's success this season. Yohendrick Piñango, Brandon Valenzuela and Sean Keys have all made their major league debuts this year and the results have been very positive. While the Blue Jays are beginning the second half six games below .500, their record could have been much worse if it wasn't for the youngster's contributions.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow