FanSided’s pick for Blue Jays’ biggest draft miss is worth remembering before 2026 MLB Draft

With the 2026 MLB Draft taking place tomorrow (Jul. 11) it offers the Toronto Blue Jays, and all 30 MLB teams, a chance to restock their farm system with a new crop of prospects. The hope is that at least one of them can live up to their pre-draft hype and become a useful major league player.

It doesn't always happen that way though, and every team's history is littered with draft choices they regret. In fact, FanSided recently looked at the worst draft pick in each team's history. Writer Zachary Rotman went with a pick from the 1980's as the Blue Jays' worst draft choice. That pick was a player by the name of Augie Schmidt, a shortstop who never made it above Triple-A.

Rotman writes, "The Toronto Blue Jays made Augie Schmidt the No. 2 overall selection in the 1982 draft, the same draft that consisted of legends like Dwight Gooden, Barry Larkin and ... Barry Bonds. It's one thing to not be as good as those guys, but Schmidt never even made it to the Majors.

He got off to a good start right after he was drafted, but progressively got worse as the Jays attempted to move him up in their system. He lasted only three years with Toronto, never making it above Triple-A."

Ouch! That's a tough pill to swallow for Toronto baseball historians. Did it hurt the Blue Jays in the long run? Depends on how long of a time line one may be referring to. In the immediate returns, the Blue Jays were AL East division champions in 1985 and wound up winning back-to-back World Series titles with plenty of players that were drafted after Schmidt.

David Wells, Jimmy Key, and Pat Borders were all taken in the same draft after Schmidt. A majority of the roster that would make up those World Series teams were either drafted in the years after Schmidt, or acquired via trade, Rule 5 draft or through free agency.

But in the long run, the Blue Jays missed out on not just Gooden, Larkin and Bonds, but also Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson, power hitting first baseman Matt Williams, and future NL MVP Terry Pendleton.

To be fair though, outside of Pendleton, none of those players signed with the teams that drafted them in the '82 draft, but had the Blue Jays landed any of these players, surely they would have had more of an impact on Toronto's success in the prevailing years than Schmidt did.

Blue Jays have had string of draft success leading into 2026

As far as Ross Atkins as the front office is concerned, the Blue Jays are currently set up for a bright future thanks to some savvy drafting over the last few years. The last three draft classes are producing some really interesting prospects with high upside.

Arjun Nimmala was picked in the first round in 2023 and is currently playing with Double-A New Hampshire, ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect in Toronto's system. JoJo Parker was picked in the first round last year and continues to rake at the plate with Single-A Dunedin in his first professional season. The 2024 draft produced some names that are already becoming recognizable such as Trey Yesavage, Johnny King, and Sean Keys, the 2026 Canada Day hero.

2026 represent another opportunity for the Blue Jays to add to that stockpile and avoid their own Auggie Schmidt situation.

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