Former Blue Jays top prospect lands with the Washington Nationals on minor league deal 

On Friday, apparently Alek Manoah wasn’t the only former member of the Toronto Blue Jays to make waves in the news in finding a new home. Former Blue Jays top prospect Orelvis Martinez also landed with a new team in the Washington Nationals after electing for free agency following his designation for assignment earlier this month. The Nationals signed Martinez to a minor league deal to prove his worth once again.

The 23-year-old prospect was once viewed as the next big thing coming up from the Blue Jays system due to his enormous power potential. Especially after putting together three consecutive 25-plus home runs and 75-plus RBIs campaigns in his first four minor league seasons with Toronto.

Along with being the Blue Jays minor league Player of the Year in 2021, Martinez found himself consistently ranked among the top five prospects within the Jays organization year after year and was even among the top 100 prospects in all of MLB on a couple of occasions according to MLB Pipeline.

Former Blue Jays top prospect lands with the Washington Nationals on minor league deal 

However, an ill-timed 80-game PED suspension held back the promising infielder from breaking out in 2024 after making his MLB debut with the Jays in June of that year. Martinez has followed up his shortened 2024 campaign with a disastrous 2025 season in which he posted just a dismal .176 batting average, .636 OPS, along with 38 runs scored, 13 home runs and 32 RBIs in 99 games played with the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate Buffalo.

The year-long struggle ultimately led to him being designated for assignment last week, as he chose to enter free agency rather than being outright back to the minors to stay within the Jays organization.

With the Nationals having a healthy collection of young, promising bats making it to the big show already in Luis Garcia Jr., James Wood, Dylan Crews and C.J. Abrams, they will hope that some proper growth and development of Martinez in their system can help him regain his prior form that made him one of the best prospects in the league. 

Joining Manoah as the latest young talent leaving the Jays organization, hopefully the premature release of both players won’t come back to haunt Toronto down the road. On the good side, since both found new homes with team in the National League, they won’t be able to do as much direct damage back had they landed with an American League team instead.

Nevertheless, we wish Martinez all the best in re-establishing his professional baseball career in the new chapter in his life.