Jay Harry is turning forgotten Blue Jays – Twins trade into potential steal

Back in 2024 when the Toronto Blue Jays were amidst one of their worst seasons in years, they became trade deadline sellers to help recoup assets for the future success of the team. Among the moves that were made included what supposedly was a minor one between the Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins.

With the Twins needing relief help, they acquired Trevor Richards from Toronto in exchange for a young utility player in the name of Jay Harry. It sure didn’t seem like much at the time as the Jays just wanted to get back an asset for Richards. However, just two years later, Harry is starting to turn that forgotten Blue Jays – Twins trade into a potential steal.

Harry is having a breakout 2026 campaign with the Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate New Hampshire

This season, Harry began this year with the Jays’ Double-A affiliate New Hampshire Fisher Cats. In 31 games (through May 22), the 23-year-old prospect has compiled a blazing .343 average, and .963 OPS, with 17 runs scored, eight doubles, three triples, four home runs and 29 RBIs. Harry has been tearing it up in May, with seven multi-hit games, 12 extra-base hits, 18 RBIs and an OPS above 1.000.

It really appears that he has found his stroke in the minors, he had been hitting only .237 with a .693 OPS over his first four minor league seasons. In fact, just last year, Harry amassed just a .199 batting average, .572 OPS, along with 12 doubles, five home runs and 31 RBIs in 100 total games played split between New Hampshire and High-A Vancouver. As a result, he is well on pace to surpass those numbers easily with not even a third of the season done.

While the Blue Jays get to watch the young utilityman prospect prosper in front of their eyes, all the Twins got from the deal was a struggling Richards that had trouble with his command down the stretch in 2024. In 10 relief appearances, he posted an 0-1 record with a 4.15 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, giving up six runs and issuing 11 walks in just 13 total innings of work.

In the end, Richards couldn’t even survive the rest of the season on the Twins’ roster as he was designated for assignment prior to September that year. Minnesota would ultimately fail to make the MLB playoffs in 2024 and the right-hander would elect free agency upon the season’s end. Currently, Richards is still trying to find his form in the majors with the Chicago White Sox after stops in Kansas City, Arizona and Philadelphia.

So where the Twins got all but 13 innings out of the Richards, the Blue Jays now have a potential gem on their hands with Harry, making Toronto the outright winner of the trade deal as of this moment. In addition, given Harry’s ability to play multiple positions effectively, if he continues to make waves with his bat, we could eventually be seeing the aspiring prospect in a Jays’ uniform sooner than we think.

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