A look back at 4 Blue Jays prospects who got away

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Over the years, the Toronto Blue Jays have drafted many prospects, some of which turned out to be important difference makers for the club, while others that just fizzled out. Among them, there have been a select few that may have been initially drafted by the Jays, but they eventually went on to stardom with another team.

Here, we take a look back at four prospects that the Jays drafted within the past 15 years that eventually got away. Perhaps they were traded away before they became a star, perhaps they were selected but didn't end up coming to an agreement with the Jays. Let's jump in and take a painful look back.

Joe Musgrove

Right-handed pitcherJoe Musgrove was taken by the Jays in the first round back in the 2011 MLB Draft. After spending a little over a year at the Rookie minor league level in the organization, he became part of a massive 10-player trade between the Jays and Houston Astros in 2012. The blockbuster brought notables J.A. Happ and Brandon Lyon to Toronto, while Musgrove joined Francisco Cordero and company going the other way to Houston.

For the most part, Musgrove was just a solid back end of the rotation starter for the Astros and later for the Pittsburgh Pirates between 2016-2020. During those years, he would sport an ERA constantly around four while striking out close to one batter per inning. It was not until he joined the San Diego Padres through a three-team trade during the 2020-21 offseason that his career finally took off.

In four seasons with the Padres, Musgrove has compiled a 37-24 record with a stellar 3.21 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, along with 579 strikeouts in 553 innings pitched over 96 starts. In terms of his overall accomplishments, he was an All-Star back during the 2022 season, a no-hit artist back in 2021, as well as a World Series winner with the Astros back in 2017 as a reliever at the time. Had the Jays had the services of Musgrove the past few seasons, who knows how much further they could have progressed during their short playoff runs. But one thing is for sure, they wouldn’t need to be scratching for more pitching depth all this time as he would have been a main staple in their rotation.

Tanner Houck

Who would have thought that a rival budding stud pitcher was at one point in time a property of the Jays. That is exactly the case for current Red Sox right-handed pitcher Tanner Houck, who was once selected in the 12th round out of Collinsville High School from the 2014 MLB Draft by Toronto. Unfortunately, Houck chose not to sign with the team as he attended the University of Missouri to play college ball. As he advanced his game in his college years, it led to the Red Sox taking him in the first round, 24th overall, in the 2017 MLB Draft.

Houck wasn’t producing eye-popping numbers coming up the Red Sox minor league system. But surprisingly, he has maintained strong numbers at the big league level since his debut with Boston back in 2020. In his five years with the club, he has compiled a 24-29 record with a solid 3.55 ERA, 1.19 WHIP with 417 strikeouts in 430.2 innings pitched over 104 games, including 71 starts. This season, Houck has posted career bests in ERA (3.12), wins (9), innings pitched (178.2) and strikeouts (154), en route to his first ever All-Star appearance.

More importantly, Houck has been one of the best in the business at keeping the ball in the ballpark, giving up only 33 home runs over the 430+ innings he has registered. That comes out to just one home run for about every 13 innings of work. He has also fared quite well against AL East opponents over his career, which is a tall task considering the potent offensive lineups found within the division. As a result, the Jays could have had a quality arm in their current rotation, especially one that had proven success within their daunting division that would have come in handy over the years.

Aaron Nola

Another one that fell under the category of missed draft signings, this one hurt a lot more based on what Aaron Nola has turned out to be. Taken in the 22nd round by the Jays in the 2011 MLB Draft out of Catholic High School, Nola chose not to sign with Toronto as well to study at Louisiana State University. From there, the Philadelphia Phillies ended up selecting him in the first round, 7th overall, from the 2014 MLB Draft.

As the unofficial heir to Phillies’ stalwart Cole Hamels since his departure at the trade deadline in 2015, Nola has been a mainstay in their rotation ever since. Not only that, he had quickly risen to ace status with the club, along with being one of the top pitchers in the league on a yearly basis. The former All-Star was even an NL Cy Young finalist dating back to his best season in the majors in 2018.

For his career, Nola has amassed a 103-79 record with a 3.70 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, together with 421 walks and 1772 strikeouts in just 1616.1 innings pitched in 267 starts. More importantly, he can be counted on to produce in the biggest games, as he sports a career postseason record of 5-3 with a 3.70 ERA, 1.15 WHIP along with 50 strikeouts in 48.2 innings of work over nine playoff starts. With his reliability and consistency while averaging close to 200 innings per year, along with his long-time dedication and loyalty to the club, the Jays could have had perhaps the next Roy Halladay in their hands.

Kris Bryant

Finally, the Jays really missed out on a potential game changer during their most critical stretch for the franchise in Kris Bryant. Following the trend of Houck and Nola above, Bryant was also originally drafted by the Jays, this time in the 18th round of the 2010 MLB Draft. Also unwilling to forego college to sign with Toronto, the Chicago Cubs ended up taking the phenom 2nd overall in the 2013 MLB Draft. That was how good he actually became with those three years.

By the time all was said and done, Bryant took home NL Rookie of the Year honours in 2015, NL MVP honours in 2016, as well as becoming a four-time All-Star in the process. With the ability to average 30 home runs and 80 RBI on a yearly basis, he would have been an offensive juggernaut in the Jays’ lineup for potentially the past decade. In total, Bryant has compiled a solid .274 career average with an .855 OPS, along with 665 runs scored, 231 doubles, 184 home runs and 547 RBI in 1043 games played.

Despite his decline in recent years, Bryant was arguably at one time one of the top players in the league. That time just so happened to be when the Jays were legitimate postseason contenders back in 2015 and 2016. Had he been with the Jays on their deep playoff runs during those couple of years, who knows how far they could have gotten. Especially when he ended up helping the Cubs to their first World Series win in over 108 years in 2016. Looking back, maybe there wouldn’t even have been a rebuild for Toronto, with the ability of Bryant to continue carrying the team after Josh Donaldson and José Bautista. Nevertheless, we are only left with frustrating thoughts of what could have been if the Jays had Bryant during this whole time.

Home / Toronto Blue Jays History

Joe Musgrove

Tanner Houck

Aaron Nola

Kris Bryant

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