Blue Jays release minor leaguer who at one point was the hottest hitter in the organization

With the Toronto Blue Jays making various additions to their roster both at the major and minor league levels in recent weeks, they actually made a surprising subtraction this past Monday. Looking at the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons transaction log, it has indicated that one-time sensation Gabriel Cancel was officially released.

Cancel was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the seventh round back in the 2015 MLB Draft. After spending seven seasons with the Royals, he left the organization to play in independent leagues for the past couple of seasons. This year, Cancel was putting up solid numbers with the Charleston Dirty Birds of the Atlantic League when the Jays decided to take a flyer on the 27-year-old. As a result, Toronto inked him to a minor league deal towards the end of June as he joined Buffalo to await his opportunity.

Seeing his release may actually come as a shock to some. After all, at one point in time, Cancel was perhaps the hottest hitter in the entire Jays’ organization. In his first 10 games with the Bisons, he batted a stellar .410 with a 1.474 OPS, along with 10 runs scored, 4 doubles, 6 home runs, 11 RBI and 2 stolen bases. With his offensive explosion, he appeared to have a legitimate shot at eventually making the Jays’ big league roster, given their constant struggles with offense.

However, Cancel ended up fading into irrelevance, as he would manage to register just 4 more RBI and a .133 batting average in the 23 games that followed. He would finish his short tenure with the Bisons sporting a .228 average, .801 OPS, 21 runs scored, 6 doubles, 6 home runs and 15 RBI in 33 games played.

With the Jays having added numerous new faces to the organization, Cancel essentially has fallen out of favour as the new prospects needed their playing time. As a result, he will once again need to look for opportunities elsewhere to continue his baseball career.