The 4 best Blue Jays development stories of 2024

Leo Jiménez 

Unlike his previous two candidates above, Leo Jiménez did not have a brief MLB stint under his belt prior to the 2024 season. In fact, despite being a consistent top-20 prospect in the Jays’ organization for much of the past six years according to MLB Pipeline, Jiménez has actually been in the minor leagues dating all the way back to 2018. Known predominantly for his solid defense, he had taken some huge strides in his hitting in the past couple of seasons, hoping that it could prove to be a difference maker for him when he eventually makes the big leagues.

After putting up some solid numbers to start the year with the Bisons, the Jays finally gave Jiménez his chance when they called him up during the first week of July. Perhaps it was just nerves or that he needed some time to adjust to major league pitching. Jiménez ended up struggling to a .197 average, .514 OPS with just 5 runs scored, 3 doubles and 3 RBI in his first 25 games of his MLB career. However, he continued to put in the effort to work hard and made some appropriate adjustments to his approach at the plate. In doing so, it helped sparked a stronger finish to the season.

In his final 38 games, Jiménez compiled a solid .250 average with a .797 OPS, 13 runs scored, 8 doubles, 4 home runs and 16 RBI. In addition, he held true to his defense by posting a solid .980 fielding percentage and 1 DRS in 63 games split between shortstop and second base. One worrisome stat though was the fact that he was hit by a pitch a whopping 16 times. That ranked him sixth in the American League and ninth overall, despite playing way fewer games than his counterparts. So if Jiménez can also make the appropriate adjustments to that as well to minimize potential injury going forward, he appears well on his way to become a solid MLB utilityman for the foreseeable future.