In reviewing the DSL's first week, Coronado stands out: 8 BB to 1 K, good for a .545 OBP.

Nimmala on a mini-slump: 13 K in 6 games. Meanwhile, Cutter Coffey with a .982 OPS this week.

BA's RoboScout's Top Fantasy Prospects

Blue Jays pitcher Johnny King has climbed to the No. 2 spot at the (complex) level after tossing 3.2 scoreless innings last week with seven strikeouts and no walks. The 18-year-old now boasts a 34% strikeout-minus-walk rate, a 0.00 ERA, and a 62% groundball rate—a stellar start to his professional career.

Sam Shaw #16 Low-A Hitters
Yesavage #2, Stephen #20 Low-A Pitching

Nimmala #4 High-A Hitters

Blue Jays righty Trey Yesavage continued his dominant run at High-A Vancouver, striking out nine over five innings this week. Despite a 16% walk rate, Yesavage remains comfortably ranked as the top pitcher at the level.

Yesavage #1, JWB #6, Stanifer #9 High-A Pitching

Pinango #9 AA Hitting
JWB #8 AA Pitching

nothing in AAA

Does this guy become an option if Turnbull craps the bed?

Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP: In a season where the Blue Jays system has been chock full of strong performances, Watts-Brown emergence is worth taking note of. Over eight starts with Vancouver, Watts-Brown was among the best pitchers in the Northwest League, boasting a 39.7% strikeout rate.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=watts-000jua

nice numbers in AA

BA Mock 4.0

1. Nationals — Ethan Holliday, SS, Stillwater (Okla.) HS
2. Angels — Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU
3. Mariners — Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
4. Rockies — Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee
5. Cardinals — Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) HS
6. Pirates — Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona (Calif.) HS
7. Marlins — Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State
8. Blue Jays — Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma
Witherspoon improved across the board in 2025 and finished the season with a 2.65 ERA over 16 starts and 95 innings. He improved his control in a big way, going from an 11.2% walk rate in 2024 to a 5.9% walk rate this spring. He also showed much more depth to his arsenal with a few new breaking ball shapes. Teams have been consistently impressed with how he’s been able to hold mid 90s velocity deep into his games.

He has real landing spots throughout the top 10 picks, though he seems to get less buzz than the college lefty trio for whatever reason. If the southpaws do go in front of him, he should come off the board quickly thereafter. This feels like the floor for Eli Willits.

9. Reds — Ike Irish, C/OF, Auburn
10. White Sox — Billy Carlson, SS, Corona (Calif.) HS
11. Athletics — Brendan Summerhill, OF, Arizona
12. Rangers — Jojo Parker, SS, Purvis (Miss.) HS
13. Giants — Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest
14. Rays — Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
15. Red Sox — Gavin Kilen, 2B, Tennessee
16. Twins — Wehiwa Aloy, SS, Arkansas
17. Cubs — Andrew Fischer, 1B, Tennessee
18. Diamondbacks — Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) HS
19. Orioles — Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M
20. Brewers — Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson HS, San Antonio

How soon will Edward Duran be promoted? 140 wRC+ (20th of 141 FSL), 180 ISO (31st) seems to be answering questions about his lack of hit/power tools.

Offday update...




Asterisk = promoted
Double Asterisk = demoted


AAA

OF Schreck (24): 22pa, 13.6b%, 18.2k%, .333bip, .333avg, .389iso, 206wrc+
OF Roden* (25): 83pa, 10.8b%, 8.4k%, .371bip, .361avg, .222iso, 177wrc+
OF Robertson (27): 188pa, 17.0b%, 23.9k%, .327bip, .288avg, .294iso, 159wrc+
OF Pinango (23): 32pa, 18.8b%, 12.5k%, .158bip, .231avg, .346iso, 150wrc+

Schreck and Pinango off to amazing starts obviously. The power has been particularly surprising. Robertson probably could help in MLB right now but that's the downside of stockpiling too many depth options - i don't see why they'd want to give him a chance ahead of a whole bunch of other guys.

IF Stefanic (29): 125pa, 15.2b%, 11.2k%, .360bip, .313avg, .051iso, 136wrc+
CF Clase* (23): 106pa, 13.2b%, 23.6k%, .438bip, .315avg, .056iso, 126wrc+
C Clarke (27): 58pa, 15.5b%, 10.3k%, .357bip, .313avg, .042iso, 124wrc+
1B Tirotta (26): 172pa, 8.7b%, 32.0k%, .372bip, .274avg, .217iso, 120wrc+
OF Loperfido (26): 222pa, 8.6b%, 21.6k%, .343bip, .276avg, .146iso, 115wrc+

All of these guys htiting well enough, but only Clase young enough to matter.

IF Jimenez (24): 15pa, 13.3b%, 20.0k%, .400bip, .308avg, .000iso, 106wrc+
UT Schneider* (26): 160pa, 15.0b%, 28.7k%, .310bip, .226avg, .165iso, 105wrc+
UT McCarty** (26): 28pa, 7.1b%, 28.6k%, .313bip, .240avg, .200iso, 104wrc+
1B Nunez (24): 155pa, 9.7b%, 23.9k%, .305bip, .250avg, .154iso, 102wrc+
IF Rivera (24): 129pa, 16.3b%, 34.1k%, .355bip, .222avg, .130iso, 97wrc+
C Sanchez (28): 111pa, 9.0b%, 26.1k%, .288bip, .242avg, .172iso, 96wrc+
UT Barger* (25): 45pa, 11.1b%, 28.9k%, .250bip, .211avg, .211iso, 95wrc+
IF Martinez (23): 207pa, 9.2b%, 28.5k%, .265bip, .219avg, .213iso, 92wrc+
IF Wagner (26): 30pa, 0.0b%, 13.3%, .250bip, .267avg, .200iso, 89wrc+

Just middling for all of these guys, though Barger and Schneider hitting well in MLB anyways. Most of these guys are young enough to care about at least.

1B Palmegiani (25): 120pa, 14.2b%, 25.8k%, .230bip, .163avg, .087iso, 83wrc+
C Bethancourt (33): 86pa, 8.1b%, 18.6k%, .138bip, .158avg, .184iso, 46wrc+
C Brooks** (26): 11pa, 9.1b%, 18.2k%, .250bip, .200avg, .000iso, 36wrc+
IF Kasevich (24): 0pa

Palmegiani finally showing signs of life, but it might be too late with Varsho, Jimenez, Santander coming back from injury.



AA

Age-Appropriate

IF Paulino (22): 141pa, 8.6b%, 25.5k%, .299bip, .236avg, .181iso, 113wrc+
OF Martinez (22): 55pa, 14.5b%, 16.4k%, .297bip, .244avg, .089iso, 106wrc+
IF Harry (22): 110pa, 10.0b%, 28.2k%, .234bip, .175avg, .093iso, 63wrc+

Paulino continues to show well. Martinez has bounced back and forth but is holding his own. Harry has really fallen off the pace unfortunately.


Slightly Old for Level

OF Pinango* (23): 192pa, 14.1b%, 21.9k%, .357bip, .298avg, .224iso, 169wrc+
C Gilliland** (23): 7pa, 14.3b%, 57.1k%, 1.000bip, .200avg, .200iso, 155wrc+
OF Bohrofen (23): 202pa, 10.9b%, 34.2k%, .287bip, .212avg, .196iso, 108wrc+
OF Brown (23): 103pa, 11.7b%, 28.2k%, .328bip, .236avg, .090iso, 97wrc+
C Stone (23): 21pa, 4.8b%, 19.0k%, .214bip, .211avg, .158iso, 94wrc+
IF McAdoo (23): 177pa, 7.9b%, 33.3k%, .290bip, .199avg, .093iso, 66wrc+
IF Dejesus (23): 92pa, 6.5b%, 38.0k%, .333bip, .200avg, .094iso, 59wrc+
C Sharp (23): 93pa, 5.4b%, 28.0k%, .273bip, .185avg, .025iso, 56wrc+

Pinango with the well deserved promotion.

Bohrofen and Brown barely holding their own. Both really need a hot streak sometime soon.

McAdoo and Sharp continue to be huge disappointments this year. Nowhere near prospect-level performance.


Old for Level

OF Schreck* (24): 169pa, 15.4b%, 23.7k%, .311bip, .266avg, .252iso, 166wrc+
UT Doughty (24): 97pa, 6.2b%, 21.6k%, .382bip, .303avg, .101iso, 121wrc+
1B Williams (24): 201pa, 9.0b%, 32.8k%, .309bip, .222avg, .133iso, 90wrc+
IF Rivera* (24): 46pa, 6.5b%, 52.2k%, .333bip, .163avg, .093iso, 40wrc+

Schreck with the well deserved promotion.

Sure would be nice if Doughty could find some of that power he left behind in single A - because he's shown absolutely no power in AA last year or this year. Add even mediocre power to his line here and it actually looks interesting, despite his advanced age.



A+

Young for Level

IF Nimmala (19): 236pa, 11.0b%, 19.9k%, .318bip, .278avg, .220iso, 132wrc+

Nimmala slumping a bit but still looks very good. Hopefully a hot streak incoming. Or maybe he's just bored with the level.


Age Appropriate

OF Arias (21): 190pa, 12.6b%, 22.1k%, .356bip, .276avg, .129iso, 120wrc+
IF Coffey (21): 202pa, 10.9b%, 27.7k%, .328bip, .244avg, .136iso, 98wrc+

Both these guys looking solid so far. A 2nd half surge could give them some real prospect status.


Slightly Old for Level

IF Pinto (22): 85pa, 9.4b%, 16.5k%, .264bip, .284avg, .324iso, 162wrc+
IF Harry* (22): 52pa, 9.6b%, 19.2k%, .314bip, .277avg, .213iso, 125wrc+
OF Martinez* (22): 65pa, 10.8b%, 24.6k%, .333bip, .236avg, .073iso, 93wrc+
3B Keys (22): 219pa, 15.1b%, 25.1k%, .237bip, .192avg, .153iso, 93wrc+
C Parker (22): 181pa, 8.3b%, 22.1k%, .292bip, .241avg, .148iso, 90wrc+
C Deschamps (22): 27pa, 7.4b%, 51.9k%, .375bip, .136avg, .000iso, 28wrc+

Keys and Parker still not hitting near well enough given their expectations. Pretty disappointing.

Any word on Pinto's injury?


Old for Level

IF Goodwin (23): 151pa, 11.3b%, 17.2k%, .258bip, .258avg, .227iso, 131wrc+
OF Micheletti (23): 191pa, 16.2b%, 17.8k%, .191bip, .195avg, .214iso, 105wrc+
UT Orf (23): 78pa, 21.8b%, 25.6k%, .282bip, .186avg, .068iso, 97wrc+
C Stone* (23): 63pa, 6.3b%, 17.5k%, .222bip, .185avg, .074iso, 48wrc+
C Gilliland (23): 31pa, 16.1b%, 45.2k%, 333bip, .167avg, .042iso, 46wrc+

Goodwin on a bit of a tear - he should probably be bumped up a level asap. Micheletti's weird hitting line continues - not near good enough for his age right now but that could be just a fluke low babip thing.


A

Age Appropriate

OF Shaw (20): 177pa, 18.1b%, 20.3k%, .353bip, .287avg, .161iso, 151wrc+
OF Joseph (20): 140pa, 2.1b%, 22.1k%, .313bip, .262avg, .185iso, 109wrc+
UT Chirinos (20): 178pa, 10.7b%, 28.1k%, .343bip, .250avg, .112iso, 103wrc+

Shaw looking pretty studly, but both the other two holding their own too.


Slightly Old for Level

OF Munoz (21): 71pa, 9.9b%, 29.6k%, .417bip, .323avg, .323iso, 186wrc+
C Duran (21): 197pa, 10.7b%, 21.8k%, .366bip, .293avg, .180iso, 140wrc+
IF Beltre (21): 220pa, 11.4b%, 14.1k%, .300bip, .259avg, .093iso, 105wrc+
IF Toman (21): 181pa, 7.7b%, 28.2k%, .364bip, .259avg, .105iso, 100wrc+
OF Aponte (21): 182pa, 6.6b%, 31.9k%, .301bip, .223avg, .181iso, 92wrc+

any word on Munoz' injury?

Duran looks excellent, but he'll need the Jays to make some kind of decision on Parker and Sharp ahead of him in order to get promoted i think.

The other three just holding on at this point, not quite bad enough to give up on yet.


Old for Level

IF Freethy (22): 103pa, 21.4b%, 22.3k%, .309bip, .231avg, .154iso, 133wrc+
C Tibbitts (22): 82pa, 12.2b%, 29.3k%, .326bip, .246avg, .200iso, 121wrc+
IF Rodriguez (22): 55pa, 18.2b%, 21.8k%, .313bip, .227avg, .091iso, 112wrc+
OF Hernandez (22): 82pa, 17.1b%, 23.2k%, .298bip, .224avg, .104iso, 108wrc+

Freethy and Tibbits might be injured I', not sure. Both hitting well enough to think a promotion would be in line otherwise.

BA Hotsheet

9. Khal Stephen, RHP, Blue Jays

Team: High-A (Northwest)
Age: 22
Why He’s Here: 0-0, 1.50, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO, 0 HR
The Scoop: The Blue Jays look to have struck gold with their first three picks in last July’s draft, as Trey Tesavage, Khal Stephen and Johnny King all made jumps in the most recent Top 30 update. Stephen had a particularly notable week in his third High-A start. He enjoyed his longest outing of the season on Tuesday, tossing six innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and no walks with 11 strikeouts. The 11 strikeouts were a career high, and he generated 14 swinging strikes. Stephen conservatively looks like a No. 4 starter long term with a chance to be a midrotation arm. (GP)

10. Orelvis Martinez, 3B, Blue Jays

Team: Triple-A Buffalo (International)
Age: 23
Why He’s Here: .308/.357/.769 (8-for-26), 5 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 6 SO, 2 BB
The Scoop: To say Martinez has a lot to prove is an understatement. He flashed big-time power in Triple-A last year and earned a big league debut because of it. Then came the 80-game suspension, and he hasn’t quite looked like the same guy since… until this week. Suddenly, it looks like he remembered how to hit baseballs really hard again. If he can become more disciplined at the plate, there should be a spot for him to contribute at the MLB level. (JC)

I think Tucker Toman has had a nice few weeks. For June, he’s hitting .458 with a OPS of 1.147. 1 HR with 3 total extra base hits and he’s cut down his strikeout rate of 39% in May to 25% for June. Small sample size but these baby steps are nice to see. I think he can still development into a nice MLB piece.

The problem with Toman is that none of his underlying metrics are improving (and are indeed terrible), even on a rolling basis. Optimistically though, he has very dramatic switch hitting splits in his career. He is way better as a lefty, and quite frankly they should give up on trying to unlock him from the right side where he has shown no improvement.

Re: Duran, I'd be surprised to see him move up. They are in no rush to move up Parker, who needs to see lots of work at catcher as he tries to improve his defense. Much easier to do that at a lower level.

Also, they could be playing 40-man games. Duran is 40-man eligible this year, and if he hits just as well in Vancouver, they are more likely to have to consider protecting him.

I'm wondering if they might be considering Duran leapfrogging Parker all the way up to AA. He seems like a better prospect than Parker, so it probably doesn't make a ton of sense to keep him stuck behind him indefinitely.

But then they probably don't want to give up on Sharp yet either, even though he's been absolutely terrible this year.

In Sharp's case, we can at least give him the benefit of the doubt that he barely had any ABs at High-A and they still promoted him to AA. He still hasn't hit 400 PAs in his minor league career. I would also not be surprised to see Duran's helium turned into a trade.

Last comment...re: latest mock draft.

It seems more and more likely the Jays would want Witherspoon. Watching footage I can see why. Funny enough, it was his twin (who also plays at Oklahoma) who was the better prospect out of high school. His twin is still intriguing, but more of a mid-round prospect. Would be funny if the Jays take both.

That being said, I really, really like Irish, and not surprised to see him move into the Top 10 now. I think he is potentially the best college hitter in the class.

If Willits is there, grab him, but otherwise, I think Witherspoon or Irish are good options.

Duran has a good defensive reputation, and his offensive line is quite interesting. It's his 3rd year in low A ball and he's now 21 years old. He's taken a different kind of step forward than you usually see. His W/K rate has deteriorated from almost even to twice as many Ks than Ws, but he's evidently hitting the ball harder and on a very nice flat plane.

His pop-up rate is way down. He's put the ball in the air 67 times and only 3 were pop-ups, 4 were home runs, 28 were line drives and he's hit 5 triples and 8 doubles in about a third of a season (197 PAs). Those 5 triples may not have been entirely a fluke. Last year, he went 15-3 stealing bases. If he's athletic in several ways, as his numbers hint at, that would be another positive.

Splitting the catching role between two prospects with each getting additional time as DH seems like the obvious way to address playing time issues. It allows for on-the-job learning while sparing the body (and in particular the knees) from overwork.

Shi says Yesavage just been bumped up to AA.

This applies to Duran and Toman - I think one should have a healthy dose of skepticism when looking at a prospect's numbers when they are in their 3rd year at a level (regardless of age). I'm not saying dismiss the numbers or that there can't be genuine development going on under the hood. But repeating a level for 3 years is a really bad sign (non pitcher rehabbing injury(s) division).

Agreed Nigel. I'd say the difference with Duran is that he always had interesting skills, struggled with injury in 2023 but still had good numbers in Dunedin. 2024 wasn't great, but then he spent the entire off-season working his butt off.

Toman all the reports are usually about swing mechanic changes, etc...nothing translating though.

Agreed Kelekin about Duran. Reports on his defence are all over the map so that's the thing that will be interesting to track as he moves along.

I don't disagree with you at all Nigel but I do think that applies a bit more to a non-catcher than a catcher.


Catchers can't get promoted as freely as all the other positions. They could easily find room for Toman if he was earning it.

And Duran hit well enough in those first two years to get promoted anyways. He might have just got stuck behind some guys.

I wanna take a look at the catchers those years......

2023

A: Deschamps 20: 212pa, 80wrc+ / Hernandez 19: 112pa, 51wrc+ / Duran 19: 93pa, 122wrc+ / Hornung 62pa, 24wrc+ / Mesia 20: 59pa, 82wrc+

I may be missing another catcher there but basically Duran was pounding complex league (150wrc+) so the jays traded away Hernandez and promoted Duran, and he did very well in his short stint there while young for the level. It also looks like the Jays were intent on giving Hornung every chance to show he could catch.


2024

A+: Hornung 23: 463pa, 107wrc+ / Hernandez 23: 147pa, 78wrc+ / Brooks 25: 97pa, 128wrc+ / Sharp: 96pa, 102wrc+ / Deschamps 21: 43pa, 102wrc+
A: Duran 20: 327pa, 98wrc+ / Deschamps 21: 120pa, 120wrc+ / Parker 21: 100pa, 155wrc+ / Tibbits 21: 91pa, 120wrc+


They could have pushed Duran to A+ to start the year, but looks like they wanted to give Hornung a chance chance at least to see if he could catch and i guess they didn't want to rush Duran after a short stint. Can't really say anyone was blocking Duran to start the year but i get why they wanted to give him more than just that short stint in A. But then Duran struggled a bit and was outhit by Deschamps. And then Sharp, Parker, and Tibbits were all added midseason and all hit very well.

so then coming into 2025 you had a few guys the FO liked enough to just have added to the org via draft and trade, all who hit well to end the year and all who were older than Duran.......so it was probably a pretty easy choice to slot Sharp in AA at 23 (with the older Brooks behind him), Parker at 22 pushed to join Deschamps also at 11 in A+, and keep Duran at 21 in A along with Tibbits at 22.


It's hard to call this a "logjam" when all the prospects are fairly marginal but it does seem like there's a bit of one going on. It looks to me like there's 4 or 5 somewhat interesting catchers who probably all deserve to be in A+ this year, but none of them at this point deserve to be in AA.

I hope Nigel wasn't making any plans to see Yesavage again.

Will Stanifer now start?

Landen Maroudis has been assigned to Dunedin.

Gerry - I was actually:(

uo - I'll go further with respect to C's. There are so many examples of "non linear" development of C's that I really don't look at age and level of C's as the determinant of what the future holds for them. I always check myself and remember Erik Kratz had a far longer and more successful MLB career than JP Arencibia.

Not surprised but incredibly disappointed Yesavage will not start against Spokane. Chris McElvain returning was the clue Yesavage was moving on. I know it's all about development, blah, blah, blah, but why not allow him to start once more in Vancouver before sending him up? The C's are battling for a playoff berth while New Hampshire is not. All but one of his starts with Vancouver were on the road. This week would be a playoff-type game and why not give him a bit of exposure to that before moving him on. I've always felt baseball ops just don't value having Vancouver as an affiliate.

I think the holes at the major league level may have as much to do with his quick promotion as anything else. They want more talent and options in the upper minors. Because otherwise, this organization usually has no issues being patient with development (though I respect they don't have a one size fits all approach in regard).