Taking a Look at the Blue Jays Top 3 Prospects

The Toronto Blue Jays made some interesting moves this off-season. Most notably not re-signing All-Star slugger Edwin Encarnacion, and instead, bringing in Steve Pearce and Kendrys Morales to replace him. Regardless, they could have a player in their minor league system who could supplement the power source Encarnacion provided.

Toronto has some intriguing prospects in their system with a mix of quality arms on the mound and solid position players with some pop at the dish. Led by a familiar name that many have heard about, let’s take a look at the top three prospects who could be the future of Canada’s team.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Based on his name alone, you knew for a fact he would become a stud in the game of baseball. The son of nine time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero, the 17 year old signed with the Jays in 2015 for a reported 3.9 million signing bonus. The Jays even traded away two prospects just before the signing so they could free up some space for their international signing pool in order to get Guerrero Jr.

Although he’s young, he can flat out hit. The youngster possesses power to all fields, which is very rare to see in a hitter who is so young. The hitting tools most certainly run through his veins thanks to his father. Guerrero Jr has impressive plate coverage and discipline at the plate, with the ability to lay off the breaking ball and wait for a pitch that he can drive. His most impressive asset at the plate is the Raw power and tremendous bat speed.

He is quite big and thick for his age, and you can definitely tell he has developed quicker than other prospects in his age bracket. The Dominican native doesn’t have too much movement in his stance at the plate, mainly a small leg lift and toe tap, then really uses his body to produce that bat speed through his core and legs. Before Guerrero signed with Toronto, he hit 33 home runs in 60 swings in a video from back home in the Dominican that went viral on the internet. See for yourself below.

If you didn’t believe the hype, and you were maybe wondering why a 16 year old received almost 4 million dollars for a signing bonus, you can understand now. There’s absolutely no doubt Guerrero Jr will be a 20+home run guy once he reaches the big leagues.

The youngster made the transition from the outfield to third base after being signed, and he has made significant strides at the hot corner. He’s worked hard on his arm strength across the diamond, along with his footwork at a new position, according to coaches and scouts. The routine plays seemed to be easy for him in his first full season in pro ball. He doesn’t have amazing range, but it’s decent enough to get the job done.

The productivity at the plate is what will fast track Guerrero Jr to the big leagues. He hit .271 with 8 homers with rookie class Bluefield in 2016, and most likely will begin the 2017 season with class A Lansing. If Guerrero continues to rake, and reaches that tremendous power potential that he is clearly capable of, we could see him in a Blue Jays uniform before his 20th birthday.

Sean Reid-Foley

Reid-Foley signed for $1.1 million after being selected by the Jays in the second round of the 2014 draft out of a Florida high school. Foley has pitched very well in his first two seasons in the minors, including stops in Class A Lansing and High A Dunedin in 2016, until being shut down in August with elbow pain.

Foley features a mid 90’s fastball, that can reach up to 97 at times with some great arm side tail that can be tough on right handed hitters. He features a slider, curveball, and changeup as well, with the curveball being his strongest off speed pitch with the potential to be an above average breaking ball at the big league level. His delivery is quite smooth, and very deceptive which makes it tough for hitters to pick up the ball out of his hand. 2016 was a breakout season for Reid-Foley mainly because he trimmed down his walk rate from 3.0 per nine innings from 6.3 in 2015. He began to throw more strikes and get ahead in the count, which resulted in less walks. Foley has shown the ability to be a strikeout pitcher his entire career so far, especially last season where he struck out 130 hitters in 115.1 innings pitched at two different levels.

Between his makeup on the mound, presence, and quality stuff, Foley has the chance to be a top of the rotation starter in the big leagues. According to MLB.com, Reid-Foley could reach the big leagues by 2018.

Anthony Alford

Alford was a third round pick back in 2012 by the Jays out of a Mississippi High School. An amazing athlete, Alford chose baseball over football, the other sport he was amazingly gifted at. The Jays even let him play college football for two years before he decided to leave the gridiron for good in 2014 and switch to the diamond. It’s taken some time for Alford to hit his stride. The 22 year-old had a lot of raw talent after being drafted, and it’s taken a few years for him to really put all those tools together on the diamond. He didn’t start playing baseball full time until 2014. Last season saw Alford have one of his best seasons yet in High A Dunedin in the Florida state league. Although he hit just .236, Alford went deep 8 times and also swiped 18 bags in the process. Two different injuries hindered his progress in 2016, but he showed well enough for the Jays to send him to the Arizona Fall League. Alford played very well for the Mesa Solar Sox, including being named to the All-Star team and an AFL rising star at the end of the season.

Alford has some great bat speed at the plate, and a fair amount of power, but he’s more of a line drive type hitter. Despite a knee injury that hampered his productivity in 2016, one of his best assets is his speed on the base paths, and in the outfield. Alford has shaped himself from a raw athlete with tremendous tools to a well rounded ball player. Thanks to his impressive performance in the Arizona fall league, Alford will most likely start 2017 in Double A with New Hampshire, and could find himself in the Jays outfield sooner than later if he stays healthy and continues to produce.

Future is bright

There are many other intriguing prospects in the Jays pipeline, including a fair amount of pitchers on that list. Toronto may not have one of the strongest group of prospects in the big leagues, but give it a couple of years, and some of these prospects could turn into legit names who could make a serious impact at the big league level, whether it’s on the mound, or at the plate. Vladimir Guerrero Jr has the best chance to make it big, hopefully attaining the level his father did.