Which Blue Jays prospects are on the rise?
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It’s almost time to shake up our Top 30 Blue Jays prospects list.
The weeks following the MLB Draft are a good time to re-evaluate and rerank, adding the newest Blue Jays to the list. You’ll find full coverage of those Blue Jays Draft picks from all three days on MLB.com. On our current Top 30, you’ll find three of the Blue Jays’ 2022 Draft picks in their top 10 prospects with Brandon Barriera at No. 2, Tucker Toman at No. 5 and Cade Doughty at No. 8.
Why not adjust these rankings in real time, all season long? Just look at Orelvis Martinez.
He leads off our look at the Blue Jays’ farm system at the All-Star break:
TOP HITTER: INF ORELVIS MARTINEZ (NO. 4)
Through 15 games in April, Martinez looked absolutely lost. He hit just .089, and although three of his five hits were home runs, it felt like his all-or-nothing plate approach was stuck in "nothing."
Since then? Martinez is batting .274 with 14 home runs and a .967 OPS over 54 games. Most important, he has a .397 on-base percentage with 36 walks during that span. He’s now pushing for a taste of Triple-A by the end of the season and, at just 21, he’s fully revived his prospect status after a dreadful start.
Martinez’s raw power is rare. Triple-A and MLB pitching will be a huge test for Martinez’s plate approach. He’s miles from being a lock to reach his potential ceiling, but it’s one incredible ceiling.
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TOP PITCHER: RHP SEM ROBBERSE (NO. 7)
Now 21, Robberse has finally bulked up after struggling to gain weight for a couple of years. He’s a true starter -- not a bulk arm -- and is handling the challenge of Double-A well with a 4.19 ERA over 73 innings. The Blue Jays love his natural delivery and ability to make quick adjustments, so Robberse has put himself in a position to compete for a Triple-A depth role by next season at 22. He’s one of this system’s best development stories.
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HITTER ON THE RISE: SS ALEX DE JESUS (NO. 21)
The Blue Jays love a good add-on prospect in trades. De Jesus came over alongside Mitch White in a deal with the Dodgers, balancing out the loss of Nick Frasso.
De Jesus just hit for the cycle with High-A Vancouver and is one of the hottest players in the organization. In 27 games since the start of June, he’s batting .333 with a 1.075 OPS and has earned rave reviews from the Blue Jays’ development staff for how well he’s fit in since the deal. You’ll be hearing his name a lot more.
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PITCHER ON THE RISE: RHP HAGEN DANNER (NO. 22)
The Blue Jays haven’t had much good news on the pitching front this season. At all. Danner represents another of the system’s best development stories, though, as a converted catcher, and has looked sharper in some recent outings at Triple-A. Danner is a pure reliever working one to two innings, but could put himself in the competition for a depth role with the big club next season with a strong finish.
HITTER TRENDING DOWN: UTIL OTTO LOPEZ (NO. 14)
Lopez just missed a roster spot coming out of camp, but his Triple-A numbers have been surprising. Typically a contact machine, Lopez is batting .245 with a .300 on-base percentage. His positional versatility is still valuable, and I still see a future as an MLB depth piece for Lopez, but there’s a reason the Blue Jays have opted for players such as Ernie Clement or Spencer Horwitz over Lopez when there have been openings.
PITCHER TRENDING DOWN: RHP YOSVER ZULUETA (NO. 3)
There have been far worse 2023 seasons among the Blue Jays’ Top 30 pitchers than Zulueta and his 4.61 ERA in Triple-A, but this is more a matter of reframing who Zulueta is in this system.
Entering the season, the Blue Jays wanted to see Zulueta start. He pitched in two-to-three-inning stints as a "bulk" arm, but control issues capped his momentum and he had since been shortened up into a traditional role. Zulueta hasn’t pitched two full innings since May 25, so for the time being, any ideas of starting or pitching in a bulk role are gone.
Zulueta still has excellent upside as a reliever, but it’s difficult to stick in a system’s top three when you’re coming out of the bullpen. In the 18 1/3 frames since his last multi-inning outing, Zulueta has walked 13 and struck out 21. Those numbers need to be further apart.