TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays and Canadian outfielder Dasan Brown are closing in on a deal pending a physical, according to industry sources.
An athletic and super-toolsy outfielder from Oakville, Ont., the 17-year-old was the first Canadian taken in this year’s draft at No. 88 overall. Slot value for the pick is $678,600 although the Blue Jays have room in their bonus pool to pay him more than that.
The Blue Jays hadn’t selected the first Canadian in the draft since 2009, when they used the 37th overall pick on lefty James Paxton, who didn’t sign and ended up with the Seattle Mariners a year later.
Brown offers the Blue Jays’ farm system an injection of speed – Baseball America rated him as the second-fastest runner among high schoolers in the draft – with the potential to provide far more than just that.
Amateur scouting director Steve Sanders described him as "a very tooled-up player on both sides of the ball," earlier this month, and the Blue Jays know him well from his three appearances in the Tournament 12 prospect showcase.
During the Blue Jays’ annual exhibition game with the junior national team in Dunedin, Fla., Brown went 3-for-4 with a homer off Joey Murray, who is currently at single-A Dunedin.
Brown and Vanderbilt catcher Philip Clarke are the only Blue Jays draftees from among the top-10 yet to be officially signed.
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