Blue Jays prospects to watch at Spring Breakout game

DUNEDIN, Fla. — A year ago this week, Trey Yesavage, Mason Fluharty and Alan Roden were among the minor leaguers taking the field to play a Minnesota Twins prospect team as part of 2025’s MLB Spring Breakout series. 

A couple weeks later, Roden was at Rogers Centre making his MLB debut on Opening Day. Shortly after that, Fluharty was recalled from triple-A Buffalo to join Toronto’s bullpen, out of which he ultimately made 55 appearances. And come October, Yesavage was throwing five post-season starts before entering Game 7 of the World Series in relief. 

Over a 162-game grind, even a veteran, win-now team like the Blue Jays inevitably looks to its developmental system for players to make contributions both small and large to the major-league roster. (Not to mention the likes of Kendrys Rojas and Khal Stephen, who pitched in last year’s Spring Breakout game and were part of trade-deadline deals for Louis Varland and Shane Bieber)

That’s why it’s worth keeping an eye on the prospects the Blue Jays will send out to play their Philadelphia Phillies counterparts on Saturday in Clearwater, Fla., as part of this year’s Spring Breakout series (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT).

You never know who will find themselves in a big spot at a major-league ballpark come summer. Or possibly even sooner.

Here are some of the names to watch when the Blue Jays take the field.

Pitchers

Grant Rogers is expected to pitch for the Blue Jays on Saturday after leading the organization’s minor-league system in starts (28) and innings pitched (150.1) last season. The tall right-hander narrowly missed a big-league camp invite this spring yet has still found his way over to start three games for the big club. That’s an indication of how high on the organizational starting pitching depth chart he resides.

Rogers won’t blow anyone away with pure stuff, but he got half of his contact on the ground last season thanks to a low-90s two-seamer he pounds down in the zone. He utilizes multiple arm slots to create deception and has a kitchen sink of secondaries with which to keep hitters off balance. Considering how many starters modern clubs go through in a season, it’s a good bet Rogers finds himself on a mound for the Blue Jays at some point in 2026.

Gage Stanifer and Adam Macko are also available to pitch, and each has a realistic pathway to a big-league debut this season. 

Stanifer unlocked additional velocity in 2024 thanks to cleaning up his movement patterns and ironing out mechanical inefficiencies, which set him up for a breakout 2025 in which he climbed from single-A to double-A, pitching to a 2.86 ERA over 110 innings while striking out 35.5 per cent of hitters along the way.

The 22-year-old throws a mid-90s fastball with plenty of ride up in the zone and a low-to-mid-80s slider with big downward movement that gets plenty of swing-and-miss. His third pitch — a still-developing split-changeup — needs refinement, as does his strike-throwing if he’s going to avoid a future bullpen role. But a Yesavage-esque climb to the majors isn’t out of the question this season if Stanifer can continue piling up whiffs to position himself to be a weapon during a September playoff push.

Macko recently returned from the World Baseball Classic, where he demonstrated what he can do as a multi-inning reliever with Canada, sitting 95 while landing strikes with his slider and getting whiffs with his tumbling curveball. The one-time starter took off shortly after shifting to that role last season and will remain a one-trip-through bullpen piece going forward. Shorter stints have helped all of his pitches play up, and as he enters his final option year, Macko may get the opportunity to show that stuff off in the majors before long.

Catcher

Brandon Valenzuela’s been another positive prospect story in Blue Jays camp, as he made the most of the opportunities afforded him when Alejandro Kirk left for the WBC, showing off the strong defence and sneaky pop that made the Blue Jays so excited to acquire him at last year’s trade deadline.

Every team’s third catcher is always just a foul tip away from the majors and the Blue Jays feel their pitching staff would be in good hands if Valenzuela was pressed into duty for a stretch. The bilingual 25-year-old is considered a strong receiver with a good arm and quick release. That he’s a switch-hitter with a 110-m.p.h. max exit velocity is a bonus.

Infield

If you had to choose one prospect who did the most to improve their stock this spring, it’s Josh Kasevich, the utility infielder who’s expected to start at second base on Saturday.

One of the organization’s hardest workers, the 25-year-old did everything right at big-league camp both on and off the field. It was always going to be an uphill battle to crack a deep team’s opening-day roster, but Kasevich has positioned himself to be Toronto’s first call-up this season should an infield spot become available.

To Kasevich's right will be starting shortstop Arjun Nimmala, who will be watched closely by prospect evaluators this season as he attempts to bounce back from a difficult 2025. Toronto’s 2023 first-round pick started hot at high-A, where he was over three years younger than the average player, but slowed considerably through the summer and never got his season back on track as a small league adjusted to him.

Nimmala lost considerable strength throughout his first full season and a major developmental priority this winter was regaining it, adding more and figuring out how to better maintain it in 2026. His talent has never been in question, and the substantial decreases in his chase and strikeout rates from his first professional season to his second demonstrate the encouraging strides he continues to make. Still just 20, Nimmala has plenty of time to overcome his growing pains and fulfill the potential so many see in him.

Meanwhile, when Toronto’s first-round pick last July, JoJo Parker, takes over at shortstop for Nimmala halfway through Saturday’s game, it’ll be our first glimpse at the 19-year-old left-handed hitter outside of backfield games, where he’s already producing eye-catching exit velocities. Parker’s only just beginning his professional career, but any time a prospect as highly touted as him takes the field, it’s worth keeping an eye out.

The same could be said for Juan Sanchez, who’s scheduled to replace third baseman Charles McAdoo midway through the game. The 18-year-old will be making his North American debut Saturday after taking a flamethrower to the Dominican Summer League where he hit .341/.439/.565 with a 156 wRC+ last season.

Sanchez will begin 2026 at the Florida Complex League where Blue Jays developers can best help him assimilate to living away from home for the first time. But it’s a good bet he’ll be in A-ball with the Dunedin Blue Jays within a couple months, particularly if he keeps hammering extra-base hits at the clip he did last season while keeping his strikeout rate south of 20 per cent. 

Outfield

Yohendrick Pinango and R.J. Schreck are both MLB-ready contributors and opinions on which is ahead of the other vary depending on who you ask. 

Pinango has more offensive upside, as evidenced by a 98th percentile EV90 at triple-A last season. Yet Schreck is seen as the more well-rounded player with an advanced approach. Schreck is by far the superior defender and better on the bases. But Pinango has as much raw power as anyone in the system. Odds are we see both of them in the majors at some point in 2026.

Meanwhile, Blaine Bullard will patrol centre field in his professional debut. The $1.7 million bonus the Blue Jays gave him in last year’s draft — the largest ever for a 12th-round pick — tells you all you need to know about how highly the organization thinks of him. And that was before he added 15 pounds over the winter to put some thump behind his already impressive bat speed.

A switch-hitter with speed, Bullard comes pre-loaded with the contact skills the Blue Jays often hunt in the draft and will be challenged to take chances on the basepaths as he begins the season in the Florida Complex League. 

Toronto was one of the lowest-graded organizations in a host of baserunning metrics last year. Addressing that area of opportunity will be a major point of developmental emphasis at all levels in 2026. And toolsy athletes such as Bullard will be at the centre of it.