Jays take Martin with first-round pick

Photo: Toronto Blue Jays/Twitter

June 10, 2020

By Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

TORONTO -- With their highest overall draft pick in 23 years, the Toronto Blue Jays selected INF/OF Austin Martin out of Vanderbilt on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old slashed .368/.474/.532 with an overall OPS of 1.007 across 665 plate appearances in three seasons with the Commodores, helping the team go 59-12 en route to capturing their second College World Series title in 2019.

Named as the D1baseball Preseason SEC Player of the Year ahead of his 2020 campaign, Martin paced Vanderbilt in hits (20) and runs scored (15) over 18 games prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 6-foot, 170-pound utility man is one of only eight top-five draft picks Toronto has secured dating back to the team's inception in 1976, and the first since Tim Wilken made Vernon Wells a fifth overall selection in 1997.

Though parts of 12 seasons in Toronto, Wells appeared in three All-Star games, won as many Gold Glove awards, and ranks second to only Carlos Delgado in franchise extra-base hits (592), total bases (2597) and RBI (813).

CURRENT 25

Headlined by a core three consisting of Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 40% of the current Blue Jays 25-man roster is comprised of homegrown talent.

MEET THE NEW BOSS

This year marks Shane Farrell's first draft as amateur scouting director with the Blue Jays. Replacing Steve Sanders this past January, Farrell had spent parts of seven years working as an amateur scouting assistant and area scout for the Chicago Cubs prior to joining the American League outfit.

If his name sounds familiar, it's because the Blue Jays made the former right-handed pitcher a 46th-round draft pick in 2011, when his father, John, was in the second of a two-year stint spent as the club's bench boss.

LAST FIVE FIRST-ROUND PICKS / 2019 TOTALS

2019 - RHP Alek Manoah (Low A) - 6 GS, 17 IP, 27K/5BB, 2.65 ERA
2018 - INF Jordan Groshans (A) - 23G, .337/.427/.482, 8 XBH
2017 - RHP Nate Pearson (AAA) - 3GS, 18 IP, 15K/3BB, 3.00 ERA
2017 - INF Logan Warmoth (AA) - 65G, .200/.290/.277, 14 XBH
2016 - RHP T.J. Zeuch (MLB) - 5G, 22.2 IP, 2K/1BB, 14.54 ERA
2015 - RHP Jon Harris (AA) - 4G, 13.1 IP, 12K/2BB, 6.08 ERA
2014 - Max Pentecost (retired)
2014 - Jeff Hoffman (traded to COL) - 15 GS, 70 IP, 68K/34BB, 6.56 ERA

Unlike the traditional 40, there will be only five rounds in Major League Baseball's COVID-19-influenced 2020 Amateur Draft. In all, 160 selections will take place. Teams are eligible to sign as many undrafted players as they see fit, though signing bonuses will be capped at $20,000 per prospect.

Rounds two through five will take place on Thursday, beginning at 5 p.m. E.T.

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