June 10, 2020

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

The 2020 MLB draft (also known as the Rule 4 draft), bringing players into the league from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, is the most unusual in memory since the draft began.

Instead of the 40 rounds of draft picks that the clubs would make, there are just five this year, one tonight and four tomorrow. Additionally, to help protect the teams' financial situations (really?), clubs only have to pay a maximum of $100,000 towards the players' signing bonuses this year with the balance being paid in 2021 and 2022.

The Blue Jays had the fifth pick in the draft, the highest that they've drafted since 1997 when they selected Vernon Wells.

The run up to the Blue Jays' selection was interesting this year. Spencer Torkelson was selected by the Detroit Tigers first overall as was expected, but the Baltimore Orioles went with outfielder Heston Kjerstad (ranked 10th by MLB.com and 13th by Baseball America. Third was Max Meyer, selected by the Miami Marlins, who was ranked ninth by MLB.com and 10th by Baseball America. Lefty Asa Lacy went at four to the Kansas City Royals, he was ranked much higher than the two previous selections, ranked third overall by both MLB and BA.

1st Round - Austin Martin - OF/INF

With the fifth pick in the draft, the Blue Jays went with the next best player on the board, OF/3B Austin Martin out of Vanderbilt University. Projected to go No. 2 overall to the Orioles, Martin falls to the Blue Jays. MLB.com calls Martin "the best pure hitter in the 2020 Draft" and note that he has a short, quick right-handed stroke. MLB likes his speed and defence at shortstop but it's thought he could play either third base or center field as a pro.

According to Baseball America, Martin was a first-team All-American in his sophomore season, hitting .392/.486/.604, coming in third in the NCAA in hits. Martin has been compared to Dansby Swanson, as both were near the top of the draft class and both went to Vanderbilt but they're both big on contact ability and plate discipline with developing power. Defensively, BA thinks he'll be able to contribute on defence whether it's at third, second or centre field, where he played with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.

In his collegiate career, Martin had a .368/.474/.532 slash line in two full seasons and 16 games of his junior year (that was cancelled because of COVID-19). That said, he hit three home runs in just 16 games in 2020, walking 10 times and striking out just twice. In a larger sample size, he also walked more in 2019 (40 times) than he struck out (34 times).

Martin gets raves as one of the best overall position players in the draft and several sources (including Dan O'Dowd on MLB's broadcast) have indeed called him the best position player.

I have to say that I really like this pick. Rather than go with someone who they might have expected to get, the fact that Martin fell to number five gives the Blue Jays a very versatile player who can complement the current guys who have already broken into the majors while being someone who is about the same age as Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero (Martin turned 21 in March). Being a guy who can play the outfield with a plus bat makes him even more valuable but he could also fit in at third base if Vlad moves over to first.

2nd Round - C.J. Van Eyk, RHP

After selecting Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin in the first round, thought by some to be the best hitter in the draft, the Blue Jays went on to select righthanded pitcher C.J. Van Eyk in the second round.

Van Eyk was a high school stud coming out of Florida in 2017 but he fell in the draft in 2017 due to arm soreness in his senior year. The New York Mets did draft him in the 19th round but he didn't sign. He went to Florida State and continuously improved his stock, from a bullpen arm in his first season at Florida State, into a starting role in his sophomore year, logging 99 1/3 innings with a 3.81 ERA and 1.31 WHIP, striking out 129 and walking just 41. In his abbreviated junior year, he was off to a solid start, posting a 1.31 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, striking out 25 and walking 12 in 20 2/3 innings.

MLB.com ranked Van Eyk as the 39th prospect coming into the draft and rated his fastball as a 55-grade pitch with his curveball at 60, his change at 50, his control at 45, giving him an overall 50 grade. MLB notes that Van Eyk's fastball works in the 93-94 mph range, hitting 95 and he has good command of his fastball and adds a great curveball with "almost 12-to-6 action that has really good late downward bite." They see him as "capable of being a complete pitcher because of his willingness to pitch in with his fastball, his ability to throw his breaking ball at any point in the count and his feel for mixing his pitches to keep hitters off-balance." That said, there are issues with his command that showed up in 2020 that he'll need to figure out.

Baseball America ranked Van Eyk at No. 46 in their ranking of the top 500 players in the draft and noted that he would have been a top-100 player without his high school injuries. Like MLB, BA likes Van Eyk's three-pitch mix and note that his changeup has "sinking action that fools hitters on both sides [of the plate]," rating all three pitches as "solid-average or better." They also like his arm motion although his mechanics are "deliberate," with "very little coil or torque in his lower half." They note he's not "as explosive as the top-end pitchers in the class, which could make him more of a late first- or second-round pick."

In his collegiate career, Van Eyk was a 2019 Third Team All-ACC player, a 2019 All-Athens Regional player, a Second Team ABCA All-Atlantic Region player and was a 2018 Second Team Freshman All-American, selected by Baseball America, D1Baseball and NCBWA. He was also selected to the 2018 ACC All-Freshman Team.

3rd round - Trent Palmer, RHP

After selecting Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin in the first round and Florida State pitcher CJ Van Eyk in the second, the Blue Jays went on to select pitcher Trent Palmer from Jacksonville University in the third round.

Palmer is a hard-throwing righty who got people's attention in the Cape Cod League last year and is a 6-foot-1 righty, weighing 230 pounds. In his freshman year, as a reliever, he had a 2.86 ERA and 1.48 WHIP, striking out 46 and walking 18 in 44 innings. He followed that up with 21 outings in 2019, making nine starts and throwing 61 1/3 innings, with a 4.99 ERA and 1.60 WHIP, striking out 70 and walking 30. He threw 18 2/3 innings in the Cape last summer, posting a 1.45 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, striking out 21 with eight walks and, reportedly, hit 97 mph on the radar gun. He started out the abbreviated 2020 season as a starter, making four starts and logging 27 2/3 innings with a tiny 1.30 ERA and 0.61 WHIP, striking out an incredible 41 batters with just five walks, probably helping him trend upwards.

MLB.com ranked Palmer at No. 114 on their board, grading his fastball at 55 with a 50 slider, a 45 curveball and a 55 changeup, noting that his control rates as 45 and overall as a 45. Some scouts are talking about him as a reliever but give him a chance to start long term because he has three or four pitches in his arsenal with the ability to maintain velocity deeper into games. MLB.com likes the sink on his fastball as well as the changeup (a splitter0 that he throws with "good arm speed and downward action" while his slider has "sweeping action, but with some depth."

Baseball America ranked Palmer at No. 165 on their top-500 list. They noted that he got plenty of scouting attention in the early season after his work in the Cape Cod League and write that "Palmer threw much better strikes this spring than he previously did as a reliever with Jacksonville in 2018 and 2019, and scouts think of him firmly as a top 200 prospect because of his improvement." They note his fastball sat 92-95 mph, touching 96 and note that his slider and changeup are both "above-average."

Palmer twice won the Atlantic Sun conference Pitcher of the Week award in 2020 and was named to the ASUN All-Freshman Team in 2018. Keith Law had him ranked at No. 76 and notes that folks described him as an "analytics darling" but scouts don't love the body, although in video I've seen, he looks thick, but not portly.

4th Round - Nick Frasso, RHP

After selecting Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin in the first round, Florida State pitcher CJ Van Eyk in the second, and Jacksonville righty Trent Palmer in the third, the Blue Jays went on to select pitcher Nick Frasso of Loyola Marymount University in the fourth round.

Frasso, 21, is a tall, lanky righty from Southern California who went to Loyola Marymount University. Known as a two-sport start in high school, he was thought to be an excellent basketball player who had some trouble transitioning from basketball season to baseball season while in high school. Once he went to LMU, he took off as a pitcher, tossing 60 innings as a freshman, splitting time between the bullpen and the rotation, with a 3.15 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, strikin out 74 and walking 17. As a sophomore, he continued his dual role, spending more time in the bullpen with 19 appearances and five starts. He had a 2.22 ERA and 0.83 WHIP over 56 2/3 innings, striking out 73 with just 17 walks. He pitched two innings in the Cape Cod League, getting all six batters he faced out and then started 2020 as a starter, opening with a 4.15 ERA and 1.73 WHIP in just two outings and 8 2/3 innings, striking out 11 and walking three before an elbow injury took him out before baseball shut down.

MLB.com ranked Frasso as the No. 98 draft prospect. He gets a 60 grade for his fastball that gets up to 97 mph and he adds a curveball that's rated as a 50 grade while his changeup is a 45 and his control gets a 50 grade. The fastball isn't just all velocity as MLB.com writes that he's "lived off his four-seamer up in the zone almost entirely during his college career and it misses a ton of bats, as it has tremendous life."

Baseball America ranked Frasso at No. 107 and noted that he "impressed with four scoreless innings in his lone start for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team last summer." He was a potential first round pick going into the spring baseball season but dropped due to his injury. He's noted for his athleticism, with BA noting that he was "capable of throwing down emphatic dunks" on the basketball court. He has a high spin rate on his fast ball and "plus extension" while his "high-spin slider gives him a second potential plus offering, although it is inconsistent."

While there's a lot of upside with Frasso, I think that he'll have do a lot of work with his pitches and mechanics to remain a starter. And of course, we'll have to hope that he's got a clean bill of health by the time the minor leaguers get to playing, maybe in camp this fall.

5th Round - Zach Britton, OF

After selecting Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin in the first round, Florida State pitcher CJ Van Eyk in the second, Jacksonville righty Trent Palmer in the third, and Loyola Marymount righthanded pitcher Nick Frasso in the fourth, the Blue Jays went on to select outfielder Zach Britton from the University of Louisville in the fifth round.

Britton, an outfielder who played at Louisville for three years has an interesting profile. He didn't do much his freshman year, hitting .239/.400/.375 in 88 at bats with six doubles and two home runs but he blossomed in the New England Collegiate League that summer with nine doubles in 72 at bats, hitting .361/.440/.486. He followed that up with a .288/.368/.470 slash line in his sophomore year, hitting seven doubles and five home runs while going to the Cape Cod League and hitting .286/.358/.500 with six doubles and five home runs in just 98 at bats. In his abbreviated junior year at Louisville, he hit .322/.446/.542 with 11 doubles and a triple, walking nine times and striking out 12.

While he wasn't ranked by MLB.com, Baseball America ranked Britton at No. 192 and noted that has a "fairly loud lefthanded bat." They like his "pretty" swing and has some "impressive exit velocity numbers," noting that the hit tool was his best one, leading all NCAA DI hitters with 11 doubles. He's had more doubles power than home run power but they like the fact that he generated so much power with a wood bat in the Cape Cod League. They think he's ultimately a left fielder and has limited running skills and a fringy arm.

The Jays have a few guys in their system who aren't fleet of foot but have a good eye at the plate and a good potential hit tool and it will be interesting to see where Britton fits in.

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