Toronto Blue Jays Top 10 Prospects for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Timing really worked out on this one. This system lost some shine when it shipped out Gabriel Moreno the other day, and to a lesser extent, Jordan Groshans to Miami last season, but neither makes a dent in the long-term build of the organization, which remains impressive from top to bottom. 

1. LHP Ricky Tiedemann | 20 | AA | 2023

At 6’4” 220 lbs with an upper-nineties fastball, Ricky Tiedemann has been bullying batters throughout his baseball life but took it up a notch in 2022, traversing three levels of minor league play (78.2 innings) with 117 strikeouts and a 0.86 WHIP. He was every bit as dominant in 11 Double-A innings (0.82 WHIP) as he had been in 30 Low-A innings (0.80 WHIP). The only real worry here is that he won’t get tested until the majors, but as bugaboos go, that’s a preferable one. He’ll likely need better command, especially off-speed command, to survive big league lineups a couple times through, and he won’t need either of those traits in place to dominate again in the minors. The Jays put him on an aggressive timeline seeking someone to challenge him in 2022 and might do the same this year if they decide he’ll need to develop in the majors anyway. He’ll turn 21 in August and is on track to celebrate that milestone in Toronto.

2. SS Addison Barger | 23 | AAA | 2023

So just as I’m finishing up his blurb, this budgie futhermucker shoves in and shuts down my computer. Destroys it, actually. No lie. I am in the market for a new desktop. Probably less “in the market” and more “snapping up the next semi-reasonable replacement I can find.” Anywho, Barger will always be remembered as the man who ended that tower, a faithful workhorse for something like a decade. On the field, Barger enjoyed a dream season in 2022, thriving at three levels and setting himself for a big league gig in 2023. His wRC+ scores of 149, 147, 192 tell the story of a season that ended with eight molten-hot games in Triple-A. A left-handed hitter at 6’0” 175 lbs, Barger cut his strikeouts at each new level, which allowed the solid natural power to play in game. He was a sixth round pick out of high school in 2018. Real developmental win for the Jays. Feels a little underrated in a general fantasy sense.

3. OF Gabriel Martinez | 20 | A+ | 2024

Once in a while, an obvious prospect will pop, the dynasty world will notice, and the prospect will nonetheless remain under the radar for most leagues. I don’t know when the report was submitted now that Fangraphs’ schedule has gone the way of Napster, but they’ve got him at a 40+ Future Value. You have to buy the book to know that that means. Impossible for me to explain it here, except to say that it’s inaccurate to say that Martinez is tracking as a well below average major leaguer after posting a 141 wRC+ as a 19-year-old in High-A. He’s not the biggest guy at 6’0” 170 lbs, but Martinez generates power with an athletic swing that allows him to limit the strikeouts (15%) despite holding nothing back when he explodes through the hitting zone.

4. SS Orelvis Martinez | 21 | AA | 2024

From one end of the developmental outcomes spectrum to, well, maybe not the other but certainly a less shiny spot than the one occupied by Tiedemann’s 2022, we find Orelvis Martinez, who hit 30 home runs as a 20-year-old at Double-A but batted just .203 with a 28.5 percent strikeout rate to get there. It’s not a disqualifying season by any stretch, but it’s a continuation of his outcomes in High-A to finish up 2021, when he hit nine home runs in 27 games but batted .214. Probably shouldn’t have graduated the league and opened the following year a level up, but that’s Captain Hindsight talking. Makes enough sense to graduate a gifted 19-year-old coming off a 99 wRC+ and an off-season of work, and I suppose he might graduate Double-A on the strength of his 96 wRC+ against older players. On the other hand, he got worse throughout the season, outcomes-wise, batting .184 from August 1 through season’s end, so his best path probably leads back to Double-A. If he dominates, that’s great, but the risk is that if he struggles again, it’ll wash away most of the remaining buzzy-prospect sheen.

5. 1B OF Spencer Horwitz | 25 | AAA | 2023

His name is close enough to howitzer that you’d expect this guy to have a cannon for a throwing arm. Instead, Horwitz is a bat-first prospect who hits left-handed, throws right, and could work his way onto the big league roster early in 2023. A 24th round pick in 2019, Horwitz will never have much room for error. Another .363 slugging percentage like the one he posted across 44 games at Triple-A would likely be enough to keep him confidential for a long time. He’s ranked fifth on the chance that an early injury creates a chance for him, but he’d always be among my first cuts if he lands on a roster of mine.

6. OF Dasan Brown | 20 | A+ | 2025

In 2021, Brown couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a water bottle processing plant. Thus, he mostly disappeared from the dynasty baseball consciousness. One thing about 80-grade runners: they’re never out of chances for our purposes. Jorge Mateo is a good example. Adalberto Mondesi, too. We’ll see how the new rules affect the running game, but it’s hard to imagine they change the fact that steals make the roto-world go ’round. Roger Cedeno popped into my head while writing that sentence. Anyway, Brown still strikes out too much (28 percent), but he still produced a 130 wRC+ and .392 on base percentage with 11 steals in 40 games as a 20-year-old at High-A. I think it gives Brown a tiny little boost that the organization seems committed to fielding strong outfield defenses.

7. RHP Yosver Zulueta | 25 | AAA | 2023

Tricky one here. Zulueta has extreme upside but lacks experience due to a series of extremely unfortunate events that include Tommy John surgery and a torn ACL. Plus there’s the whole defecting from Cuba thing. It all adds up to an incredible talent with a high-nineties fastball who could probably help in the bullpen a whole lot sooner than he could help in the rotation.

8. SS Tucker Toman | 19 | CPX | 2026 

The son of a college coach, Toman grew up to be a switch hitter with solid swings from either side. The Blue Jays selected him 77th overall in this year’s draft and paid an over-slot bonus to sign him. He fits well with what this organization has prized the past several years: middle-infield hands with plate skills, even if the players aren’t particularly strong or fast, which describes Toman well enough at the moment.

9. 2B Cade Doughty | 22 | A | 2025

Doughty played three years for LSU and struck out a total of 89 times in 133 games. He drew 56 walks and hit 30 home runs. Is that something you might be interested in? At 6’1” 205 lbs, Doughty doesn’t pop off the screen in any particular way, but the sum of his parts has always produced plus outcomes, so Toronto selected him 78th overall in this year’s draft.

10. OF Devonte Brown | 22 | A | 2025

So here’s a guy who caught my eye. I doubt you’ll find him on any lists, but I can’t wait to see him against upper-minors arms. It’s not like Brown comes out of nowhere. He did go undrafted this season but had slugged .500 for two straight seasons in the ACC at NC State, an impressive enough feat for any young hitter. It makes perfect sense that Toronto wouldn’t overlook a productive, patient bat with only medium-good tools. That describes most of this list.

Thanks for reading!