Blue Jays prospects who could be a factor in 2025

So, let's look at five players from within who could play for the Blue Jays this season, providing immediate impact and helping clarify Toronto's roster picture going forward.

There was so much excitement around Toronto's surprising trade deadline acquisition of Bloss, along with Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner from the Houston Astros for Yusei Kikuchi, that it was easy to overlook what a crazy 2024 he had.

Bloss began the year at high-A, was in double-A by the beginning of May, and a big-leaguer in June as the Astros scrambled to cover for a rash of pitching injuries.

From there he bounced between the majors and triple-A, battling sporadic shoulder fatigue, before changing organizations at the deadline.

In all, Bloss pitched for five different teams at four separate levels over 24 outings.

Bloss's 93-94 m.p.h. heater plays up thanks to well above-average extension, which is part of the reason why he earned a 25-per-cent whiff rate with the pitch in the minors last season.

All of his pitches benefit from that extra tick of perceived velocity, and while none of them will jump off the page metrically, the depth of Bloss's arsenal allows him to mix and match with carrying fastballs, a pair of sliders moving to his glove-side, a curveball, and a changeup pronating arm-side.

That gives him the tools to pitch quality starts at the highest level, which is what the Blue Jays will no doubt be asking him to do at some point this season when they need a rotation backfill.

Joining Bloss in the first layer of Blue Jays starting depth in 2025 will be Macko, who got out to a strong start last season at double-A before a forearm issue sidelined him for nearly two months.

He returned towards the end of the season and got to triple-A for his final start of the year, which is where he'll begin 2025 awaiting his first call to the majors.

The soon-to-be 24-year-old has battled injuries throughout his professional career, which has capped his innings total in a single season to last year's 93.1.

But when he's been on the mound, the left-hander has used his low-to-mid-90's fastball effectively to set up a slider and changeup in the low-80's, plus a big, loopy low-70's curveball that would make Chris Bassitt proud.

It's that arsenal depth that gives Macko the look of a back-end starter in the making.

Macko still has work to do to command his pitches more consistently and limit walks before anyone's installing him in a big-league rotation.

But the Blue Jays had 10 different pitchers start games last year, which was still below MLB average. It's a good bet that at some point this season Macko's first big-league opportunity will present itself.

With bottom-10 marks across MLB in home runs, barrel rate, average exit velocity, and isolated power over the last two seasons, it's obvious the Blue Jays' biggest need offensively is more thump.

And aside from Guerrero Jr., the best source of it within the organization is Martinez.

Like this Martinez blast that was 114 MPH off the bat.

We likely would've already seen a multiple-month look at how the 23-year-old's power translates to the big-leagues if not for Martinez testing positive for a banned substance only two days after his MLB debut last June.

But with his 80-game suspension served, and strong reports emerging from Dunedin about the physical strides he was able to make while sidelined, Martinez is once again the most impactful bat the Blue Jays could call upon from the minors.

Since 2021, only two minor-league players have hit more home runs than Martinez's 103 - and he just missed half a season.

He had a 94th-percentile hard-hit rate and 96th percentile barrel rate at triple-A in 2024, and there's no reason to worry about those power numbers dipping after his positive test result.

Martinez hit 28 bombs in 98 games when he was only 19. The power's always been there.

Game power like Martinez's doesn't come around often.

And even if his approach and defence are still a little rough around the edges, he could offset that and then some if he helps the Blue Jays address their two-year power drought.

If you're looking for a sleeper pick to be Toronto's most impactful rookie in 2025, Roden's it.

After reworking his swing at DriveLine last off-season, Roden got out to a slow start as he continued ironing out the kinks before hitting his stride in the second half, hitting .313/.402/.504 from the beginning of June on.

His 140 wRC+ with Buffalo ranked among the top-20 hitters to make at least 250 plate appearances at triple-A last season.

And he flashed his baserunning ability, stealing 14 bases in 15 attempts on the year.

Roden's yet to tap into much power but his strength and a 112.2-m.p.h. maximum exit velocity at triple-A are among the reasons why the Blue Jays believe it's in there.

As was the case with Horwitz - who hit a career-high 16 homers last season between triple-A and the majors - it may be a matter of experience and learning how to take shots earlier in plate appearances, relying on strong bat-to-ball skill and barrel control to still put the ball in play with two strikes.

Roden certainly possesses the ability. He has nearly as many walks (149) as strikeouts (152) in his career and ran a 91st-percentile contact rate at triple-A last year.

If he can come into a bit more power in his age-25 season, Roden won't have much more to prove at triple-A.

And if the Blue Jays have a medium-to-long term corner outfield need in 2025, he'll likely be the one to fill it.

Long regarded internally as the best shortstop defender in Toronto's system, Kasevich showed Blue Jays evaluators something with the bat upon reaching triple-A last August, hitting .325/.382/.433 with a 116 wRC+ over the final 41 games of his season.

No one's expecting him to become a silver slugger, but if Kasevich can layer average-to-above offence against upper-level pitching on top of his defence and versatility, he could fill a utility role in the majors for quite some time.

Kasevich fits the Blue Jays' preferred mould as an uber high-contact hitter with a discerning plate approach who grinds on opposition pitchers.

With the Buffalo Bisons last season, Kasevich ran a 21.1-per-cent chase rate - only a tick above Horwitz's, which was lowest on the team - while posting the fifth-highest contact rate among triple-A players.

And he demonstrated an all-fields approach, hitting more balls the opposite way than he did to his pull side or back up the middle.

How much power he'll ultimately hit for remains a question. But he did have Buffalo's fourth-highest average exit velocity, behind Will Robertson, Addison Barger, and Jonatan Clase.

Even if he can merely make a tweak to get more of his contact off the ground - Kasevich has regularly run groundball rates above 50 per cent - the 23-year-old could help the Blue Jays backfill for any up-the-middle injuries this season.

SOURCE: Sportsnet