With their penultimate pick on the second day of the 2015 Draft, the Blue Jays went local in a couple senses, picking 6'0", 218 pound Etobicoke native Connor Panas as a senior out of Canisius College in Buffalo. Panas is listed on the Draft Tracker as a 3B, but has also played LF, CF and 1B for Canisius this year, so he has some utility ability. Panas is the 7th Canadian drafted in the top 10 rounds (and was joined by a 8th also from Canisius two picks later) in what has been a banner years for Canadians in the draft.
Over the last two years, Panas has absolutely mashed the ball for Canisius, posting a .379/.476/.633 line in 2015 in 290 PA, hitting 10 HR, 24 other extra base hits and showing strong plate discipline with a 31/37 BB/K ratio. Over his four years at Canisius, he hit .344/.447/.522 with 80 extra base hits and a 103/106 BB/K ratio.
eep in mind, as dominant as those numbers are, the MAAC conference is not a baseball powerhouse. This year, Canisius won the MAAC and advanced to the Springfield Regional where they faced the Jays' 1st rounder Jon Harris and Missouri State in their first game.
At Etobicoke Collegiate, Panas was a standout multi-sport athlete, playing baseball, football and basketball (in which he was coached by Jerry Howarth). Alexis Brudnicki had a good profile of him last year for the Canadian Baseball Network.
As a senior sign, the Jays will be saving some slot room when Panas signs. I would expect he'll either be assigned to Bluefield or Vancouver, with the former more likely given his draft position but the latter compelling given the Canadian connection (paradoxically of course, Bluefield is geographically a lot closer then Vancouver).
Here is a link to his Canisius player profile.