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The MLB Draft gets underway shortly tonight at 7 PM eastern with the first round streamed live online at MLB.com (among other platforms). The Blue Jays will have the 19th overall selection, which should happen sometime around or after 9PM depending on how quickly they get started and stick to five minute intervals between picks.
Even at the very top, the situation appears to very much be in flux which creates even more uncertainty down below (not that teams drafting in the teens and 20s would normally have a very good sense who drops to them). No one seems to have a very good feel for what the Blue Jays are thinking or even what direction they’re leaning. Perhaps they’re playing things close to the vest, unlike in previous years where they were heavily linked to players they drafted early, or perhaps they’re waiting to see what plays out above and who falls down to them.
The Jays have been most linked to college pitching, including the likes of Ole Miss RHP Gunnar Hoglund, Mississippi State RHP Will Bednar, Wake Forest RHP Ryan Cusick, and Kansas State LHP Jordan Wicks. This fits both in terms of previous draft trends, as well as to a lesser extent organizational need and timeline.
More recently, they’re been linked to various high school players, with some chatter they’re looing to cut an underslot deal with a draftee (more likely high schooler) who wouldn’t otherwise be drafted that high, but won’t be around when their third round pick comes around tomorrow (or wouldn’t be signable with the money they have have left). That would be consistent with what they did in 2018 in selecting Jordan Groshans. A couple of the prep players that have been mentioned in this regard are Florida OF Jay Allen and New Jersey LHP Anthony Solometo. I will note that a high school pitcher would very much be against the current front office’s very strong past tendencies, not that that rules it out.
But the major takeaway seems to be that things are wide open. Below are a few useful resources for following along tonight: