Breaking Down the Biggest Sleepers of the Blue Jays’ 2026 Draft

This past weekend marked the second draft Toronto Blue Jays director of player development Marc Tramuta has overseen since taking over as the Blue Jays director of amateur scouting role back in November of 2024. Under his tutelage, the Blue Jays have seen a shift in philosophy, becoming less risk-averse than years past and targeting ceiling over floor more often than not.

This year brought a different set of challenges for the Blue Jays’ scouting and player development, since the team exceeded the second threshold of the luxury tax in 2025 while also signing Dylan Cease in the offseason after he had rejected the qualifying offer from the Padres. It meant the Blue Jays dropped an additional 10 spots in the draft from 29th to 39th while forfeiting their second round selection.

Coupled with the fact the Blue Jays came in with the second-smallest bonus pool ($5,543,100) of any team, this meant they had to be extremely strategic with their selections, having less wiggle room for home run swings on the prep side in the mid rounds.

Despite this, there were still some intriguing selections made. For the purposes of this exercise, I’ll be looking closely at a few that caught my eye. The focus will be on the Day 2 selections, as focusing on guys like Cole Carlon and Will Brick would defeat the purpose since they’re the prize selections of this class.

INF/OF Brayden Martin — 11th round

Brayden Martin was the Blue Jays’ 11th-round selection (342nd overall) out of Maryland. He finished his three year career with Maryland with a .314/.455/.380 slash line while walking (18.0%) nearly twice as much as he struck out (9.9%).

Under the hood, Martin possesses one of the most elite contact profiles of any collegiate player in the class. He finished the year with a 98% zone-contact rate and an overall 96% contact rate. He paired those marks with an extremely patient approach, swinging at just 29.4% of the pitches he saw.

Martin’s outlier contact ability comes at the expense of virtually no power. In 167 games with Maryland, Martin only managed to leave the yard five times with metal bats. He didn’t hit a single home run with a wood bat.

It’s fair to assume how this extreme profile will play at the pro level, where more advanced pitchers are likely to pepper Martin with pitches in the strike zone, daring him to do damage.

On the bases, he’s a 65 runner with the odd 70-grade home-to-first dash times. While not a prolific base stealer, Martin swiped 33 bases in 41 attempts over parts of three seasons, showing extreme efficiency when he did take off.

There are questions defensively for Martin. He’s seen time at second and third base while also getting reps in both corner outfield spots. His below-average arm likely means third base isn’t a viable option as he advances into pro ball.

Second base feels like his likely home, as his bat doesn’t possess the impact needed to occupy a corner outfield spot.

Martin won’t turn 21 until October. His outlier profile affords him some runway and projection. The Blue Jays value the hit-over-power profiles, so this match isn’t surprising. He’s a name to watch and monitor how he adapts when facing more advanced pitching that will be more than happy to challenge him in the zone.

LHP Santiago Garcia — 12th Round

The Blue Jays followed up their selection of Martin in the 11th round by taking LSU southpaw Santiago “Santi” Garcia in the 12th round (372nd overall). The former Tiger stands 6-foot-0 and 191 pounds and has a unique four-pitch mix with a deceptive arm angle.

Garcia has an over-the-top delivery with a deceptive release point that creates a steep plane for hitters, which allows his stuff to play up thanks to the sheer uniqueness of his operation.

Garcia features a four-seam fastball that was sitting 92-93 at the beginning of the collegiate season, topping out at 96 mph. The velocity dropped as the season went on, sitting more 88-90.

It still gave hitters a difficult time trying to square him up given his arm angle and release point. The pitch generated above-average cut-ride action and grades out as an above-average pitch metrically.

Garcia’s most pronounced secondary was a high-70s curveball with 12-6 action that he tunneled off of his fastball effectively. He also mixed in a slider, which he had trouble commanding consistently, and a promising changeup, which has 10 mph of separation in velocity from his fastball and tremendous vertical drop that induced a ton of whiff.

The Blue Jays are taking a chance on an arm they believe features outlier deceptiveness in terms of his delivery and someone who stands to add velocity to his fastball, which would immediately raise his ceiling. They’ve had numerous success stories on the pitching side over the last calendar year and now have their latest project to work on.

OF Eddie Rosado Jr — 20th round

With their final selection of the 2026 draft, the Blue Jays took Eddie Rosado Jr., a center fielder in the 20th round (612nd overall) out of Holy Ghost Prep School in Pennsylvania.

The prep outfielder hit .465 with six doubles, two triples, and six home runs across 50 plate appearances with a 1.000 OPS in his senior year at Holy Ghost Prep School. He was committed to Saint Joseph’s University at the time of being drafted, but it appears he will be choosing to turn pro with the Blue Jays.

Rosado comes in at a lean six-foot, 180-pound frame with a really short, compact swing from the left side. He already possesses strong bat speed and has the twitchiness and speed to stick in center field moving forward.

He’s likely ticketed for the Florida Complex League initially upon joining the Blue Jays. There’s room to fill out the frame further as he develops and exchange gap power for more over-the-fence power in the future.

Of all the Day 2 selections the Blue Jays made, Rosado was just one of two to come from the High School scene. This is a ceiling play from the Blue Jays, taking a dart throw on a lesser-hyped prep bat who they believe has a reachable ceiling with their player development team.