Meet Josh Kasevich, the Next Blue Jays Prospect In Line

Spend enough time watching spring training games in their entirety, you’re bound to stumble upon players you weren’t already familiar with. Whether it’s the sound of the ball off of their bat, a great defensive play, or even something as simple as taking a good pitchers pitch, you’re bound to find yourself intrigued by someone not previously on your radar.

Enter Josh Kasevich.

Let’s be clear on one thing though. Kasevich wasn’t an unknown amongst the Toronto Blue Jays front office brass. Long been considered an organizational favorite due to his unrelenting work ethic, Kasevich has long been on the Jays radar as a potential future utility big leaguer.

A former second-round pick by the Blue Jays out of Oregon in 2022, Kasevich has demonstrated elite contact ability with miniscule strikeout rates throughout his time in the minor leagues while being an above average defender at both shortstop and second base. With the keystone being his likely position long-term due to his below average arm strength.

Kasevich impressed in 2024, having split his season between Double- and Triple-A and producing a 120 wRC+ at Buffalo over his final 41 games. The following season was a lost year for Kasevich, as he dealt with multiple injuries including a stress fracture in his back subsequently followed by a fractured wrist following a collision with teammate Tucker Toman.

He entered camp this spring finally healthy again, and has enjoyed a strong showing. Over the course of 36 plate appearances, Kasevich is slashing .281/.361/.438 with a 8.3 BB% and 5.6 K%, good enough for a 112 wRC+. Putting himself in position to be among if not the very first position player callup in 2026.

Stats updated prior to play on Thursday, March 19

Batted Ball Data

This is where it gets interesting when diving deep on Kasevich’s profile as a hitter. He’s a contact-oriented hitter who rarely strikes out and has never hit more than six home runs in a professional season. Based off of that information you’d assume he’s a slap-hitter. You’d be wrong. Take a look.

Here’s where he was at percentiles-wise in 2024:

Here’s a look at his 2025 season in Triple-A:

And here’s a look at how he performed early on in MLB spring training this year:

Thanks to the great Thomas Nestico (TJStats), we have data to gloss over from all the way back in 2024 when Kasevich first broke out, his injury riddled 2025, and spring training of this year.

What immediately stands out is that Kasevich hits the ball hard. He’s always been well-above average in that department. He also swings at pitches out of the strike zone at an extremely high rate and manages to make contact almost all of the time. Remind you of anyone? *Cough* Ernie Clement *Cough*.

The biggest detractor in Kasevich’s power profile is his inability to get the ball in the air consistently. His groundball rates in Triple-A were the following: 51.1% in 2024, 36.6%, and thus far in spring training this year it’s at an unsightly 58.6%. When he does hit the ball in the air, it’s not to the pull side. When he does though, it’s a beautiful sight.

Thus far in an extremely small sample this spring Kasevich is barreling the ball better than ever (9.4% compared to 1.3% in 2025 and 2.3% in 2024). The big issue for Kasevich is while his average exit velocities have always been above average, his max EV’s have always been well, well below average. The gap is extremely minuscule between the two. He’ll never be a power bat, and that’s okay.

If Kasevich can be an Ernie Clement type of hitter at the plate with a little more juice in terms of how hard he hits the ball, that would be a fantastic outcome. Especially given how he profiles defensively, which we’ll get into here in more depth.

Defensive prowess

Defensively Kasevich has spent time at second, third, and shortstop throughout his time in the Blue Jays system. Recently however he’s seen most of his work split between the two positions up-the-middle. This spring he’s seen plenty of action at shortstop and has made a couple of sterling plays.

Kasevich is a range over arm defender. His fantastic footspeed and incredible instincts allow him to get to baseballs most other defenders can’t. His arm strength is more on the below average side which makes him more of a fit at the keystone but he’s more than capable of manning shortstop in a pinch.

Unfortunately we don’t have much data in terms of how he truly grades out defensively until he reaches the majors but he absolutely passes the eye-test. As you’ll see with some of his work shown below.

Kasevich has long been dubbed as a high IQ baseball player. It’s the subtleties that sets him apart of his peers. Whether that’s knowing to take an extra step to his right vs a specific hitter, picking up on pitchers tendencies, or simply seeing the play happen before it actually does. He’s a surefire big leaguer.

2026 Outlook

I don’t think there were two players in camp that improved their standing within the organization this spring than Brandon Valenzuela and Josh Kasevich. In Valenzuela’s case, he likely gets the call to Toronto first barring an injury to either Alejandro Kirk or Tyler Heineman.

The Blue Jays have an opening for the backup infield spot on the bench. The first opportunity likely goes to either Davis Schneider and/or Leo Jiménez who’s out of options and has to be exposed to waivers if he doesn’t break camp with the team.

The Blue Jays love Josh Kasevich, though, and often go out of their way to mention his name when asked about potential prospects who could impact the team in 2026. As John Schneider put it earlier this past week, “he’s closer than he thinks.”

Once he does make his way to Toronto. His high energy motor and Ernie Clement like skillset in the batters box will likely make him a fan favorite very quickly.