The deadline to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them in the Rule 5 draft is November 19.
There are a handful of prospects in the Blue Jays system that are set to become eligible for the Rule 5 draft. While most of these players won’t be added to the Blue Jays 40-man roster, let’s take a look at how each of these players performed in 2024.
We’ll start with position players before shifting gears to pitchers.

Phil Clarke

The Blue Jays don’t have a whole lot of catching prospects, much less catching prospects that could impact the team in the next few years. The only exception is Phil Clarke.
Last season, the 26-year-old catcher slashed .307/.421/.366 with no home runs in 121 Double-A plate appearances, along with a 13.2 BB% and a 4.1 K%. He didn’t do as well once reaching Triple-A, slashing .230/.352/.323 with three home runs in 193 plate appearances, along with a 14 BB% and a 14.5 K%.
Clarke’s defence is worrisome, as he threw out less than 10% of runners while allowing eight passed balls, but the bat is interesting.

Riley Tirotta

Riley Tirotta had a terrific start to his season between a rehab assignment in Single-A, as well as a stint in Double-A. Starting with his tenure in New Hampshire, the 26-year-old slashed .286/.438/.464 with two home runs in 73 plate appearances, along with a 21.9 BB% and a 26 K%.
Like in Double-A and Single-A, Tirotta had a good start to his Triple-A career but slowed down throughout the season. As a whole, he slashed .240/.360/.425 with 12 home runs in 342 plate appearances, along with a 13.2 BB% and a 28.1 K%.
Tirotta also played first base, third base, left field, and right field last season, with most of his time coming at first base.

Adrian Pinto

The Blue Jays acquired Adrian Pinto before the beginning of the 2022 season, trading Randal Grichuk to the Colorado Rockies.
Pinto has spent a large portion of his Blue Jays career on the injured list but has been a good hitter when healthy. With the High-A Vancouver Canadians in 2024, the 5’6” second baseman/centre fielder slashed .300/.355/.571 with three home runs in 76 plate appearances, with 12 of his 21 hits being of the extra base variety.
Pinto is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League in an attempt to get more at-bats.

Alex De Jesus

Another player acquired in a trade, the Blue Jays acquired Alex De Jesus (and Mitch White) at the 2022 trade deadline by trading prospects Nick Frasso and Moises Brito.
A big test for De Jesus coming into 2024 was moving to the upper minors. He spent his entire season with the Double-A Fisher Cats, where he slashed .260/.328/.377 with eight home runs in 425 plate appearances, along with an 8.2 BB% and a 28 K%.
It seems like his future position lies at third base, playing 647 innings there compared to only 78 at shortstop.

Damiano Palmegiani

Damiano Palmegiani is the first prospect we’ve looked at so far who has a legitimate chance of being added to the 40-man roster.
The 24-year-old struggled for the first time in his career in 2024, slashing .210/.311/.381 with 19 home runs in Triple-A, including two more on a rehab assignment in Single-A. For the first time since 2019, the Blue Jays had someone not named Orelvis Martinez lead the minor league system in home runs.
Palmegiani’s power potential is exactly why the Blue Jays may be forced to add him to the 40-man roster.

Rainer Nuñez

One player who has had quite a few ups and downs throughout his career is Rainer Nuñez.
After winning the Florida State League batting title and Dominican Winter League Rookie of the Year in 2022, the first baseman struggled in 2023 once reaching Double-A. Well, he repeated the level in 2024, slashing .275/.349/.416 with 12 home runs in 433 plate appearances. Moreover, his BB% rose from 6.4% to 10.2%, while Nuñez’s K% dropped from 27% in 2023 to 20.1% in 2024.
He’s been eligible for the Rule 5 draft since 2022, but it’s nice to see Nuñez find success in the upper minors.

Eddinson Paulino

The Blue Jays acquired Eddinson Paulino before the 2024 trade deadline, along with Cutter Coffey and Gilberto Batista from the Boston Red Sox for Danny Jansen.
Between Single-A and Double-A, Paulino only had 35 plate appearances where he had five hits. However, he slashed .263/.349/.391 with three home runs in 278 plate appearances with Boston’s Double-A team in 2024.
Paulino is exactly the type of player this brass likes, as he has a good hit tool and can play third base, shortstop, and second base.

Yohendrick Piñango

Yohendrick Piñango is another player the Blue Jays acquired before the 2024 trade deadline that’s set to become Rule 5 eligible. The 22-year-old outfielder was acquired as they sent Nate Pearson to the Cubs for him and Josh Rivera.
In 127 plate appearances for the Double-A Fisher Cats, Piñango had a rough go of things, slashing .179/.244/.372 with one home run, along with a 7.1 BB% and 21.3 K%. When looking at his season stats, Piñango slashed .239/.331/.389 with 10 home runs in 474 plate appearances for a 111 wRC+.

Will Robertson

Will Robertson is another player who has been Rule 5 eligible for quite a few seasons.
Last season in his first season in Triple-A, the 26-year-old outfielder slashed .226/.319/.429 with 19 home runs in 464 plate appearances, along with a 10.8 BB% and a 31.3 K%. Overall, Robertson finished the season with a 92 wRC+ while having a rather inconsistent season.
Robertson also picked up seven assists in the outfield while only committing three errors.

Dasan Brown

It’s a matter of when, not if, Dasan Brown makes the big league roster. The question is, in what capacity?
Brown has a ton of speed, which allows him to steal bases and play great defence in centre field, but the bat has been rather inconsistent throughout his professional career. In High-A this season, the Oakville, Ontario native slashed .257/.363/.411 with eight home runs in 329 plate appearances for a 121 wRC+.
However, his first stint in the upper minors didn’t go great, as the 23-year-old slashed .217/.284/.302 with no home runs in 119 plate appearances in Double-A.

Gabriel Martinez

Like Brown, Gabriel Martinez’s big breakout came in 2022, hitting a career-best 14 home runs while posting a wRC+ above 135.
However, the 22-year-old outfielder has been floundering the past two seasons, with the 2024 season being his worst yet. In Double-A, Martinez slashed .212/.270/.322 with six home runs in 397 plate appearances for a 70 wRC+, his worst season in his professional career.
Martinez is still only 22 years old, but the past two seasons have been incredibly worrisome from a development standpoint.

Victor Arias

Victor Arias is one of the more intriguing young outfielders in the Blue Jays system.
The 21-year-old left-handed batting outfielder had a great 2024 season. First up was Single-A, where he slashed .279/.386/.454 with eight home runs in 332 plate appearances, with a 10.8 BB% and a 21.7 K% for a 141 wRC+. He was by far the Dunedin Blue Jays’ best hitter in 2024.
Upon reaching High-A, he slashed .324/.425/.353 with no home runs in 40 plate appearances, along with a higher BB% (15%) than K% (12.5%) for a 135 wRC+.

CJ Van Eyk

Moving to pitchers now, CJ Van Eyk was selected in the second round of the 2020 draft, the final prospect the Blue Jays have in their organization from that draft.
He missed all of 2022 and a large chunk of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery but returned to good health in 2024. In Double-A, Van Eyk had a 5.68 ERA and a 4.62 FIP in 95 innings pitched, with 16 of his 30 appearances being starts. Moreover, the 26-year-old had an 18.1 K% and an 8.8 BB%
Towards the end of the season, he transitioned to the bullpen, but this may have been because of an innings limit rather than a full move to being a reliever.

Trenton Wallace

Of any pitcher in the Blue Jays minor league system, left-handed pitcher Trenton Wallace is arguably the most underrated.
Last season in Double-A, the 25-year-old had a 2.68 ERA and a 4.37 FIP in 80.2 innings pitched, along with a 29.8 K% and a 9.2 BB%. His tenure in Triple-A didn’t go as well, making nine starts while posting a 6.27 ERA and a 7.11 FIP in 33 innings pitched, with a 19.8 K% and a 16.7 BB%.

Chad Dallas

After a terrific 2023 season, it looked like Chad Dallas could become a depth option for the Blue Jays rotation in 2024.
However, the 24-year-old missed most of the season due to injury, including receiving Tommy John surgery in the summer. When healthy, Dallas had a 6.34 ERA and a 5.54 FIP in 61 innings pitched, along with a 17.8 K% and an 8.5 BB%.
He won’t pitch much in 2025, if at all, so I wouldn’t expect him to be added to the 40-man roster for this reason.

Lazaro Estrada

Lazaro Estrada hasn’t gotten a lot of coverage but has been one of the best Blue Jays starters over the past few seasons.
Last season, he had a brief rehab assignment in Single-A to begin the year, but started his year proper in High-A. There, he had a 1.96 ERA and 41.1 innings pitched, along with a 32.7 K% and a 7.4 BB%. Upon reaching Double-A, the 25-year-old had a 4.47 ERA and a 3.42 FIP in 52.1 innings pitched.
So far in the Arizona Fall League, the Cuban righty has a 4.15 ERA in 8.2 innings pitched, along with a 40 K% and an 8.6 BB%.

Dahian Santos

Dahian Santos had a solid 2023 season, posting a 3.54 ERA and a 4.78 FIP in 48.1 innings pitched before missing the second half of the season. It took a while for him to return in 2024, but the results weren’t nearly as good.
The 21-year-old righty made the jump to Double-A, starting just two of the 15 games he appeared in while posting a 6 ERA and a 5.08 FIP in 27 innings pitched, with a 25.8 K% and a 16.7 BB%.
It’s unclear whether or not the plan for Santos is to pitch out of the bullpen as a bulk reliever, or if his lack of starts was due to returning from a long-term injury.

Connor Cooke

Between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A in 2023, right-handed pitcher Connor Cooke had a 4.06 ERA and a 2.71 FIP in 44.1 innings pitched, along with a 40.6 K% and a 9.6 BB%. It’s safe to say that the reliever had a ton of hype heading into the 2024 season.
However, it was a rough season for the 24-year-old, as he posted a 4.55 ERA and a 5.56 FIP in 31.2 innings pitched. More worrisome was the significant decrease in his K%, as it plummeted to 20.3%, while his BB% remained at a high 18.9%.
Triple-A is a tough test for most players, so it’s still far too soon to give up on the 24-year-old, but it’s fair to be concerned.

Hayden Juenger

Hayden Juneger has been in Triple-A for parts of three seasons now, and it’s not a hot take to say that the 2024 season was his best.
In 54 appearances, the 24-year-old right-handed pitcher had a 4.19 ERA and a 4.20 FIP in 68.2 innings pitched, along with a 21.7 K% and an 8.8 BB%. More importantly though, his HR/9 has steadily dropped since his first season in Triple-A, sitting at 0.79 in 2024.
There are quite a few relievers in Triple-A that could find their way to the big leagues in 2025, and Juenger offers length and an excellent three-pitch mix.

Eric Pardinho

Of all the prospects we’ve looked at, the only lock to make the 40-man roster is Eric Pardinho.
Once a Top 100 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, the 23-year-old Brazilian righty figured it out in 2024 between Double-A and Triple-A, posting a3.25 ERA and a 3.60 FIP in 55.1 innings pitched, along with a 28.1 K% and an 11.9 BB%.
This included two, one month or longer runs where he didn’t allow an earned in a game.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.