The 2025 minor league season is just around the corner.
To say that the Toronto Blue Jays need a prospect to come out of nowhere would be an understatement. Sure, they have a ton of MLB-ready prospects and young players, but they don’t have any high-end prospects like they did in 2021 for example.
With that being said, we’ll look at five prospects that could break out in 2025 in this article.
Tucker Toman
Tucker Toman was one of the best high school infield prospects available in the 2022 draft, and the Blue Jays used the compensation pick they received for Marcus Semien signing with the Texas Rangers to select the third baseman.
Unfortunately, Toman hasn’t quite figured it out as a professional. In 2022, he slashed .289/.391/.368 with no home runs in 46 plate appearances with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays.
His 2023 season was a step-down, slashing .208/.320/.313 with five home runs in 503 plate appearances, with a 26.8 K% and a 12.5 BB% for an 81 wRC+ with the Single-A Blue Jays. Entering his age-20 season and repeating the Single-A level, Toman slashed .221/.301/.318 with four home runs in 326 plate appearances, with a 31.9 K% and an 8.3 BB% for an 82 wRC+.
Still, Toman has loads of power from either side of the plate with a hit tool that lags behind. He should be able to stick at third base but he just needs to piece together a good season in 2025.
Cristian Feliz
Cristian Feliz’s power is immense. Signed in the 2019 International Free Agency period by the Jays, he hit four home runs in 178 plate appearances in 2021 with the Dominican Summer League Jays. The first baseman matched that in 2022 when moving to the Florida Complex League and surpassed it in 2023 as he hit six home runs in 135 plate appearances in the FCL in 2023.
This past season, the 6’4”, 190 lb left-handed batter hit a career-high 14 home runs in 303 plate appearances. If he were to have 600 plate appearances, Feliz was on pace for 27 home runs last season.
There are a few issues in his game, most notably he strikeouts out a lot. And by a lot, I mean a lot. Last season, he had a 42.6 K%, dragging his wRC+ down to 102. If he can get that down to a lower number while still hitting home runs, he’d get far more recognition.
Luis Meza
Luis Meza was the top catcher signed by the Blue Jays in the 2022 International Free Agent period. He signed for a bonus of $2.25 million but has yet to find success in the minor leagues.
Starting his career in the Dominican Summer League in 2022, he slashed .229/.267/.292 with no home runs in 101 plate appearances. He followed that up with a .192/.276/.212 slash line in 59 plate appearances in the Florida Complex League in 2023.
Most recently, the catcher had his best season yet, slashing .274/.361/.290 with no home runs in 72 plate appearances in the FCL in 2024. Forget home runs, Meza hasn’t hit more than two doubles since his first professional season, a worrisome sign.
The 19-year-old is a defence-first catcher, which hopefully means his power will develop in 2025.
Kai Peterson
Switching gears to pitchers, one relief pitcher to keep an eye on in 2025 is left-hander Kai Peterson.
Selected in the 20th round of the 2023 draft, Peterson made his debut in 2024 with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays where he had a 4.60 ERA and a 3.30 FIP in 31.1 innings pitched. On top of that, Peterson had an impressive 42.6 K% but a rather high BB% of 19.6%.
The left-handed pitcher earned a promotion to High-A Vancouver, where he authored a 4.42 ERA and a 3.58 FIP in 18.1 innings pitched, with a 32.6 K% and another high BB% of 16.3%.
Sitting in the low-90s, he hides the ball well with a low-80s slider. If he can get his walk rate down and improve his earned run average, he could be a quick riser in the Blue Jays system over the next couple of seasons.
Gage Stanifer
Last, but not least, we have starting pitcher Gage Stanifer. Selected in the 19th round of the 2022 draft out of high school, Stanifer is a right-handed pitcher on the precipice of a breakout.
His first season saw him post a 6.33 ERA and a 4.42 FIP in 42.2 innings pitched with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays, with a 24.4 K% and an 11.9 BB%. The 21-year-old didn’t pitch much better in 2024 with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, posting a 6.34 ERA and a 5.27 FIP in 59.2 innings pitched with a 23.2 K% and an 18.1 BB%.
Diving deeper into the stats, Stanifer had a five-start stretch where he gave up just three earned runs in 21 innings pitched for a 1.29 ERA. He also had a 25.9 K% and 13.6 BB% in that time. But what leads me to believe he could break out is his stuff.
Recently, a video was shared of Stanifer reaching 100 mph, which he pairs with a nasty splitter. Time will tell how he does in 2025.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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