Jordan Groshans plans to sign with the Blue Jays

Jeff Blair talked about Toronto’s first two draft picks today on his radio show with Ben Nicholson-Smith.

You can listen to the segment here, but to paraphrase, Blair mentioned Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins in their previous two drafts going with safer college picks rather than high school players with potential signability concerns. He referenced 2013 first-round pick Phil Bickford, who didn’t sign with the Jays, as an example of what can happen with a high school player.

I don’t want to criticize Blair for creating a false narrative as there is validity to what he’s saying in regards to high school picks being riskier than college picks, but I don’t think we have to worry about Groshans not signing. According to The Courier of Montgomery County, Groshans is excited to join the Blue Jays:

Here’s the video of Groshans finding out he was selected by the Blue Jays. His family and friends are ecstatic but he doesn’t jump up and down like some players do. Why? Because all players are different people. Different people respond to things in different ways. There are already a few tweets flying around about him looking unhappy. Let’s not do that.

Groshans has explicitly said he plans to forgo college and begin his professional career with the Blue Jays. The front office isn’t going to take a reach on a player with their 12th overall pick if there’s a huge doubt he’s going to sign.