Arjun Nimmala entered the 2025 season as the Blue Jays’ top prospect and 88th overall in all of baseball, per MLB Pipeline. For a player who will be 19 years old for the entire campaign, nobody would be surprised if he went through some struggles in his first taste of high-A. That hasn’t been the case through the first 30 games of the season, as Nimmala has already established himself as one of the best hitters in the Northwest League.

Across 26 games to open the season, the Valrico, Florida native owns a .278/.355/.519 slash line, with eight doubles and six home runs. He appears on the league leaderboard in most offensive categories and has been entrenched in the two-hole all season long in Vancouver. He ranks second in the Jays’ farm system with his six knocks.

After going a stretch of games where he didn’t play defensively due to a sore arm, Nimmala has been the club’s regular shortstop ever since.

From April 25-27, Nimmala hit a home run in three consecutive games, providing a glimpse of what kind of impact he may be able to make in Toronto in the coming years. Baseball America has taken notice, already moving him up to the 58th-ranked prospect in baseball in their recent update, almost 40 spots from where he was pre-season. Being a first-round pick and experiencing success in the second half of last year certainly put him on notice in prospect circles, but his production at a more advanced level gives him a chance to take off by season’s end.

Despite his success to start the year, it probably would not be a wise decision for the Blue Jays to move Nimmala up a level any time soon. We saw his struggles in Dunedin to start last year when he was challenged out of the gate with the tough assignment, forcing him back to the team’s complex to get him back on track. The club would likely rather not have to do something like that again, which likely means that they will take things slow with their teenage phenom. If things continue to go well for Nimmala, a late summer call-up to double-A is likely to be a realistic expectation.

Another bonus of playing in Vancouver is the added media attention that he has received based on the city being one of the biggest in minor league baseball.

As the summer carries on, the atmosphere at Nat Bailey Stadium and the attention surrounding him and the team will only continue to grow. The Blue Jays may believe that having him in this kind of environment may be better for his development than rushing him up to New Hampshire would be.

Nimmala truly has the opportunity to skyrocket up all prospect lists by the time the 2025 season is over. Many publications ranked him in their top 100 based on projections and a strong sample size at the end of 2024. If he can put forth a productive and complete season in high-A, it’s not outrageous to see him rise to the top 20 by the beginning of next year.