Blue Jays Nation’s offseason countdown of the top Canadian baseball prospects continues with an underrated speedster who has impressed since joining the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Hometown: Sarnia, Ontario

Organization: Milwaukee Brewers

Position: 2B/OF

Acquired: 3rd round, 2022 draft (MIL)

Dylan O’Rae offers a unique skill set that could make him a fun player to watch in the Major Leagues one day. Originally drafted out of Northern Collegiate Institute in Sarnia, he has quickly proven to be an on-base machine who can fly.

Starring for the Junior National Team and with the Great Lakes Canadians in high school, he showed that his game translated to high-level competition. After being taken in the third round by the Milwaukee Brewers, O’Rae looked good in his short eight-game stint in Rookie Ball at the end of the 2022 season, which set the stage for his explosion in 2023. The five-foot-seven Ontario product quickly showed that his offensive game was too advanced for Rookie Ball competition, slashing .362/.522/.408 across 37 games. This earned him a call-up to single-A in mid-August, where he slashed .330/.439/.375 to close the year. His .491 OBP throughout the entire campaign was the highest of any minor leaguer with at least 250 plate appearances.

The Brewers continued to move O’Rae aggressively through their system in 2024. His first half of the season was spent in high-A, where he once again maintained his elite on-base skills, slashing .266/.405/.323. After being called up to double-A Biloxi in mid-June, where he was 3.7 years younger (on average) than his competition, the Sarnia native experienced his first struggles as a pro.

O’Rae slashed just .171/.310/.211 with the Shuckers, struggling to produce the same solid contact as he had in his other pro stops. However, his walk rate remained high and he continued to steal bases at will. He ended the year with a combined 62 stolen bases, a nearly 80-steal pace extrapolated over a 162-game MLB season.

O’Rae’s calling card among scouts is clearly his speed, for which he’s received 70 run grades over the last couple of seasons. He already has 110 professional stolen bases through 194 games. Growing up as a shortstop, average arm strength has pushed him to second base in the Brewers organization. The team has also experimented with trying him in centerfield, where his elite speed can be particularly useful. He has the chance to be an above-average fielder, and the position he settles into may determine what kind of role he has at the highest level.

The left-handed hitter’s high contact rate, keen batter’s eye, and small strike zone mean that he’s likely to always have a knack for getting on base. Despite not hitting the ball particularly hard (by professional standards), his speed allows him to beat out ground balls whenever he puts the ball in play. He’s produced BB rates of at least 15% as a pro, as he rarely swings at pitches out of the zone. Although his strikeout percentage peaked at 23.8% in double-A last year, he likely won’t be a guy that strikes out much going forward.

The big question with O’Rae will be whether he can generate enough pop to be a major league regular. It is the one element that is missing from his game, as he’s hit just one professional home run thus far. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll ever be a double-digit home run hitter, but adding some muscle and power to his game could translate into more doubles and triples and help with the on-base numbers even more.

There may not be a better organization for a speedster like O’Rae to be than in Milwaukee, with the Brewers amassing the second-most team steals and fourth-best stolen base percentage over the last three seasons. As recently as last year, the club gave starting reps to players like Brice Turang and Sal Frelick, both of whom are athletic players who ranked in the bottom ten in the major leagues in isolated power last season. Turang and Frelick share some similarities with O’Rae, but neither is a perfect comparison.

For that matter, it’s tough to find any major leaguer that has the same skillset as the Sarnia native. There have been a few players that share the same measurables, but none of those guys offer the same speed and on-base skills as O’Rae. Time will tell what kind of role he may hold in the majors, but his age gives him plenty of time to blossom into a valuable player.

After struggling in double-A in the second half of 2025, O’Rae is likely ticketed for a return to Biloxi. If all goes well, maybe we could see him make his major league debut come September. More likely, he’ll spend the bulk of the season in double-A and triple-A while setting himself up to be a part of the Brewers’ plans for 2026.

10. Dante Nori

11. Erik Sabrowski

12. Damiano Palmegiani

13. Eric Cerantola

14. Dasan Brown

15. Émilien Pitre

16. Adam Maier

17. Liam Hicks

18. David McCabe

19. Calvin Ziegler

20. Jeremy Pilon