The Toronto Blue Jays‘ farm system has grown considerably talent-wise over the past couple of seasons, making strides relative to the rest of the league if you pay attention to online rankings.

One of those prospects is also one of their newest: Matt Scannell, a 24-year-old outfielder from San Antonio, Texas, who signed with the club this past July.

Scannell attended Princeton University out of high school, largely due to the Ivy League school expressing interest in him as a hitter.

“Honestly, it was my only option to play; a lot of my interest was as a pitcher coming out of high school,” Scannell recalled, speaking to Blue Jays Nation. “Princeton was going to let me keep the bat in my hands. I figured I could get on the field as a freshman. It just kind of all came together right before my senior year.”

His experience at Princeton did not get off to a smooth start; amidst the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Ivy League cancelled all winter and spring sports for the ’20 and ’21 seasons. This included Scannell’s freshman season of college, and he also had his senior year of high school cut short due to the pandemic.

To stay in game action, Scannell played in the Northwoods League for the Madison Mallards in 2021, part of five total stints he played in the Collegiate Summer League while he was in college.

Once the Ivy League returned to action, Scannell churned out three successful seasons with the Tigers. He posted an OPS over .800 during all three, including a .903 OPS in 2023 when he hit 10 home runs, 10 doubles, and 32 RBIs. He also helped manufacture more wins for the Tigers and leave the program in a better place than when he found it. After combining to win only seven games between the shortened 2020 season and the 2022 season, Princeton won 42 games over its final two seasons with the school. He was also a teammate of Caden Shapiro, the son of Blue Jays CEO and president Mark Shapiro. Caden signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates back in August.

With a year left of eligibility, Scannell elected to spend his final collegiate season with Wake Forest University as a graduate transfer. At the time, the Demon Deacons were only one year removed from their trip to the College World Series, and that was a factor in Scannell’s decision to transfer there.

“It was a fit thing. I went down there on a visit. Loved it. They had had some success coming off a College World Series run and just named the preseason #1 going into 2024,” Scannell said. “I felt like it was the place where they needed me and I needed them. I fell in love with the program and the people.”

It truly turned out to be a fit, as Scannell set collegiate-highs in home runs (12), RBIs (49), batting average (.300), slugging percentage (.543), and OPS (.978) during the 2025 season.

That put Scannell in a good position to get attention from big league clubs, but the Blue Jays weren’t on his radar completely. “I knew they had some interest. If you asked me who I thought I’d end up with, they probably wouldn’t have been the team,” Scannell said. “I wouldn’t say it was out of the blue, but I also wouldn’t say that I had a hunch that I would end up in the org.”

“Matt has a super high aptitude,” added Jose[h R Guzman, MLPBA Certified Agent with Empowerment Sports Group. “He went Ivy League before transferring to Wake Forest and is such a dynamic player who possesses many tools. He’s exciting to watch with his outstanding defense, speed, and athleticism. He showed very well at the Tennessee Regional, and I was fielding calls on him before Round 10 in the draft.”

Lo and behold, he would officially sign with the Blue Jays on July 22nd, and even get into game action just one week later with single-A Dunedin. His first game went almost as well as it could have, as he collected a single, double, and a home run with two RBIs against Lakeland, Detroit’s Single-A affiliate.

Scannell played 10 games with Dunedin, slashing .269/.367/.577 with two home runs, two doubles, and five RBIs. He was promoted to High-A Vancouver around the middle of August and collected a home run, six RBIs, and seven total hits over 11 games to end the season. Making such a quick transition from one level to the next stood out to Scannell, who was impressed with how quickly his eyes adjusted to the pitching at the next level.

“Coming out of the ACC, my eyes adjusted a lot quicker than I thought they would. You make a jump in velocity going up to high-A, but I was shocked by how quickly my eyes adjusted,” said Scannell, reflecting on this past season. “But, you also realize there’s a reason baseball is such a tiered system, and it’s probably what makes it a great game and what makes it a frustrating game…you got to make adjustments quick on the fly, you got to know what you’re doing quick.

Personally, I left high-A and heading into the offseason being like ‘I know what I got to do, now I just got to go do it.‘”

Scannell had high praise for the Blue Jays organization, particularly the people that he encountered over the first two months of pro ball who “care about winning.”

“The people that they surround you with, whether it’s at the complex or at the affiliates, everybody cares about winning and your development, which is all you can really ask for as an athlete and a competitor,” said Scannell. “You don’t want to be somewhere where they just care about development and don’t care about winning. But, you also don’t want to be somewhere where they only care about winning and not your development. That’s where I think the Blue Jays got it right.”

As it relates to the Blue Jays, Scannell joined the organization at an opportune time with the success that the major league club was having. He had a chance to watch them in the midst of their push for the playoffs and their World Series run.

“It was awesome. Being from Texas, you don’t necessarily ever follow the Blue Jays, especially like I do now. It’s cool seeing the inner workings of the org and what they preached, especially offensively, coming to fruition and winning in the big moments.”

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