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Looking at five Blue Jays’ prospects from the later rounds of the 2024 draft who have impressed
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 14, 2025, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 14, 2025, 16:16 EDT
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The 2025 draft is under a month away.
It’s safe to say that the Toronto Blue Jays got some quality pitchers with their first two picks in the 2024 draft – Trey Yesavage and Khal Stephen. However, there have also been other players the Blue Jays selected later in the draft who’ve found success.
In this article, we’ll look at five prospects not named Trey Yesavage or Khal Stephen who are off to a good start to their professional career!

Colby Martin

The Blue Jays drafted reliever Colby Martin in the 16th round. Immediately after the draft, the right-handed pitcher posted a 7.27 ERA and a 6.90 FIP in 8.2 innings pitched for 16.7 K% and a 29.2 BB% with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays.
Martin has been much better this season with the D-Jays, as he has a 1.77 ERA and a 3.03 FIP in 20.1 innings pitched, with a 33.3 K% and a 16.7 BB%. On top of the low-ERA and high-K%, Martin is generating whiffs at a 41.9% rate, and his fastball is averaging a tick under 97 mph. Moreover, Martin has touched 102 mph with his fastball, which will play.

Johnny King

Johnny King is another pitcher selected in the 2024 draft who has found success early in his professional career.
Drafted in the third round of the 2024 draft from Naples High School, Johnny King is an 18-year-old left-handed starter. He began his professional debut this season with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays, where he has a 1.17 ERA and a 1.78 FIP in 15.1 innings pitched. More impressive are his 42.2 K% and 6.3 BB%.
So far, King has a 35.9 K-BB%, the most for any pitcher in the Jays organization with 10 or more innings pitched, surpassing Yesavage, Gage Stanifer, Stephen, Adam Macko, and Juaron Watts-Brown.
In fact, King’s K-BB% is ranked 13th in all of minor league baseball for pitchers with 10 or more innings pitched. No one under the age of 20 ranks in the top 50 for K-BB%, showcasing King’s advanced command at a young age.
He’s one of the more well-known players the Jays drafted in the 2024 draft, but he deserves a mention here.

Brock Tibbitts

The Toronto Blue Jays are still searching for their next top catching prospect after developing Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, and Gabriel Moreno. Brock Tibbitts could be that prospect, as he’s split his time between the backstop and first base early in his professional career.
After the draft, Tibbitts slashed .282/.374/.372 with one home run in 91 plate appearances for a 120 wRC+. He also had a 12.1 BB% and 13.2 K%, playing more time at catcher than first base for the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2024.
Still with the D-Jays to start the 2025 season, Tibbitts is slashing .246/.354/.446 with two home runs in 82 plate appearances for a 121 wRC+. More concerning is that his strikeout rate has jumped to 29.3 K%, while his walk rate remains around the same. The right-handed batter has also played more time at first base this season, 93 innings there compared to 61 innings behind the plate.
Tibbitts is currently on the seven-day injured list.

J.R. Freethy

The Blue Jays selected second baseman/outfielder J.R. Freethy in the 14th round of the 2024 draft out of the University of Nevada. After the draft, he was placed with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, where he slashed .182/.408/.236 with home runs in 76 plate appearances for a 111 wRC+. A big part of his success came thanks to a high walk rate of 22.4%, while striking out 23.7% of the time.
He repeated the level to start the 2025 season and is slashing .231/.408/.385 with a home run in 103 plate appearances. Like the season before, Freethy is showing off his impressive eye at the plate, walking 21.4% of the time compared to striking out just 22.3% of the time. The second baseman is also hitting for more gap power, hitting five doubles and two triples.
Freethy is currently on a rehab assignment with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays.

Eddie Micheletti Jr.

The only prospect we’ll look at in this article who’s above the Single-A level is Eddie Micheletti Jr., who currently plays for the High-A Vancouver Canadians.
Micheletti Jr. played catcher in college, but has exclusively played as an outfielder since turning professional. After the draft, the 23-year-old slashed .292/.422/.458 with two home runs in 90 plate appearances for a 156 wRC+, along with a 14.4 BB% and a 15.6 K%.
The Jays were aggressive with Micheletti Jr., starting him at the High-A level to begin the 2025 season, where he has slashed .198/.344/.401 with eight home runs in 209 plate appearances for a 106 wRC+. While the batting average is on the low side, Micheletti Jr. has an impressive 17.2% walk rate with a 17.7% strikeout rate.
Another position player in High-A worth mentioning is Sean Keys, who has seven home runs with the Canadians with a sub-.200 batting average. He was drafted in the fourth round.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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