Looking at where the Blue Jays’ 2020 draftees are now
Photo credit: © Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
Dec 29, 2025, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 29, 2025, 03:24 EST
The Toronto Blue Jays 2020 draft gave them the potential to accelerate their rebuild.
It’s now been over five years since that draft which was shortened by the pandemic. Only one player has made their big league debut, one player remains with the Blue Jays’ organization, one player was involved in a confusing trade, one player is released without a team, and one player retired.
Let’s take a look at the 2020 draft.
Austin Martin
In hindsight, the 2020 draft was an underwhelming one. Of the 37 players who’ve made their big league debut from this draft, only 10 have a bWAR above 1.0. The three most notable names are Reid Detmers (10th overall), Garrett Crochet (11th overall), and Spencer Strider (126th overall).
Ahead of the draft, Austin Martin ranked as MLB Pipeline’s second-best draft eligible prospect, as he was given a 65-hit tool, along with a 55 run, field, and arm tool. On draft day, Martin fell to the Blue Jays, with the Jays giving him a bonus of $7 million, well above the $6.18 million slot value.
Martin made his professional debut in 2021 with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where he slashed .281/.424/.383 with two home runs in 250 plate appearances. Ahead of that year’s trade deadline, he was traded alongside Simeon Woods Richardson for José Berríos.
After his 2021 season, Martin’s minor league career was unspectacular, posting an 86 wRC+ in 2022 and a 102 wRC+ in 2023. Martin had a strong performance in Triple-A during the 2024 season, posting a 135 wRC+ and earning a shot in the big leagues, where he slashed .253/.318/.352 with a home run in 257 plate appearances.
His 2025 season was split between the big leagues, Triple-A, and the injured list, but he had a .282/.374/.365 slash line with a home run in 181 big league plate appearances last season. By the time he graduated from MLB Pipeline, his hit tool was graded at 45, his power tool at 40 (down from 50), while his defensive grades also dropped.
Martin is the lone player drafted by the Blue Jays in 2020 to make his big league debut.
CJ Van Eyk
The one prospect drafted in 2020 to remain with the Blue Jays is CJ Van Eyk. They drafted him in the second round with the 42nd overall pick, and the righty made his debut the following season with the High-A Vancouver Canadians.
That year, Van Eyk posted a 5.83 ERA and 4.55 FIP in 80.1 innings pitched, but left a late-August game with injury. It later turned out that he required Tommy John surgery, missing all of the 2022 season and most of the 2023 season, pitching in just 12 games in 2023.
Finally, Van Eyk had a health season in 2024, spending all of it with the Fisher Cats. There, he posted a 5.68 ERA and 4.62 FIP in 95 innings pitched, with an 18.1 K% and 8.8 BB%. Beginning his 2025 season with the Fisher Cats, Van Eyk had a 4.42 ERA and 4.33 FIP in 36.2 innings before his promotion to Triple-A.
With the Buffalo Bisons, Van Eyk posted a 4.94 ERA and 5.52 FIP in 89.1 innings pitched, with an 18.1 K% and 9.9 BB%. If there’s one thing to hang his hat on, Van Eyk’s 126 innings pitched were the second-most in the Blue Jays organization.
On top of that, the 27-year-old has found success in Mexico this winter. In 49.2 innings pitched with Aguilas de Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific Winter League, Van Eyk has a 2.90 ERA, with a 25.4 K% and 7.2 BB%.
Trent Palmer
Trent Palmer is one of two retired players from the 2020 draft class. He had a strong start to his professional career, posting a 3 ERA and 3.50 FIP in 63 innings pitched with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays in 2021.
The right-handed pitcher began the 2022 season in High-A, where he had a 4.18 ERA and 4.76 FIP with a 32.1 K% and 7.1 BB%, earning a promotion to Double-A. With the Fisher Cats, Palmer posted a 3.69 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 31.2 innings pitched, but left the game on Canada Day and later required Tommy John surgery.
Unfortunately, Palmer never regained that form. Returning towards the end of the 2023 season, he had a 2.35 ERA and 4.91 FIP in 7.2 innings pitched during a rehab assignment, but struggled in the Arizona Fall League.
He had a rough 2024 season, finishing his stint in Double-A with a 10.64 ERA and 5.70 FIP in 22 innings pitched, before being released in September 2024. Palmer has yet to sign with another team.
Nick Frasso
A theme of the 2020 draft class is injuries, more specifically, UCL injuries. All three pitchers, including Nick Frasso, needed Tommy John surgery. Heck, even Austin Martin had a torn UCL at one point.
The Blue Jays selected Frasso in the fourth round of the 2020 draft, with the right-handed pitcher making his professional debut the following season. Unfortunately, Frasso pitched just five innings before needing the surgery, which kept him out of action until 2022.
When he returned, Frasso dominated. Beginning the 2022 season with the D-Jays, Frasso had a 0.70 ERA and 1.30 FIP in 25.2 innings pitched. The righty didn’t slow down upon his promotion to High-A, authoring a 0.82 ERA and 2.66 FIP in 11 innings pitched, striking out 10 pitchers on Independence Day in 2022.
Before that month’s trade deadline, Frasso was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers alongside Moises Brito for Mitch White and Alex De Jesus. The move mirrored the 2020 deadline trade between the two teams, in which the Jays acquired Ross Stripling for Kendall Williams and Ryan Noda.
While that move worked out for the Jays, this one didn’t. White famously struggled in his Blue Jays’ tenure, while De Jesus fizzled out in Double-A and eventually became a free agent at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Immediately, it looked as if the Blue Jays lost this trade, as Frasso posted a 3.77 ERA and 3.33 FIP in 93 innings pitched during the 2023 season, splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A. Heading into the 2024 season, Frasso ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 80th-best prospect in baseball, but he missed the entirety of the 2024 season due to injury.
Frasso wasn’t the same pitcher upon returning, posting a 5.49 ERA and 5.68 FIP in 77 innings pitched in 2025, mainly as a reliever. Frasso’s K% also plummeted from 26.8% in 2023 to 19.7% in 2025, while his BB% rose from 7.8% to 12.1%.
At the end of the season, Frasso was non-tendered, but signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers in mid-December.
Nearly four years later, I still have no idea what to make of this trade. Brito was released in 2024, De Jesus struggled in Double-A, and White eventually found his way to Korea, where he had some success in the Korean Baseball Organization last season.
Zach Britton
Due to the fact that the Blue Jays went over-slot for Martin, they had to save money elsewhere in the draft. In the fifth round, they selected Zach Britton, signing him to a reported bonus of $97,500, well below the slot value of $410,100 for this pick.
Britton retired during the summer of 2024, but if there was one word to describe his time in the Blue Jays’ system, it’d be “electric”. Making his professional debut with the D-Jays in 2021, Britton slashed .225/.372/.371 with seven home runs in 333 plate appearances.
The 2022 season was by far Britton’s best professional season, as he slashed .239/.390/.441 with seven home runs in 236 plate appearances with the High-A Vancouver Canadians. Upon his promotion to Double-A, Britton slashed .234/.355/.453 with three home runs, giving him a season slash line of .238/.381/.444 with a 17 BB% and 27.9 K% for a 135 wRC+.
Unfortunately, Britton’s 2023 season was mired due to injuries, appearing in just 17 games. The following season, he only played 55 games with less than ideal results, retiring midway through the season.
Still, he was fun as hell to watch when he played.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.