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Blue Jays 2026 mid-season top prospect list: Pitching prospect honourable mentions
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Photo credit: © Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Aug 10, 2026, 16:45 EDTUpdated: Aug 10, 2026, 16:36 EDT
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The 2026 Major League Baseball draft and trade deadline have come and gone, and what’s left is a solid looking farm system.
Sitting three and a half games back of the final wild card spot with a handful of teams to jump, the Jays’ season isn’t over. That said, their playoff odds sit below double-digits and a lot will need to go right. If it doesn’t, we could see the Toronto Blue Jays auditioning some prospects on their roster come September.
For the 2026 mid-season top prospect list, Blue Jays Nation will look at the top 40 prospects in the Blue Jays’ organization. In this article as well as the next one, we’ll look at honourable mentions that dropped off the list, were traded, missed the list, or have graduated.
Let’s dig in!

Graduated

The lone prospect who ranked on our 2026 pre-season list who has graduated this season is Trey Yesavage.
Although he was vital to the American League Pennant winning team in 2025, Yesavage didn’t accumulate service time while the postseason was going on. That means that he entered the season with just 14 days of service time, below the 45 day cut off line. He’s blown by that and has also surpassed the 50-inning pitched limit.
While he’s the only graduated player no longer on the list, there is a chance that one player ranked in the mid-season top 40 will also be ineligible, Chad Dallas. As of the day this article is written (August 10th), Dallas has accumulated around 26 to 29 days of service time.
That also applies to a handful of position play prospects who rank, but we’ll look at them in the honourable mentions list for position players.

Fell off

There were a handful of pitching prospects who ranked on the pre-season list who won’t rank on this list.
One of them, Micah Bucknam, fell off the list solely because he has still yet to make his professional debut. In February’s list, he ranked as our 24th-best prospect. While the talent is there, he was placed on the full-season injured list in April and may not be ready for a good part of 2027 either. Depending on how he performs upon return, he could jump up on the list.
Both Fernando Perez and Silvano Hechavarria also dropped off our list, at least for the time being. The former ranked as our 13th-best prospect in the pre-season list, but he has appeared in just four games this season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, posting a 7.11 ERA and 7.99 FIP. Perez has been on the development list since May 4th.
Perez had a breakout season in 2025, finishing with a 3.04 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 121.1 innings of work between High-A and Double-A. Hechavarria is in a similar boat after ranking as our 17th-best prospect in the pre-season list.
He made his season debut one day before Perez was placed on the development list, pitching four hitless innings in Single-A. Since then, things haven’t gone great, pitching to a tune of a 7.98 ERA and 7.17 FIP in 58.2 innings of work. The command was above-average last season, but he’s struggled with it this season.
The last prospect that fell off the list is Landen Maroudis, who ranked as our 32nd-best Blue Jays prospect in the pre-season list. With the High-A Vancouver Canadians, Maroduis has a 6.12 ERA and 6.11 FIP in 75 innings of work, with a 17 K% and 10.8 BB%.
That said, his starts since the beginning of July have been encouraging, posting a 3.81 ERA and 4.92 FIP in 28.1 innings of work. Moreover, his BB% in this span sits at 6.1%, much better than his season BB% of 10.8%.

Departed organization

A few prospects who ranked on our pre-season list have departed the organization, all of them have a first name that starts with “A”. Angel Bastardo, who ranked 30th, was sent back to the Boston Red Sox as he was a Rule 5 pick. He has a 4.12 ERA and 3.63 FIP in 43.2 innings of work in Triple-A this season, along with a 34.4 K%.
Spencer Miles didn’t rank in our pre-season list, in hindsight he should have, but he’s also no longer considered a prospect. What a pickup he’s turned out to be.
Adam Macko ranked as our 21st-best prospect in the mid-season list, but he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Josh Stephan and Josh Smith before the 2026 trade deadline. Macko would have ranked as he still had his prospect eligibility.
The Blue Jays acquired José Soriano before the trade deadline. To get him, they had to trade another pitcher named Angel, Angel Rivero, who was traded alongside Arjun Nimmala and Eddie Micheletti Jr. to the Los Angeles Angels, say that 10 times fast. After posting a 2.36 ERA in the Florida Complex League, Rivero would have ranked on our mid-season top 40 prospect list as well.

Just missed

In return for Macko, the Blue Jays received Josh Stephan, who just missed ranking on our top 40 Blue Jays prospect list. It’s mainly due to unremarkable numbers with the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A team, but his debut with the Bisons was a strong one, going seven innings with two earned runs allowed. The 24-year-old has a solid slider and good command, and could be on our list in the 2027 pre-season.
A pair of starters in the Dominican Summer League have pitched well this season. Cristhian Duarte, 18, has a 3.55 ERA and 3.56 FIP in 38 innings of work over nine starts. His season is ongoing, but he carries a 21.7 K% and 3.8 BB% as of the writing of this article.
Alieski Torres, also 18, has a 0.89 ERA and 3.93 FIP in 30.1 innings of work this season. While he has a similar K% to Duarte (21.9%), he has given up a few more walks, with a BB% sitting at 7.6%.
Moving to Single-A, three pitchers on the Dunedin Blue Jays just missed our top 40 Blue Jays’ list. Brandon Barriera, drafted 23rd overall in 2022, just can’t seem to stay healthy. When he does, the command is worrisome and his numbers aren’t particularly great. Over 10 starts, the left-handed pitcher has a 5.79 ERA and 5.71 FIP in 23.1 innings of work, a new career-high for a season.
Giacomo Taschin, another southpaw, had a strong to his season in the Florida Complex League. But since joining the D-Jays, he has a 6.58 ERA and 6.23 FIP. Born in Italy, Taschin won’t turn 20 until September 3rd.
Karson Ligon was drafted in the ninth round of the 2025 draft. The numbers with the D-Jays aren’t great, a 7.82 ERA and 6.81 FIP in 12.2 innings of work, and he’s been on the injured list a couple of times this season. However, when he’s been healthy, the stuff has been electric. The righty is one to monitor for the remainder of the season.
The Jays have found some success drafting prep players in the latter rounds, and Troy Guthrie could be another one of those pitchers. His numbers in Single-A were strong, a 3.97 ERA and 4.14 FIP in 79.1 innings of work, but he carries a 7.13 ERA and 5.61 FIP in 17.2 innings with the Canadians.
Austin Cates was on the “just missed” tier in the pre-season list after posting a 3.12 ERA and 3.55 FIP in 109.2 innings of work. That said, he hasn’t found the same success in his 15 Double-A starts, authoring a 5.06 ERA and a 4.57 FIP. Moreover, his K% dropped from 26.3% to 22.6%, while his BB% has risen from 7.7% to 11.5%.
T.J. Brock’s stuff is great, arguably the best of any reliever in the system, but he just can’t stay healthy. After a strong 2023, he pitched just 11.1 innings in 2024, a handful in the Arizona Fall League in 2025, and six and one-third innings in 2026. When healthy, he has two plus pitches.
Lastly, CJ Van Eyk has put up solid numbers with the Bisons. Over 19 outings, he’s made 14 starts and has a 3.63 ERA and 4.34 FIP in 86.2 innings of work, albeit with a low strikeout rate. He made his big league debut earlier this season.
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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