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Trade Tree: How drafting Gunnar Hoglund landed the Blue Jays two defensive specialists
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Photo credit: © Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
Cynthia Ryley Delaney
Oct 27, 2026, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 27, 2026, 15:35 EDT
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The 2020 season marked the beginning of the Toronto Blue Jays’ window of contention.
Have they made the playoffs every season since? No, but they’ve consistently pushed for a playoff spot and even made a deep run and nearly won the World Series. The 2020 season was the first year they made the playoffs since 2016, and the pandemic was a big reason why.
In the end, they were swept in two games by the Tampa Bay Rays, that year’s pennant winner. That led to the Blue Jays selecting 19th overall in the 2021 MLB Draft, the start of a trade tree which has resulted in the team acquiring two Platinum Glove winners.

The pieces of the Matt Chapman trade

With the 19th overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, the Blue Jays selected Gunnar Hoglund. The lefty posted solid numbers in his draft year with Mississippi, but it was cut short due to Tommy John surgery. Had he remained healthy that season, he was pitching well enough to go higher in the draft. Instead, he fell to the Jays, who signed the southpaw to a bonus worth about $3.25 million.
Hoglund never pitched in the Blue Jays organization. Shortly after the 2021-22 lockout ended, the left-handed pitcher was traded alongside Kirby Snead, Kevin Smith, and Zach Logue to the Oakland Athletics for Matt Chapman.
Snead was drafted in the 10th round (312th overall) in the 2016 MLB Draft, a round that saw Samad Taylor, Santiago Espinal, and Richard Lovelady also selected. Snead appeared in 46 games with the Athletics in 2022, 15 the following season, and 11 with the Seattle Mariners in 2024.
Smith was a top 30 Blue Jay prospect at the time, drafted 129th overall in 2017, three picks before Ernie Clement. But his big league career never really panned out either. In 333 career plate appearances, he hit eight home runs and slashed .173/.215/.301, and hasn’t taken an at-bat in the big leagues since 2023.
Like Snead and Smith, Logue hasn’t appeared in a big league game since 2024. He’s pitched in 19 games, owning a .720 ERA and 5.72 FIP over 70 innings of work, most recently pitching in Korea during the 2026 season.
Hoglund was undoubtedly the big piece going back the other way, but even he has struggled to make an impact at the big league level. Upon his return from Tommy John surgery, Hoglund pitched in three games in 2022, 16 games (61 innings) in 2023, and 24 games (130.2 innings) in 2024.
After remaining relatively healthy in 2024 and starting the 2025 season in Triple-A, Hoglund made his big league debut in May 2025, where he posted a 6.40 ERA and 6.75 FIP in 32.1 innings of work. His season was cut short due to a hip injury, with the surgery keeping him out for the entirety of the 2026 season.
Safe to say that the Blue Jays didn’t give up a whole lot in this trade.

Matt Chapman’s tenure as a Blue Jay

If I had a nickel for every time the Blue Jays acquired an award winning third baseman, I’d have two nickels. It’s not a lot, but both Chapman and Josh Donaldson were essentially given to the Blue Jays for free.
Donaldson’s tenure as a Blue Jay went much better, but Chapman was solid. In 2022, Chapman slashed .229/.324/.433 with 27 home runs in 621 plate appearances, good for a 118 wRC+ and 3.9 fWAR. 
The following season saw him get off to a torrid start in March and April, winning the American League player of the month, but he ended up slashing .240/.330/.424 with 17 home runs in 571 plate appearances, the fewest home runs he hit in any season with 400+ plate appearances.
Though his bat took a step back in 2023, he ended up winning his fourth Gold Glove of his career. It wasn’t the Platinum Glove, but he had won that in both 2018 and 2019 with the Athletics.
When acquired, Chapman only had two seasons of arbitration remaining, meaning that he was a free agent following the 2023 season. The Blue Jays offered him a qualifying offer, but he declined, and signed with San Francisco Giants, giving the Blue Jays a compensation pick following the fourth round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
The player picked by the Blue Jays ended up netting the Jays the Platinum Glove winner in 2023.

The Andrés Giménez trade

With the 136th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Blue Jays selected outfielder Nick Mitchell. He appeared in 22 games following the draft, slashing .289/.350/.467 with four home runs in 103 plate appearances, a bit of a surprise as he only hit 10 home runs in three collegiate seasons.
The 2024 Blue Jays were dismal. It’s the only season since 2020 that they weren’t at least in a playoff spot in September. Because of this, the Jays needed to make some changes, doing so by acquiring second baseman Andrés Giménez. During the 2024 Winter Meetings, the Blue Jays sent Mitchell and Spencer Horwitz to the Cleveland Guardians for Giménez and Nick Sandlin.
Horwitz was immediately flipped by the Guardians, as they sent him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had a strong 2025 season, slashing .272/.353/.434 with 11 home runs in 411 plate appearances for a 118 wRC+, but was a league-average hitter with the Pirates in 2026.
Mitchell had a strong 2025 season in the Guardians’ organization, slashing .273/.386/.370 with two home runs between the Florida Complex League, Single-A, and High-A. 
His power numbers improved in 2026, slashing .240/.358/.360 with five home runs in 329 plate appearances with the Guardians’ Double-A team. But ahead of the 2026 trade deadline, he was sent to the Washington Nationals for former Blue Jay Foster Griffin.
As for Sandlin, the relief pitcher the Blue Jays got in return for Horwitz and Mitchell, he appeared in just 19 games where he had a 2.20 ERA and 4.60 FIP in 16.1 innings of work in 2025. He spent most of the 2025 season injured and was non-tendered in the off-season.

Andrés Giménez’ tenure as a Blue Jay (so far)

The appeal of Giménez is his strong defence and terrific 2022 season with the bat. From 2022 until 2024, the middle infield won back-to-back-to-back Gold Gloves at second base, including the Platinum Glove in 2023.
Although he only posted a 96 wRC+ in 2023 and an 82 wRC+ in 2024, there was hope for his bat. Back in 2022, he slashed .297/.371/.466 with 17 home runs, good for a 141 wRC+ and 6.1 fWAR. It was such a good season that Giménez finished sixth in American League MVP voting.
Unfortunately, Giménez’ tenure as Blue Jay has been a continuation to his final two seasons as a Guardian. After a hot start in 2025, Giménez ended up slashing just .210/.285/.313 with seven home runs in 369 plate appearances, giving him a career-worst 70 wRC+. His 2025 was hampered by injury, which surely didn’t help.
As poor as the offensive numbers were in 2025, he hit some massive home runs, he’s one of the clutchest players on the Blue Jays.
On Canada Day, 2025, he hit a three run blast against New York Yankees’ southpaw Max Fried. George Springer’s grand slam is the most remembered home run from that game, but Giménez’ home run gave them a lead they never relinquished. The Jays swept that four-game series and took control of the AL East.
The Jays played the Yankees in the American League Divisional Series, once again destroying them and winning in four games, setting up an American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners. 
Heading out west to the Pacific Coast down 2-0 in the series, Giménez hit a two-run blast in both Game 3 and Game 4, erasing an early Mariner lead in both games and knotting the series up at two. Again, a Springer home run overshadowed Giménez’ home runs, but they would not have won the pennant without these two home runs.
Like the year prior, Giménez had a good start to his season, but ended up slashing just .244/.291/.359 with nine home runs in 508 plate appearances, good for an 81 wRC+. 
Again, Giménez provided big hits in big moments. He took Jacob Misiorowski deep in the Blue Jays’ trip to Milwaukee and was second in team RBIs with 59. In high-leverage moments this past season, Giménez slashed .311/.33/.533 with 18 RBI and two home runs in 52 plate appearances.
There’s also his defence. Even with limited action at second base in 2025, Giménez was nominated for the Gold Glove, ultimately losing and ending his reign as the best defensive second baseman in the American League. 
With Bo Bichette’s departure, Giménez slid over to shortstop in 2026 and instantly became one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, being named a finalist for the Gold Glove in his first full season at the position.
Giménez and Chapman are by no means perfect players, but the Jays capitalized on a player selected in the first round who hasn’t lived up to the billing.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.
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