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‘Usually when guys start hitting, you start asking them to play some different spots’: Sean Keys forcing Blue Jays to think creatively
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Photo credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
Jun 25, 2026, 07:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 25, 2026, 00:25 EDT
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TORONTO — As the Blue Jays’ offence continues to struggle to find consistency, the noise surrounding slugging prospect Sean Keys is starting to become deafening.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know all about the incredible season Keys is having. He’s been the organization’s best development story of 2026 thus far, and it’s quickly becoming a matter of “when” not “if” you’ll see him in the majors later this year.
“Usually when guys start hitting, you start asking them to play some different spots,” manager John Schneider said.
Keys is certainly nailing that part. Even before Wednesday’s multi-homer performance with Triple-A Buffalo, the 23-year-old infielder had been batting .273/.394/.618 with 10 extra-base hits (four home runs) and a 156 wRC+ in his first 16 games with the Bisons. Now, the surging prospect is carrying a whopping 1.120 OPS through 19 contests, showing zero signs of cooling off any time soon.
Between the left-handed slugger’s previous stint at Double-A and the blazing start to his first go-around through the Triple-A circuit, Keys sits with 20 home runs on the campaign — already surpassing last season’s total of 19, all of which came in 119 games at High-A.
What’s even more exciting is that the underlying metrics match the surface-level results, as Keys entered Wednesday sporting a 47.5 per cent hard-hit rate and a max exit velocity of 112.8. After producing a trio of 95-plus m.p.h. batted balls in his most recent showing, the remarkable quality-of-contact resume is only growing stronger.
“I think getting to know him in spring training a little bit, and getting him around [David Popkins] and the guys, I think they obviously like what the offensive profile can be in terms of power,” Schneider said of Keys. “I think he’s a little bit ahead of schedule, kind of where we thought he would be. So [he’s] definitely on the radar.”
Given that Keys, a fourth-round selection by the Blue Jays almost two years ago, spent all last year in Vancouver and hadn’t jumped multiple minor-league levels in the same season before doing exactly that in ’26, he’s certainly farther along than the organization thought he’d be at this point.
Back in the spring, they probably envisioned him arriving in Buffalo, at the very least, no sooner than before the All-Star break. Instead, he’s well on his way to kicking down the door to the majors — and we’re not even at the end of June yet.
Now the challenge is, if Toronto’s brass were to consider trying him up here, how would they make the pieces fit?
“[We] kind of have a first baseman, kind of have a third baseman,” Schneider said jokingly. “I think you have to really figure out if the juice is worth the squeeze.”
The problem with promoting Keys, who’s only played first or third base since leaving Bucknell University for professional baseball, is that he’s currently blocked at both of those positions — by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first, and Kazuma Okamoto at third.
While you could argue that there might be some at-bats available at DH, with George Springer’s bat starting to heat up, the last thing this team will want to do is put that at risk by shifting the 36-year-old everyday OP (offensive player) to the outfield on occasion.
So, that puts us back at square one. Or does it…
While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, general manager Ross Atkins highlighted the importance of finding room for “really good offensive players.” That’s a sentiment that Schneider also shared pre-game on Wednesday, noting, “you can always find a way” to make the pieces fit if the payoff is worth it.
After all, this is the same franchise that had Spencer Horwitz playing second base a few seasons ago, as Schneider remarked, and also moved Charles McAdoo to that very position earlier this season to create a viable pathway to big-league playing time. So, perhaps that experiment will now fall on Keys’ shoulders.
Or maybe it’ll involve moving to a corner outfield spot. Either way, don’t be surprised if you’re checking out the Bisons’ lineup in the next week or so and see him starting at a position he’s never played before.
Being all-in on returning to the World Series often means counting on the best players in your system, and Keys is quickly proving that he deserves a shot at being one of the 26 on the Blue Jays’ roster.

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