Whether the Toronto Blue Jays buy or sell at the trade deadline, there’s no excuse for them not to hit this draft out of the park. The Blue Jays’ farm system isn’t where it needs to be, and holding the eighth overall pick, all the Blue Jays have to do in this situation is take the best player available. With a slot value of $6.8 million, the Blue Jay should have more than enough money to entice a high school player or a college junior, if that’s who they go with, to sign with them.Â
However, the Blue Jays must be cautious, as they want to ensure they select the right player. Far too many times in recent years, the Blue Jays haven’t done well enough in the draft, and their farm system has suffered as a result.Â
Mock Draft Selection
Despite that, Just Baseball believes that they’ll land on an intriguing option in the form of Kyson Witherspoon, a right-handed pitcher out of the University of Oklahoma.Â
âIt sometimes feels like Witherspoon can get lost in the shuffle among the three college lefties (Anderson, Doyle, Arnold) and Seth Hernandez, but donât be surprised if he winds up as one of the best starting pitchers from this class.
âThe former Sooner is a great athlete with a dynamic one-two punch via a riding fastball and bullet slider, as well as tons of experience against advanced competition (SEC, Cape, Team USA). Toronto would be more than happy to snag him here if they fear thereâs too much reliever risk in Liam Doyleâs profile,â they wrote.
How Will Witherspoon Translate to MLB?
Witherspoon would be an excellent addition for the Toronto Blue Jays, as he proved during his time at Oklahoma to be one of the better starters in the country.Â
He’s currently ranked as the eighth overall prospect on MLB.com, so taking him eighth wouldn’t be a bad decision if that’s how things play out.Â
During his final season at Oklahoma, he posted a 2.65 ERA and struck out an impressive 124 hitters in 95.0 innings. That was just his second season at Oklahoma, as he posted a 3.71 ERA and struck out 90 hitters in 80.0 innings during his first season with the Sooners.Â
MLB.com has loved what they’ve seen out of Witherspoon and noted that scouts have been following him since high school.
âNow, Witherspoon is even better, adding that he has a mid-90s fastball that can run up to nearly 100 mph. He also has a mid-80 slider that can touch 91, which is an awesome pitch that should be able to get hitters out in at Major League Baseball eventually. The Blue Jays could grab him, no fan should be too upset.Â
âWitherspoon has swing-and-miss stuff, starting with a mid-90s fastball that peaks at 99 mph and stands out more for its power than its modest life. His mid-80s slider can touch 91 mph while featuring both horizontal action and depth, and he’ll turn it into an upper-80s cutter that he uses just as often. He’s showing more consistency with his low-80s downer curveball, while his upper-80s changeup is a work in progress that gets too firm but will show interesting fade at times,â they wrote.
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