There are three Blue Jays on Keith Law’s top 100 prospects list. You can probably guess who they are:
Among the things Law said:
….throwing both from a very high slot which gives the fastball more life and, more generally, makes it more difficult for hitters to pick the ball out of his hand. The Blue Jays leaned into that, lifting his arm slot a bit more and giving him the highest release point of any current MLB starter, while also helping him improve his slider by throwing it much harder, more than 2 mph faster than he was in college. This meant that in a playoff start against Seattle where he didn’t have his splitter, he had another weapon as a fallback option rather than just throwing fastball after fastball. The separating factor for Yesavage will be his leadership; he’s far more successful with things than with location or even control right now, and that arm slot usually (but not always) makes it difficult to repeat a delivery. If healthy, he should be at least a solid #3/above-average starter, with added upside depending on if and how he improves his command.
Law said:
The No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 draft, Parker is an exceptional contact hitter who barely swung and missed on the exhibition circuit in 2024 as he faced some of the nation’s top prep weapons. He controls the strike zone well, has excellent hand-eye coordination and takes a short path to the ball that ensures he will put it in play at a high rate. It can drift onto its front side through contact, losing some potential power, although this is a correctable problem and does not need to happen right away. He is now a shortstop and has very good hands for the infield, but he will not have positive range and will likely be pushed to third base. I’d be shocked if he didn’t at least hit for high averages right off the bat in pro ball; if you were looking for someone to be the next Kevin McGonigle of the 2025 draft class, it would be Parker.
Nimmala struggled to start 2025, hitting .289/.372/.528 when the sun rose on June 1 with a strikeout rate of just 18%, but that didn’t last, leading to a very mixed second full year in pro ball. A combination of nagging injuries he endured, fatigue and pitchers adjusting to him without him adapting in turn led to a collapse in his production. He hit just .184/.277/.290 the rest of the year, with a 24% strikeout rate, still a huge reduction from the year before. Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick, Nimmala was just 17 on draft day and spent all of 2025 in High A at age 19, making him the fourth-youngest regular player at that level — and two of the youngest players ahead of him are on this list (Leo De Vries and Franklin Arias). He still has more power, has improved his contact rate while moving up a level and still plans to stick at shortstop. He’ll play all of 2026 at age 20, likely in Double A, and I expect him to continue to progress after a recovery offseason. If he hits enough to reach his power, his profile is 25+ homers with more defense in focus.
Konnor Griffin CF in the Pirates system is number one, and Kevin McGonigle SS of the Tigers is number two (last year he was #23, explaining the comment in the Parker section).
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The Dodgers and Mariners lead the way with 7 players each on the roster. In the AL East, the Orioles had 5, the Red Sox and Rays 4, and the Yankees had 2.
Yesavage will be removed from the list next year, but Parker and Nimmala each have a good chance of moving up the list next year.
