Blue Jays 2025 MLB Draft Preview: Rounding Up the Mocks – Part 2

[Jim Scott]

In the first part of this series, I looked at the two position players that numerous mock drafts identified as possibilities for the Blue Jays to select with the #8 pick in the first round of the MLB draft. But what if they choose to select a pitcher instead?

The following summarizes the players that a handful of mock drafts predicted the Jays would select:

Mock Draft Source	Date Posted	Blue Jays' Projected Top Pick (#8)
Baseball America	May 12	Kade Anderson, LHP
MLB.com (Mayo)	May 15	Eli Willits, SS
MLB.com (Callis)	May 6	Billy Carlson, SS
The Athletic (Law)	May 8	Billy Carlson, SS
Bleacher Nation	May 21	Eli Willits, SS
My MLB Draft	May 14	Eli Willits, SS
ESPN (McDaniel)	May 28	Kyson Witherspoon, RHP
Prospects Live	April 30	Jace LaViolette, OF
Sportsnaut	April 22	Marek Houston, SS
Bleacher Report	April 25	Billy Carlson, SS
Perfect Game	March 28	Xavier Neyens, SS/3B
Just Baseball	May 15	Kade Anderson, LHP
The Sports Bank	May 21	Tyler Bremmer, RHP
Call to the Pen	April 13	Tyler Bremmer, RHP
Flo Baseball	May 16	Kyson Witherspoon, RHP
Jays Centre Draft Board	May 28	Liam Doyle, LHP

Three pitchers were named among Toronto's potential targets, and each was named in two separate mock drafts: Kade Anderson, Kyson Witherspoon, and Tyler Bremner. 

Before we delve into those prospects, a word about pitcher rating nomenclature. Some years ago, a colleague of mine (hat tip to Bob Ritchie) noted that terms like “#1 starter” had different meanings to different writers and fans. Based on research over a number of years, he came up with a standard definition (the “r-scale”) under which a #1 pitcher has an ERA (and underlying metrics) of 3.25 or better, a #2 has an ERA between 3.25-3.75, and a #3 has an ERA between 3.75-4.25. (The exact numbers vary year-to-year, but you get the idea.) When he described a pitcher, he would use a one or two-digit rating based on this scale. So, a “#3 starter” is one who would be expected to perform at a #3 level, with little upside or downside. A “#3-4” starter is one who is expected to perform at a #3 level, but has a risk of declining to a #4 level. Similarly, a “#3-2” pitcher would be expected to perform at a #3 level but has the upside (perhaps if he improves his control, or if he develops a new pitch) to perform at a #2 level. 

Kade Anderson - Age 20, LHP, Louisiana State
Scouting grades (per MLB.com):  Fastball: 60 / Curveball: 50 / Slider: 55 / Changeup: 60 / Control: 55 / Overall: 60
Stop me if you've heard this one: A pitcher had a decent but unspectacular year before his draft year. He was projected to be drafted, but not in the first round. Then, in his draft year, he exploded, becoming not only an early first-rounder but one of the top helium plays in the draft. Am I talking about Alek Manoah in 2019? Or Kade Anderson in 2025?

Anderson had Tommy John surgery in 2022, which cost him his 2023 year. In 2024, Louisiana State eased him back in, with only 38 innings pitched and only nine games started. But in 2025, Anderson's 145 strikeouts (in 89 innings pitched) led the country. And he did it with a clean, traditional delivery (which could require less tweaking at the professional level), a solid four-pitch mix, and solid control (his K/BB ratio was over 6.00 – that is Chris Sale territory). Plus – and this is a big plus – he is left-handed. It is rare that a lefty can be this dominant.

Anderson is not a finished product (as few pitchers are at age 20). His fastball has good movement, but it sits at 92-94 mph (the 2025 MLB average is 94.3). But at 6-foot-2 and only 179 pounds, he has plenty of room to add muscle and strength. While he has three other pitches, the curve and slider are still works in progress, though all three have plus upside. 

So we are looking at a #2-3 starter. If he manages to add a few ticks to his fastball, keeps his changeup at an above-average stuff level and solidifies his curve and slider to MLB-average-ish, think Yusei Kikuchi or 2024 MacKenzie Gore. But if he can take all three of his secondaries to plus-ish, could we be talking Carlos Rodón-lite?

Kyson Witherspoon – Age 20, RHP, Oklahoma
Scouting grades (per MLB.com):  Fastball: 65 / Curveball: 55 / Slider: 60 / Cutter: 60 / Changeup: 45 / Control: 50 / Overall: 55
Up until 2025, Kyson was less well known than his twin brother, Malachi, whom the Diamondbacks tried to sign out of high school in 2022. But Kyson has passed his brother (Baseball America ranks Malachi as the 111th prospect for the draft) based on a strong showing with the Sooners in 2025 (Kyson's 2.47 ERA led the SEC).

From MLB.com:

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Witherspoon 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.

While he does not walk many batters, there are concerns about Witherspoon's command. Scouts have said that he leaves too many pitches in the zone, but he has survived due to the quality of his stuff. This will need to improve at the professional level, but at 20 years old, there is plenty of time for polishing. To that end, he showed significant improvement from 2024 to 2025 – cutting his 11.2% walk rate more than in half, and going from a basically two-pitch hurler with significant reliever risk (in 2024, he used his fastball and slider 89% of the time) to a true four-pitch pitcher (he only used his fastball and slider 60% of the time in 2025). Like Anderson, this makes Witherspoon a helium play: a player teams could draft in the hopes that his rapid improvement continues. But that trajectory adds to his upside as well as his risk.

So, if he manages to keep all four pitches, perhaps he could be a #2-3 à la Freddy Peralta with a slightly better fastball? And if (big IF) he can keep his fastball and slider at their current plus level and bring the curve and change to MLB-average levels, is a 2023 Spencer Strider comparison too crazy?

Tyler Bremner – Age 21, RHP, UC Santa Barbera
Scouting grades (per MLB.com):  Fastball: 65 / Slider: 50 / Changeup: 65 / Control: 55 / Overall: 55
OK, so this one is more of a long shot. Going into 2025, Bremner was considered by many to be one of the top three pitchers in this year’s draft class. His 2.54 ERA was third in the Big West among starters with 50+ innings pitched, and his 104 strikeouts and 4.95 K/BB both led the league. But despite generally good results in 2025 (an ERA of 3.49, and his 111 strikeouts again led the league), Bremner struggled with his slider, unable to consistently throw it for strikes, raising concerns that he could end up a two-pitch pitcher (which increases his bullpen risk). As a result, he has fallen to #10-15 on most mock draft boards.

What makes Bremner interesting is that the 2025 draft is considered relatively weak, especially at the top. As ESPN's Kiley McDaniel put it:

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I'm not going to sugarcoat it: This year's draft class is not as good as last year's college-heavy crop and certainly not as good as the historic 2023 draft group featuring Paul Skenes and Wyatt Langford near the top … [But] instead of bemoaning an underwhelming top of the draft, I choose to embrace the chaos and razor-thin margins separating these players, especially once you get into the teens and twenties, where scouts think the draft is quite deep.

So what if the players that fall to the Jays at pick number eight are not all that exciting? Might the Jays choose to gamble on a player with a possibly lower floor, but higher ceiling, if by doing so they could pay an under-slot bonus and pay over-slot when they pick next at #81?

Bremner is a rarity in that he has an unusually wide range of potential outcomes. He looks like both a #3-4 *and* a #3-2. So his downside might be 2021 Tarik Skubal, but with a 2022 (or even 2024!) Tarik Skubal upside.

The Bottom Line
There is a good chance Anderson and Witherspoon will both be gone by the time the Jays draft at #8. But there are always players who slide, and as McDaniel says, the difference between the top players in this year’s draft is “razor thin.” So the chance of an Anderson or Witherspoon (or even a Jamie Arnold, currently ranked #5 by Baseball America) dropping to the Jays at #8 is very real. I would hope that Toronto would be opportunistic and be ready to take the best player available, even if that player is unexpected.

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