Jays Centre Top 20 Prospects Update: Risers, Fallers, and New Additions

Here we are, a little more than one month into the minor league season, and we have made our first in-season update to the Jays Centre Top 20 Prospect rankings. It has been a roaring start for some and a slow crawl for others. Let's check out a few of our prospects that moved up and down the rankings, as well as a couple of new entries to the list altogether. 

Blue Jays Top 20 Prospects: Key Risers

No. 3 Johnny King, SP - Vancouver Canadians
Johnny King has been a force to be reckoned with down in High A for the Vancouver Canadians. At just 19 years old, he has been slowly ramping up his pitch count and innings over the first month of the season, but those innings have been fantastic. He currently has an ERA of 0.81 to go with a sparkling batting average against of just .130. He is not allowing many hits at all, just 10 in seven games and 22.1 innings pitched. He is still excelling with some great swing and miss numbers, striking out 35.9% of hitters, but the walks have seen a jump up to 15.2% so far this season. Fastball command may be a key factor in the walk rate rising, and it could be because his fastball now sits in the mid-to-upper 90s at times, which is a great sign for his overall stuff. He just needs to control it more frequently, which he should, with more experience. 

No. 10 Sean Keys, 1B/3B - New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Sean Keys has taken the Double-A world by storm in the first month-plus of the season. At one point, he was the hottest and best hitter at the level, launching 10 home runs in just 36 games played, to go with a slash line of .290/.413/.581 and a wRC+ of 155. He has been getting on base, taking walks, hitting for power, and limiting the whiffs some. He has a walk rate of 12.7% and a strikeout rate of 26.0%. If he keeps going at this pace, he could see the bump up to Triple-A Buffalo sooner rather than later. 

No. 8 Yohendrick Piñango, OF - Buffalo Bisons/Toronto Blue Jays
Yohendrick Piñango was enjoying a solid beginning to his year at Triple-A Buffalo, slashing .288/.370/.488, with three home runs, two stolen bases, and a wRC+ of 122 over 22 games. His jump in the rankings, though, largely comes from his first 16 games as a Toronto Blue Jay. He has hit .333/.373/.438, launching one home run with three walks and just six strikeouts. There may not be enough room in the Blue Jays’ outfield for playing time when everyone is healthy, but he is certainly making a case for more at-bats at the moment. 

Blue Jays Top 20 Prospects: Key Fallers

Landen Maroudis, SP - Vancouver Canadians
Landen Maroudis has actually pitched well at times this season, and his velocity has started to return to its 2024 level. Over eight games and 27.1 innings pitched, he has a 4.61 ERA and a 3.93 FIP. His walk rate is down considerably this season at 9.6%, but his strikeout rate is only 20.8%. He has been getting outs, but he needs to see his swing and miss stuff tick back up.

Brandon Barriera, SP - Dunedin Blue Jays
Brandon Barriera had put together a couple of good starts before the injury bug again landed him on the IL. The numbers weren't great as a whole this season (5.29 ERA, 5.43 FIP), but four of his last five games saw him give up no runs or one run. Hopefully, he returns soon and gets back in a groove on the mound. 

Yeuni Munoz, OF - Released
Yeuni Munoz didn't play a lot of games with the Blue Jays organization due to injuries, but he did show a good ability to hit the ball hard and often. Toronto released the outfielder before the season. 

Blue Jays Top 20 Prospects: Newcomers

No. 17 Nolan Perry, SP - Dunedin Blue Jays/Vancouver Canadians
Nolan Perry began the season with Single-A Dunedin and has been making up for lost time quickly. He missed the 2025 season with Tommy John surgery, but you wouldn't know it by watching him this year; he has been one of the best pitchers in the minor leagues. Over five games and 22 innings with Dunedin, he pitched to a 1.71 ERA and 2.50 FIP, with a strikeout rate of 41% and a walk rate of just 7.7%. Single-A hitters couldn't get much contact against him, and when they did, it wasn't very good either, with his batting average against coming in at .114. After a promotion to High-A Vancouver, Perry hasn't lost a step, as his numbers have gotten even better. In two games, he has pitched 10 innings with 18 strikeouts (47% strikeout rate), only allowing one run (0.90 ERA). 

This season, Perry has been using a deep pitch mix when he attacks hitters and does so with a good deal of command on all of his pitches. The fastball is in the mid-90s and occasionally has gotten into the upper 90s, with good ride up in the zone. The pitch comes with a very good amount of induced vertical break as well (averaging 18 inches at Dunedin). His slider and curveball are fantastic pitches with sharp break and tunnel well off of his four-seam fastball. Perry also has above-average extension on his pitches at 6.5 feet. His fourth pitch, a changeup, needs some more work, but it could be a good pitch down the line as well. 

Perry currently ranks in the 92nd percentile or better in strikeout rate (98th), K-BB% (98th), BAA (97th), SwStr% (94th), WHIP (99th), ERA (93rd), FIP (92nd), and xFIP (97th). This is all in his first season back after Tommy John surgery. Assuming he keeps improving and his command gets even better, we could see him make the jump up to Double-A New Hampshire at some point and cement himself as one of the best pitching prospects in the Blue Jays organization.

No. 20 Dylan Watts, SP - Dunedin Blue Jays
Dylan Watts has pitched in eight games for Dunedin and has thrown 23.1 innings. Currently, he has a 4.63 ERA and a 4.57 FIP, with a 26.2% strikeout rate, a 9.7% walk rate, and a batting average against of .272. 

Watts has five pitches he can control effectively, and that deep pitch mix has done well at generating swing and misses so far this season. He has a mid-90s four-seam fastball, which has great ride up in the zone, with 17.5 inches of induced vertical break and 10 inches of horizontal break. His sinker can be the reverse of his four-seam fastball, with more horizontal break than induced vertical break. His strikeout pitches are his cutter and changeup, coming in at whiff rates above 40% and 60%. His last pitch is a slider, and it generates a high percentage of whiffs, but he currently doesn't throw it much.

Look for Watts to keep working on his pitch mix and finding a way to minimize contact from hitters. If he can get into a good spot and string together some better games, he could get the bump up to High-A Vancouver come June or July when the next wave of promotions is likely to happen. 

Interested in learning more about the Toronto Blue Jays' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!