Blue Jays to promote 18-year-old shortstop prospect
The Toronto Blue Jays are giving one of the top prospects in their organization his first taste of baseball in North America. MORE: Blue Jays make trade, acquire 22-homer slugger from AL rivals Juan Sanchez, the team’s No. 7 prospect according to MLB Pipeline , is joining the Class-A Dunedin Blue Jays, according to multiple reports April 16.
Keegan Matheson of MLB. com was first to break the news. The club has not yet announced Sanchez’s promotion.
A native of Cotui, Dominican Republic, the Blue Jays reportedly signed Sanchez for $997,500 during the 2025 international signing period. He hit . 341 with eight homers and a 1.
004 OPS over 56 games in the Dominican Summer League last year. MORE: Blue Jays announce two-way player’s pitching debut Even at the lowest levels of the minor leagues, an 18-year-old player from Latin America needs a good showing for a team to promote him to his first full-season affiliate in an English-speaking country. According to Matheson , the Blue Jays “were extremely impressed by Sanchez’s maturity in the box and how he adapted to young pitchers trying to stay away from his power.
” MORE: Blue Jays All-Star will undergo surgery after suffering major injury In a “spring breakout” game featuring the top prospects from every organization in March, Sanchez hit a bases-loaded double in the ninth inning of the Jays’ game against the Philadelphia Phillies’ prospects. In Dunedin, Sanchez will join JoJo Parker, a 19-year-old shortstop prospect whom the Blue Jays selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. How the Jays allocate playing time between the two prospects, and whether they will learn some new positions along the way will also be a plot point worth watching in Sanchez and Parker’s development.