November 6, 2019

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

It's time to take a look at the Blue Jays' organizational depth chart as it sets up heading into the offseason. We'll go position by position and hope to chart out the Blue Jays' minor leaguers to see who stands where. I've ordered the following list by projected 2020 starting level. The higher the player is on the list within each level means that I think that player will get more playing time.

Second base is an interesting position because a lot of minor league shortstops end up at second base as they move up through the organization.

Toronto

Cavan Biggio TOR

Brandon Drury TOR

Breyvic Valera TOR

Richard Urena TOR/BUF

Well, with Cavan Biggio emerging as a bona fide major leaguer, this position is pretty set for the time being. None of the players listed as backups at the big league level are really poised to take that position away from him. I'm not entirely sure that Valera will make it to spring training as a member of the Blue Jays as the Jays could use his roster spot to protect someone for the Rule 5 draft.

Buffalo

Andy Burns* BUF

Santiago Espinal BUF

As I've mentioned before, unless the Jays have an option on Andy Burns's 2020 season and pick it up, Burns has the potential to become a free agent in the next day or two. But he's a very useful infielder who played a lot of second base in Korea and has plenty of experience. I think we'll see a full year of Santiago Espinal in Buffalo and we'll really see if his bat is going to play at those levels over a larger sample size. There's a also a chance he'll be added to the Jays' 40-man roster this month.

New Hampshire

Nash Knight NH/BUF

Vinny Capra NH

Logan Warmoth NH

In this case, I've only listed Nash Knight first because he could conceivably play in Buffalo but I think Vinny Capra will return to New Hampshire and Logan Warmoth, a former first-round draft pick, will likely return to New Hampshire to produce better results than he did in 2019, hopefully carrying over good results in the Arizona Fall League.

Dunedin

Samad Taylor DUN

Kevin Vicuna DUN/NH

Rafael Lantigua DUN

Nick Podkul DUN

LJ Talley DUN/LAN

While I had trouble finding guys in the organization who might fill the first base spot in Dunedin behind Jake Brodt, there's likely to be little difficulty finding players to play second base. Samad Taylor had a good shot in 2019 but had a rough time with the bat and he'll be given another chance. Kevin Vicuna didn't have a great offensive season but he's more of a shortstop despite getting some time at second base. Rafael Lantigua was solid for Lansing and could move up and Nick Podkul also got a chance to play for Dunedin last year. LJ Talley could also move up after finishing strongly in his draft year with Lansing.

Lansing

Tanner Morris LAN

Ronny Brito LAN/VAN

Luis De Los Santos LAN/VAN

I think a 2019 draftee, Tanner Morris, moves up to Lansing in 2020 while Ronny Brito could also get a shot at some playing time for the Lugnuts. Luis De Los Santos struggled offensively in Vancouver but could, conceivably, move up too.

Vancouver

Davis Schneider VAN

Miguel Hiraldo VAN/LAN

Leonardo Jimenez VAN/LAN

A couple of advanced international free agents, Miguel Hiraldo and Leonardo Jimenez spent 2019 mostly in Bluefield, both in their Age-18 seasons and there's a chance that both go to Lansing next year as 19 year olds, where they finished 2019, getting to play in the Crosstown Showdown against Michigan State. But there's also a chance that the Jays want the pair to experience Canada and could be held back to start the 2020 campaign in Vancouver. Davis Schneider did start 2019 in Vancouver and, after a poor beginning, went back to Bluefield where he was excellent. Look for Schneider to get another crack at Vancouver.

Bluefield

Jose Rivas BLU

I just have one player who might spend significant time at second in Bluefield next year and that's Jose Rivas who had a strong Age-18 season in the GCL in 2019.

GCL

Adrian Montero GCL/DSL

I think Adrian Montero will get the bulk of the playing time in the GCL unless one of the Jays' 2019 international free agents or 2020 draftees suck up some playing time.

DSL

Francisco Fajardo DSL

Francisco Fajardo isn't the only guy who will play second base for the DSL Blue Jays. But I feel like it's impossible to sort through all of the international free agent infielders the Jays have signed in the last year to figure out which might play second base and which might not.

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