Blue Jays Farm System Soaring So Far In 2025, Especially On The Mound
Note: This was excerpted from Baseball America’s Prospect Report, a free daily newsletter that highlights the top performers across the minor leagues. Sign up here.
Blue Jays RHP Khal Stephen may be at a new level, but so far he’s delivering the same results. He threw six scoreless innings for High-A Vancouver on Tuesday while scattering six hits, and his nine strikeouts led all Top 30 pitchers across the minors.
Stephen now owns a 2.25 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 20 innings since Toronto bumped him up to High-A last month. And while he quickly showed he was too advanced for Low-A as a 2024 second-round pick out of Mississippi State, Stephen dominated there, too. Stephen gets after hitters with a mid-90s fastball that has tons of carry, and he shows impressive feel for a deep five-pitch arsenal.
He’s up to No. 4 in the Blue Jays system, and he’s far from the only Toronto success story so far in 2025. High-A Vancouver teammate Arjun Nimmala has catapulted into the Top 100 amid a red-hot start to the year as the youngest regular in the Northwest League. Trey Yesavage, the team’s first-rounder last year, ranks second in the minors with 88 strikeouts over 50.2 innings and has now touched three levels after his recent promotion to Double-A.
There are breakout arms deeper down, too.
Juaron Watts-Brown is also up to Double-A after showing a similar penchant for missing bats. He owns a 35.6% strikeout rate so far this season. The team’s third-round pick in 2024, prep lefty Johnny King, has dominated the Complex so far, and the 18-year-old has received consistently rave reviews dating back to spring training. And as Geoff Pontes noted last week, 21-year-old righty Gage Stanifer is emerging as another arm who has taken a leap.
You can see all the latest updates to the Jays system here. They’re an organization to keep an eye on, especially if they’re still in the thick of the playoff race near the trade deadline.
