Ross Atkins will be named the new general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. The hiring marks a reunion between Atkins and new team president Mark Shapiro from their days in Ohio.


Ross Atkins was Cleveland's vice-president of player personnel in 2015. (Image from Ohio.com)

Welcome to the top of the house, the number one through ten prospects, although maybe a little less lofty than in the last couple of years.  In case you missed it number 11 through 20 are here, and number 21 to 30 are here.

We hope you enjoyed this top 30 and the hope it brings to the future of the Blue Jays organization. 

Today we look at the prospects rated 20 though 11. For prospects 30-21, click here.

Sigh. We all knew it was coming. The good news is he will probably eat up a chunk of their budget for a long time and not be a Cy candidate for most of those years. Plus he might feel sad when he turns around and sees that scary (in a bad way) infield defense.

Welcome to the Batter's Box Top 30 Blue Jay prospects for 2015. Your trusted minor league correspondents pooled their votes to come up with the list and then began the task of creating the prospect descriptions you see below. Come back tomorrow for numbers 20 through 11.

There is a lot of turnover from 2014 thanks to "trade-em-all Alex". Ten of last year's top 30 were traded. They were Daniel Norris, Franklin Barreto, Jeff Hoffman, Kendall Graveman, Miguel Castro, Jairo Labourt, Sean Nolin, Dawel Lugo, Matt Boyd and Alberto Tirado. In addition to those ten, Aaron Sanchez, Dalton Pompey and Roberto Osuna all graduated to the big leagues. All of those departures makes room for a new crop of prospects, some of whom shot onto the scene in 2015, and others who made it because the system is a lot less deep than it was a year ago. The system will now be a bottom third system, but there are always some exciting players and you only need two or three to become stars to have a successful top 30.

J.A. Happ is back with the Blue Jays after signing a three-year deal for $36 million in free agency.


J.A. Happ pitched against the Blue Jays for the first time in Seattle July 25 after being traded to the Mariners for outfielder Michael Saunders last off-season.

New thread time.

The Oakland A’s traded for Jed Lowrie, just 11 months after he signed a 3-year contract with the Houston Astros, and he may become the team’s new shortstop given Marcus Semien’s defensive problems last year.

Interim GM Tony LaCava has made his first trade, which is also the first trade of Mark Shapiro's tenure as President. The Jays have acquired Jesse Chavez from the Oakland Athletics. Liam Hendriks, Toronto's favourite Aussie, is headed to Oakland.

Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson is the winner of the 2015 American League Most Valuable Player award.


Josh Donaldson is the second Blue Jay to capture the AL MVP award after George Bell won it in 1987.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet says the Blue Jays will be without second baseman Devon Travis for the first part of the 2016 season after undergoing shoulder surgery.


Devon Travis batted .304 with eight home runs and 35 runs batted in over 217 at-bats with Toronto in 2015.

For 2016 I think we all want to see the Jays with guys at every position who could be the best in the game at that position. Especially with the pitching issues. So where do we see it and where could the Jays use a Tulo upgrade?

So a few things have happened...

Some Arizona Fall League notes and other happenings on the farm.



Rowdy Tellez belted his fourth home run of the season in the AFL earlier this week. (Image from MiLB.com)

Not a shock to anyone, but David Price is one of 3 finalists for the Cy Young and Josh Donaldson is one of the top 3 for MVP.

Traditional winter activities have always included arguing about the Hall of Fame.