Toronto Blue Jays Breakout MLB Prospects For 2025
Entering 2025, we’re projecting a number of Blue Jays prospects to have the potential for a breakout season.
To qualify, a player must rank outside the organization’s Top 10 prospects entering the year. All scouting reports are from Baseball America’s 2025 Prospect handbook, which you can purchase here.
You can find Top 10 prospect rankings for all teams here and all breakout candidates here.
Blue Jays Top Prospects For 2025
We rank the top players in Toronto’s system entering the season, complete with new scouting reports, tools, grades & more.
Breakout Prospects
Khal Stephen, RHP
Preseason Rank: 11
BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Track record: A standout athlete and native of Indiana, Stephen spent two seasons at Purdue, working as a reliever as a freshman before moving into the starting rotation as a sophomore. Stephen entered the transfer portal prior to his junior season and enrolled at Mississippi State. He experienced a standout season in 2024 despite making the sizable jump to the Southeastern Conference. There, he made 16 starts and posted an 8-3 record, 3.28 ERA and 107 strikeouts to 21 walks over 96 innings. Following the season, the Blue Jays selected Stephen in the second round and signed him for a bonus of a little more than $1.1 million. Stephen did not pitch following the draft. He will debut in 2025.
Scouting Report: An above-average athlete with a prototypical starter’s build at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Stephen’s delivery is smooth and athletic. He repeats it well and gets over his front side consistently. He uses a higher three-quarters arm slot with a quick snap at release. Stephen mixes five pitches: a four-seam fastball, slider, curveball, changeup and cutter. His fastball sits 92-93 mph and touches 96, with up to 20 inches of induced vertical break regularly. His primary secondary is a slider with some ride and sweep that sits in the low-to-mid 80s and generated whiffs at a rate of 40% in 2024. Stephen’s didn’t throw his changeup much in 2024 but it showed good results and boasted a 23% swinging-strike rate and a 61% groundball rate. Stephen throws a Bugs Bunny-style changeup that mimics fastball movement. He also mixes a curveball and a cutter, but neither is used regularly. Stephen shows above-average command of his pitch mix.
The Future: Stephen has mid-rotation upside but is more than likely a No. 5 starter with a middle relief floor.
Scouting Grades: FB: 55. CB: 40. SL: 50. CH: 50. CUT: 40. CTL: 55.
R.J. Schreck, OF
Preseason Rank: 14
BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Track Record: A native of Los Angeles, Schreck attended Harvard-Westlake High and spent four seasons playing at Duke before entering the portal as a graduate transfer and committing to Vanderbilt. After Schreck hit .306/.454/.588 over 62 games with the Commodores, the Mariners drafted him in the ninth round in 2023. He signed for $75,000 and debuted that year. Schreck was assigned to High-A Everett to begin 2024 and hit for an .865 OPS before earning the promotion to Double-A. Schreck was traded to the Blue Jays for Justin Turner on July 29.
Scouting Report: Schreck’s advanced feel for the barrel is his carrying tool, enhancing both his hit tool and his power. Schreck rarely misses in-zone and shows elite swing decisions in teams’ analytical models. It’s a plus hit tool with the ability to manipulate the barrel, not only hitting the ball in the air at a high rate, but elevating to his pull side. Schreck has an ideal blend of plate skills and barrel accuracy. This allows his power to play above below-average exit velocity markers. Schreck’s pull side exploits allow him to project for 17-20 home runs at peak. Schreck is a fringe-average runner with good baserunning instincts. He plays a fringe-average corner outfield with an average arm. He’s filled in at center field, but is likely stretched at the position from a range perspective.
The Future: Schreck is an intriguing late-bloomer with unusual barrel control that enhances his profile. Schreck looks like a second-division regular with a bat-first profile.
Scouting Grades: HIT: 60. POW: 50. RUN: 45. FLD: 45. ARM: 50.
Sean Keys, 3B
Preseason Rank: 23
BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Track Record: Keys popped in his sophomore season at Bucknell and then upped the ante in his junior season by hitting .405/.535/.798 with 13 home runs. He was named Patriot League player of the year and the Blue Jays selected Keys in the fourth round of the 2024 draft. He signed for a bonus of $569,700 and debuted following the draft with Low-A Dunedin. Over 22 games with Dunedin, Keys hit .293/.378/.451 with eight extra-base hits.
Scouting Report: Keys is a physical lefthanded hitter with average present power, above-average plate skills and the ability to backspin the ball to all parts of the ballpark. Keys shows above-average bat-to-ball skills with good swing decisions. He wasn’t beaten very often in the zone and avoided passivity in his approach. His power ticked down from his college data based on exit velocities, and his max EV was 108.3 mph in his pro debut. Keys’ ability to hit the ball hard in the air gives him above-average power projection. He is a below-average runner and fringe-average defender at third base. He has a chance to stick at the hot corner due to his above-average arm.
The Future: Keys has a chance to break out in 2025 due to his combination of feel to hit, approach and developing power.
Scouting Grades: HIT: 50. POW: 50. RUN: 40. FLD: 45. ARM: 55.
