Nimmala, Yesavage among the standouts in the Blue Jays' system

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TORONTO -- Over the past few seasons, you’d need to stretch a bit to find the success stories in the Blue Jays’ farm system. Suddenly, it’s getting easier by the day.

The early weeks of 2025 have shifted the conversation in a much more positive direction for the Blue Jays, particularly at the lower levels of the system. It won’t all be good news -- like No. 6 prospect Jake Bloss being set to undergo right UCL surgery -- but there’s far more of it this season.

Here’s a look at five standout prospects from April and May:

SS Arjun Nimmala (No. 1 -- No. 58 in MLB)

Welcome to the breakout.

A year ago, the Blue Jays gave Nimmala an aggressive assignment to Single-A Dunedin and it took some time -- including a trip back to the complex for a few weeks -- for that to pay off. This year, they doubled down on their belief in Nimmala and it’s paying off, fully and completely.

Nimmala entered Wednesday batting .288 with a .919 OPS and eight home runs, tied for the Northwest League lead at just 19 years old. It’s become obvious that his power upside isn’t just dangling in the distance, it’s already special and Nimmala still has plenty of room to fill out his tall frame as he rounds out his development.

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, but it’s getting tempting. The Blue Jays could soon be looking at life without Bo Bichette if he walks in free agency, and while Opening Day of 2026 is too early for Nimmala, we’re officially entering the territory where we can begin to discuss the future of this lineup and organization with Nimmala’s name penciled in.

RHP Trey Yesavage (No. 2 -- No. 70 in MLB)

Yesavage could surely hang in Double-A and Triple-A by now, but his recent promotion to High-A Vancouver was the logical next step after he dominated the competition in Dunedin. His Vancouver debut on Tuesday was another Yesavage classic with 10 strikeouts over four innings of two-run ball and he’s now struck out a whopping 65 batters over 37 1/3 innings.

There’s a clear path for Yesavage to reach Double-A by the end of the summer and clear 100-plus innings, which would set him up perfectly for 2026. Yesavage came out of NCAA ball with a sturdy floor and some exciting tools, but we’re already seeing a higher ceiling than many expected. That’s exactly what this organization needs and the Blue Jays’ new pitching development philosophies are showing up in his early success.

RHP Khal Stephen (No. 10)

Having a high-end arm like Yesavage atop the system is a nice start, but this really gets fun when quantity comes into play. Stephen went stride for stride with Yesavage in Single-A Dunedin, posting a 2.06 ERA with 48 strikeouts and just seven walks over 39 1/3 innings. That earned him a recent promotion to Vancouver, too, and he’s another quick mover who could touch New Hampshire by the end of the season.

Stephen’s name comes up constantly around the organization as a name that’s not being talked about enough. It feels like that will change soon and Stephen will surely rank higher than No. 10 when we do our full, midseason re-rank.

RHP Juaron Watts-Brown (No. 16)

Watts-Brown’s season has been particularly encouraging… because his 2024 season wasn’t. Feedback on Watts-Brown this season sounds drastically different than it did a year ago and he represents one of the best strikeout arms in the Blue Jays’ system with 62 over 37 1/3 innings in Vancouver, which just earned him a promotion to Double-A.

They’ll let Watts-Brown ride as a starter as long as they can, but the Blue Jays could eventually be tempted by some high-end relief potential in Watts-Brown, particularly if he can lean more heavily on that excellent slider. Full credit to Watts-Brown for reigniting his prospect stock.

RHP Gage Stanifer (Unranked)

On top of the obvious success stories, this farm system needed some pleasant surprises. Enter Stanifer, the 2022 19th-rounder out of high school who suddenly looks like one of this organization’s best development jobs. Stanifer put up a 0.69 ERA over 26 innings in Single-A Dunedin with 38 strikeouts, typically piggybacking off Yesavage in the same game.

Stanifer just joined Yesavage and Stephen in Vancouver, and while his first outing lacked control, he’s got people within the organization buzzing and has absolutely earned consideration for the Top 30 list when rankings update.