Moving into the middle of the list we have three pitchers drafted early on the second day, along with a wild card you could not profile more differently..
28. Micah Bucknam, RHP, age 22 (DOB: 8/26/2003), grade: 35, 2025: college junior
A double Blue Jays’ draftee, Bucknam first went IN the 16th round out of high school in British Columbia before signing last summer as the 4th rounder out of Dallas Baptist. In between he didn’t pitch a whole lot, accumulating under 20 innings at Louisiana State in 2023-24. before transferring to DBU. Slotted into their rotation, he made 13 starts, most notably striking out 80 in 62.1 innings with less standout 4.62 ERA (and 5.78 RA/9).
But what made him an early pick was the promising assortment of pitches rather than the track record. That starts with a sharp mid-80s swing-and-miss slider, as well as a low-80s power curve. Both have plus potential, and he hits the mid-90s on his fastball. The drawback is its straightness, and resulting tendency to get hit. His change-up lags significantly behind as a work in progress.
There are some similarities here to Juaron Watts-Brown, their third rounder in 2023 traded away at the deadline this summer in terms of two plus breaking balls, a straight mid-90s fastball, big strikeout numbers with pedestrian run prevention results. JWB moved up as a starter with solid results, but ultimately didn’t really take developmental steps to project beyond a (significant) relief role. Bucknam might be a bit more tabula rosa, and it will bear watching to see if the Jays can get a little more out of him for a rotation future. If not, there’s a very viable fallback as a potentially higher end bullpen arm.
27. Spencer Miles, RHP, age 25 (DOB: 7/26/2000), grade: 35, 2025: Giants system
Plucked in December’s Rule 5 draft, Miles is down to the wire in terms of sticking with the Jays after an impressive Spring. Selected in 2022’s 4th round out of Missouri, a succession of injuries prevented him from pitching more than a handful of professional innings over the ensuing three years. A good run in the Arizona Fal League caught the Jays’ attention.
As we’ve seen this Spring, Miles hits the mid-90s with his fastball, with a couple breaking balls. Neither stood out as huge sign-and-miss weapons, but both were effective as he struck out 11 in 9.2 innings. If he sticks in the Jays organization, he profiles as a potential middle relief option, and maybe a little more if he can achieve the higher end velocity he’s touched and sharpen the secondaries.
26. Juan Caricote, C, age 17 (DOB: 11/5/2008), grade: 35, 2025: unsigned
And we’re into the pure lottery ticket portion of the program. Signed in January out of Venezuela, Caricote received a bonus just under $2-million as the centrepiece of the most recent international class. That he was Baseball America’s 17th rated IFA while being outside MLB.com’s top 50 speaks to the inherent variability of this demographic. Adding to that teenage catchers being the highest risk demographic in terms of defensive projection, and it makes for an extreme risk profile.
Obviously, a $2-million bonus indicates there’s plenty to like as well, but we’ll see how it looks when he actually gets into organized games. Realistically, the new information coming in over the next year will be too limited to fundamentally change the outlook, but in two years he could be an afterthought. A cautionary tale here is Juan Meza, a *checks notes* Venezuelan catcher signed for about $2-million in 2022. Debuting at#24 on that year’s list, four years later, he’s yet to get off the complex and has struggled to exceed the Arencibia line offensively.
25. T.J. Brock, RHP, age 26 (DOB: 8/10/1999), grade: 35, 2025: 19th
A pure short-relief profile, Brock spent his first two years in the Blue Jays system carving up lower level hitters to the tune of a 35%+ strikeout rate thanks to plus raw stuff in the form of two major league calibre pitches albeit with more rudimentary control. His fastball is pure gas, a straight four seamer that sits in the mid-90s touching a tick or two higher into the upper 90s. When it’s working, his slider is a hellacious wipeout weapon that piles up swing-and-misses. Not infrequently however, it doesn’t have the shape and gets hangy, with AA hitters had started to exploit at the end of 2023.
The upward trajectory has stalled out the last couple years. Brock missed most of the 2024 season, and in the few appearances he had mid-season in New Hampshire he didn’t look right. He still piled up the strikeouts, but it usually an involved struggle and his slider in particular seemed off, a couple times even looking more like a back-up change-up. He came back for a good run in the AFL and was a Fall-Star, but had Tommy John and missed 2025.
Accordingly the outlook is largely the same as last year, with a little more risk in seeing what Brock looks like when he’s back on the mound. Brock has the stuff where if it clicked he could be a high-leverage monster anchoring the back of the bullpen (think Jordan Romano). More likely, the control much less command is toward the minimum viability threshold where he’s a tantalizing but ultimately frustrating up/down guy (think Zach Pop).
