Blue Jays: 4 recent MLB Draft picks and UDFAs showing early success

Maddox Latta – INF

An undrafted free agent signing out of Cal State Fullerton, Maddox Latta has been one of the hottest bats for Dunedin since turning pro.

Through 58 at-bats, he has amassed 19 hits, including three doubles and one triple, and has also chipped in with 10 RBIs while walking six times. He owns a .328/.391/.414 slash line and a .805 OPS to start his pro career, and has been used across the field, splitting time at second base and shortstop with a couple of starts at third base mixed in. Lotta has just one error to his credit through 16 games, and his versatility looks like a welcome addition to the Blue Jays’ farm system.

Danny Thompson Jr. – RHP

After splitting five years between North Carolina Wesleyan and UNC Greensboro, the Jays drafted right-hander Danny Thompson Jr. in the eighth round and signed him to a heavily underslot $5,000 bonus to turn pro.

So far, Thompson has proven that he can handle single-A bats out of the gate. Through 8 2/3 innings, mostly in relief (he made one start, pitching two innings), Thompson owns a 1.04 ERA and a 1.038 WHIP while allowing just one earned run off of seven hits and two walks. He’s struck out five batters to the tune of a 5.2 K/9 and has generated a 48.1% groundball rate through the limited sample size.

His FIP is a bit elevated (4.93) because of the two walks and a home run allowed for the lone run against, but the Jays staff trust him out of the gate, with his first save already under his belt back on August 20th.

Dayne Pengelly – RHP

A UDFA signing out of the University of New Mexico, right-hander Dayne Pengelly began his pro career in NAIA ball before landing with Pima Community College in the JUCO circuit and then eventually in D1 with the Lobos. It’s a storied timeline, which includes a dominant stretch in the MLB Draft League (x2) that has amounted to his current opportunity, and out of the gate, Pengelly is finding success on the mound.

Through two starts and 4 1/3 innings, Pengelly owns a 2.08 ERA with just one run allowed off four hits and two walks. While the sample size is incredibly small compared to others listed, Pengelly separates himself from the pack because of his seven strikeouts, authoring a 14.5 K/9 to start his pro career. He’s also the only pitcher to be used as a starter only so far and could remain in the rotation moving forward after making over 22 starts for the Lobos across two collegiate seasons.

The key for the 22-year-old will be to find fewer barrels as time goes on, but the upper-90s fastball and his low-80s offspeed/breaking pitches are keeping hitters off balance.