Blue Jays 15th round pick Jake Casey is off to a scorching start

Let’s just call it how it is: the Blue Jays have an affinity for nepo babies.

If you are the son of a former big league ballplayer, chances are you’ve been a Blue Jay at some point in your career. That case also applies to Jake Casey, whom the Blue Jays selected with their 15th-round pick in this past July’s amateur draft. The son of former MLB first baseman Sean “The Mayor” Casey, who is now the Yankees hitting coach, Jake was a fourth-year senior at Kent State when he heard his name called on day two of the draft.

Standing at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Casey has a prototypical outfielder’s frame. He combines phenomenal athleticism with a picturesque left-handed swing much like his father had with the Tigers a couple of decades ago. He possesses plus arm strength and can play centerfield in a pinch, though he likely profiles better at a corner at the pro level.

Casey reported to Dunedin shortly after the draft and has quickly set fire to the Florida State League. Through his first 20 professional games (69 plate appearances), Casey is slashing .296/.449/.574 to go along with 3 homers, 12 runs driven in, and 4 stolen bases. His 13% walk rate is firmly above league average, while he’s kept his strikeouts also in check (20.3%). A 1.023 OPS and 184 wRC+ speak to the level of dominance Casey has shown in his very brief pro career.

Everything in Casey’s batted ball profile is stuff you want to see in a young hitter. He’s hitting the ball in the air (40.5%), to the pull side (47.4%), and avoiding ground balls (29.7%). Casey has shown to be a very selective hitter too, only swinging at 39.6% of the pitches he’s seen. His contact rate of 77.1% is slightly below league average, but he makes up for it with damage contact, as seven of his first 16 hits with Dunedin have gone for extra bases.

It’s still extremely early days when it comes to Jake Casey. A 20-game sample size is never nearly enough to base any conclusions on, but when it’s the “only” sample you have of the player, it’s a damn good place to start. The Blue Jays player development pipeline has a full head of steam right now, and a strong 2025 draft class would only add more fuel to an already raging fire.