Blue Jays need new amateur scouting director as Shane Ferrell joins Detroit Tigers

According to Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network, amateur scouting director Shane Ferrell is leaving the Toronto Blue Jays to join the Detroit Tigers. Farrell will be the farm director for the Tigers and he’ll be reunited with general manager Scott Harris, who he previously worked with while in the Chicago Cubs organization.

Shane Farrell, the son of former Major League pitcher and manager John Farrell, joined the Blue Jays ahead of the 2020 season and ran their amateur drafts for five years. He came into the role to replace Steve Sanders, who left with Ben Cherington to join the front office of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The first pick made during Farrell’s tenure was Vanderbilt standout Austin Martin, who the Blue Jays selected fifth overall in the 2020 draft. The following summer, the Blue Jays used the 19th pick in the 2021 draft to select pitcher Gunnar Hoglund from the University of Mississippi.

Both of those players were soon traded to bring veteran talent to Toronto. Martin was one of two prospects moved ahead of the 2021 trade deadline to the Minnesota Twins for Jose Berrios and Hoglund was part of the package sent to the Oakland A’s before the 2022 season for Matt Chapman.

The first-round picks that the Blue Jays made in Farrell’s latter three years are still with the organization. Toronto went back-to-back on high school players in 2022 and 2023 with pitcher Brandon Barriera and Arjun Nimmala before selecting another college arm in Trey Yesavage with their top pick in the 2024 draft.

We won’t be able to fully judge Farrell’s work with Toronto until a few years from now, but the organization’s inability to draft and develop talent in recent years has been an obvious weakness. That was especially the case in 2024, as the Blue Jays suffered multiple injuries to their pitching staff and didn’t have the quality depth needed to weather the storm.

While trading prospects and losing draft picks to sign free agents are a reality of being a competitive team, plenty of organizations have been able to balance Major League success with building a strong farm system. According to MLB Pipeline, Toronto’s farm system ranks 24th in baseball, which isn’t encouraging for a team that finished fifth in the American League East.