Under the Radar Blue Jays prospects: Edward Duran

It’s well known that the Toronto Blue Jays don’t have a lot of high-ceiling catching prospects.

With that said, there is one catcher in the system who is making waves this season: Edward Duran. If you missed last week’s article, it was on Adrian Pinto, and you can read that here.

The catcher signed for $450,000 with the Miami Marlins in the 2021 international free agency and made his debut with their Dominican Summer League team later that season. In 60 plate appearances, Duran slashed .340/.450/.440 with no home runs for a 159 wRC+.

His next season, also with the DSL Marlins, saw Duran slash .224/.325/.306 with no home runs in 169 plate appearances. Although he played with the Marlins past the trade deadline, he was announced as the player to be named later in the Jordan Groshans deal, which also saw the Jays receive Anthony Bass and Zach Pop.

Duran made his Blue Jays’ debut the following season between the Jays’ Florida Complex League team and their Single-A team. Overall, he slashed .315/.422/.417 with two home runs in 154 plate appearances, with a higher BB% (15.6%) than K% (13%) for a 133 wRC+.

The 2024 season was spent with the Dunedin Blue Jays, where Duran slashed .245/.346/.313 with no home runs in 327 plate appearances, with an 11.9 BB% and a 15.3 K% for a 98 wRC+.

So far this season with the D-Jays, Duran is slashing .302/.396/.489 with a career-high four home runs in just 164 plate appearances. His K% has increased to 21.3%, while his BB% remains around his career norm of 11.6%. Overall, the 20-year-old catcher has a 148 wRC+.

More impressively, Duran has been terrific in May, slashing .351/.427/.584 with two home runs, four doubles, four triples, and a 177 wRC+ in 89 plate appearances. Starting May 2nd, Duran began a 19-game hit streak, which is still ongoing as this article is being written.

Duran is a defence-first catcher who is well regarded thanks to his ability to throw out runners (26%) and blocking ability, according to Fangraphs. He’s taken a step forward with the bat this season as well.

It’s not often that a prospect who was a player to be named later has an impact for a big league team, but that could be the case for Duran.