With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting travel and sports across the globe, Major League Baseball decided to shorten the 2020 MLB Draft to just five rounds. The Jays held the fifth pick in the first round after posting a 67-95 record, and had all five picks at their disposal this time around. It was the highest draft selection since 1997 when the team selected Vernon Wells out of Bowie High School in 1997 with their fifth-round pick.
Let’s take a look at where the 2020 MLB Draft class has shaped up for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Round 1: Austin Martin – CF (#5)
Regarded as one of the top bats heading into the draft, Austin Martin fell to the Jays at #5 and signed for a $7 million bonus, the highest in the Jays’ history. Three years at Vanderbilt had shaped him to be a strong bat from the right side, although he struggled to find a place on the field during his time in Nashville.
Martin began his pro career in double-A New Hampshire, authoring a .281/.424/.383 slash line with a .807 OPS through 56 games. His tenure with the Jays would be limited, as the club sent him and top prospect pitcher Simeon Woods-Richardson to the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline in exchange for José Berríos.
The Florida product continued to toil in the minor leagues until the 2024 season when he was called up to the big leagues, spending most of the regular season with the Twins while riding the options bus numerous times. Through 94 games, he posted a .253/.318/.352 line with 18 doubles, one home run, and 16 RBIs.
What a catch by Austin Martin to rob a home run. 😲 pic.twitter.com/gMfP5nA9cI
— MLB (@MLB) June 17, 2024
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Fighting for a spot on the Twins’ Opening Day roster for the 2025 campaign, Martin was a late cut in spring training and started the campaign in triple-A St. Paul. He started off strong, going 13 for 31 (.419) in the batter’s box with one double and seven walks, but landed on the IL with a right hamstring strain on April 11th and hasn’t played since.
Round 2: CJ Van Eyk – RHP (#42)
Right-hander CJ Van Eyk is the lone member from the 2020 draft class still in the Blue Jays system.
Following the draft, he spent the entire 2021 season in high-A Vancouver, making 19 starts to the tune of a 5.83 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP across 80 1/3 innings before finishing the year on the IL. For the 2022 season, Van Eyk was on the shelf after undergoing Tommy John surgery late in 2021 and would return in 2023, spending time between three levels and appearing in 34 1/3 innings.
For the 2024 season, Van Eyk spent the entire campaign in double-A, authoring a 5.68 ERA through 30 outings (16 starts), starting the year in the rotation before finishing the campaign in the bullpen. Through 95 innings, Van Eyk struck out 18 batters and amassed a 1.57 WHIP in his first full season back from injury.
The Florida product returned to New Hampshire to start the 2025 season and has amassed a 0-3 record through four starts out of the rotation, allowing 15 earned runs through 17 2/3 innings. The box score doesn’t show the full picture, as he has two stellar outings mixed with two outings where he allowed 5+ earned runs, but he will need to find some consistency before he can move up to Buffalo.
Round 3: Trent Palmer – RHP (#77)
Drafted out of Jacksonville, right-hander Trent Palmer struggled to stay healthy during his Jays tenure (spoiler).
He made 16 starts for the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays in 2021, but never hit that mark again over the next three years in the Jays system. He underwent Tommy John surgery in August of 2022 and made just four appearances late in 2023. He missed some time again in 2024, beginning the year in double-A in the rotation, before being moved to the bullpen, where he struggled on the mound to a collective 10.64 ERA through 22 innings.
Trent Palmer starts the game with five strikeouts in two innings!
Julian Valdez in on in relief pic.twitter.com/g5Fyp7EhQy
— Dunedin Blue Jays (@DunedinBlueJays) June 20, 2021
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The Jays would release Palmer on September 9th of last year, and it does not appear he has pitched professionally since being released.
Round 4: Nick Frasso – RHP (#106)
Another arm with a short timestamp in the Jays organization is Nick Frasso, who was with the Jays through the 2021 and part of the 2022 season before being shipped off to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the Mitch White trade (which received a lot of backlash over the years). With Toronto, Frasso reached high-A Vancouver and was dominant when healthy, with the right-hander spending time on the IL in both seasons with the Jays after undergoing an internal brace procedure during his first campaign.
Frasso would finish the 2022 season split between high-A and double-A in the Dodgers system and then returned to Tulsa to start the 2023 season before making some spot starts late in the year for triple-A Oklahoma City. Collectively, he posted a 3.77 ERA through 93 innings and struck out 107 batters, using his high-90s fastball to generate some swing and miss.
The right-hander would be added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, but he missed all of the 2024 season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder in November of the year before. He has since returned in 2025 and is back in triple-A, where he owns a 5.29 ERA through six appearances (three starts), allowing 10 runs through 17 innings of work to the tune of a 1.65 WHIP. A former top prospect for the Dodgers, landing as high as #2 in the 2024 rankings via MLB Pipeline, Frasso now ranks at #13 and likely will see more time as a reliever versus a starter given his injury history and the Dodgers’ depth for rotation arms.
Round 5: Zach Britton – C (#136)
Drafted out of Louisville, catcher Zach Britton started his pro career in single-A Dunedin in 2021, where he authored a .743 OPS with 18 doubles and seven home runs across 79 games. He would work his way to double-A late in the 2022 season and started the 2023 season in New Hampshire but missed most of the year on the IL, appearing in just 17 games.
Zach Britton is a Blue Jay 😏
With our final pick in the 2020 #MLBDraft, we’ve selected OF @zbritton33 from @LouisvilleBSB! pic.twitter.com/LndnlGrrHd
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 12, 2020
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Britton returned to the Fisher Cats for the 2024 season and was posting a .205/.290/.312 slash line with a .602 OPS before abruptly retiring in mid-July of the year. While he has never officially released a statement on why he retired, he now runs a baseball instruction program and is planning to open a card shop called Uptown Sports Cards, located in Batesville, Indiana, and runs the store on Instagram and whatnot.
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