Toronto Blue Jays Speedster Named Intriguing Player Ahead of Rule-5 Draft

Dasan Brown is an incredible runner and a Minor League Gold Glover, but will the Jays be able to retain him?

Toronto Blue Jays batting helmet lays on the ground during workouts at Toronto Blue Jays Player Development Complex. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Rule-5 Draft will be held next Wednesday as part of the Major League Baseball winter meetings. It will be held at 2 p.m. ET.

MLB.com offered a reminder on how the Rule-5 Draft works:

Any player who turned pro at age 18 or younger in 2020 or at age 19 or older in 2021 is eligible for selection in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft if he isn't on a 40-man roster. Clubs who take a player in that phase must pay his former team $100,000 and keep him on their active big league roster throughout the following season. The player can't be sent to the Minors without first clearing waivers and then getting offered back to his original organization for half his draft price.

When it comes to the draft, it remains to be seen if the Toronto Blue Jays will select any players, but MLB.com says that have an intriguing player that could be poached away from them.

Per the site, 23-year-old infielder Dasan Brown is a name to watch. He is a pure speedster and also won a Minor League Gold Glove Award this year.

Brown’s bat is a major question mark, especially when it comes to power, and he’s played only 32 games above the High-A level, so it’s not hard to see why Toronto left him unprotected. But his 80-grade speed and plus glove could absolutely play in the Majors right now, and with the added emphasis on wheels in recent years, that could be enough to get him on the end of an MLB roster. Brown has swiped at least 20 bags in four straight seasons and topped out at 35 in 2024.

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Here's an intriguing Rule 5 candidate from each organization: https://t.co/5HPOAmjIBx pic.twitter.com/FNhAlUSSXd

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) December 5, 2024

He is the No. 23 prospect in the organization, per MLB.com. The outlet projects him to make his major league debut in 2025. He was drafted in the third round of the 2019 MLB Draft.

The Blue Jays are headed into a critical offseason as they come off a last-place finish in the American League East. The team needs more homegrown prospects to make an impact at the major league level as the rest of the roster gets older and more expensive, so perhaps Brown can be one of the guys who makes an impact on that front -- if he can stick around.