The Best MLB Draft Picks in Blue Jays' History
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With the 2026 MLB Draft less than a week away, it's worth recognizing the importance of the draft in helping build the Toronto Blue Jays' current roster. Players like Trey Yesavage (2024, first round), Mason Fluharty (2022, fifth round), Addison Barger (2018, sixth round) and Davis Schneider (2017, 28th round) all arrived into the organization through the draft.
While the Blue Jays are far from perfect when it comes to identifying the right players to draft, they have enjoyed some major successes in identifying young, future talent as part of the annual selection process.
At a time when Toronto is celebrating 50 years of Blue Jays' baseball, it only stands to reason that we look back at some of the club's greatest draft picks of all-time.
Roy Halladay
It's no surprise to see the late Roy Halladay, the best pitcher and arguably best player in franchise history, headline the list of best draft selections. Taken with the No. 17 pick of the 1995 draft, the man known as 'Doc' would go on to win two Cy Young awards and earn eight All-Star invitations along the way to a Hall of Fame career.
A member of The Athletic's MLB All-Quarter Century team, Halladay continues to rank first among all Toronto first-round picks in career bWAR (48.4) after having two seasons in which he led the league in the same category.
Dave Stieb
Dave Stieb may lack in some of the sexier all-time career statistical categories, but the fiery right-hander was a foundational figure of the Blue Jays throughout the 1980's. The 1978 fifth-round pick was a rotation mainstay for Toronto from 1979 all the way through to 1992 (plus a brief, late-career comeback in 1998), continuing to top the organization's pitching record books.
Although Stieb never won a Cy Young or received any serious Cooperstown consideration, he looms large in Blue Jays' history. He still holds the all-time franchise record for wins (175), starts (408), innings pitched (2873.0), strikeouts (1,658) and complete games (103).
Jesse Barfield
You have to go all the way back to Toronto's very first draft to find what is, arguably, the franchise's best value pick ever. The club's inaugural draft didn't yield much MLB talent, but it did produce a standout NBA player and executive in Danny Ainge. More importantly, though, it brought Jesse Barfield into the organization.
Taken with the 233rd overall selection in the ninth round of the 1977 draft, Barfield was a true diamond in the rough. Over nine years with the Blue Jays, he reigned as part of the vaunted 'Killer B's' outfield alongside George Bell and Lloyd Moseby, earning two Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger award as part of a stellar 1986 campaign in which he led the American League with 40 home runs.
Homegrown players have played a major role in the history of the franchise dating back to 1977, and the annual draft is a big part of that. Thanks to the draft, Toronto has been able to land two of its most impactful pitchers, a long-tenured star outfielder and countless other key contributors.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.