Blue Jays Catching Prospect Sharp in AFL Debut Alongside Former Teammate

Toronto Blue Jays prospects began their play at the Arizona Fall League and former teammates at Double-A New Hampshire played on the same team.

A general view of the Toronto Blue Jays logo. Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The arrangements at the Arizona Fall League are a bit unique and make for some unusual partnerships.

There are only six teams. MLB teams assign several prospects, and those prospects are assigned to one of those six teams. When the rosters are complete, five MLB team prospects are on one team.

All the AFL prospects for the Toronto Blue Jays were assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox, including catcher Aaron Parker, who made his debut on Saturday. That led to a reunion with a former Double-A New Hampshire teammate who is also playing in the AFL and just happened to be assigned to Mesa.

A Blue Jays Prospect Reunion

Aaron Parker hit a pair of home runs for New Hampshire today.

The 23-year-old catcher is up to 16 home runs, which is the most by a Blue Jays catching prospect since Travis d'Arnaud hit 16 in 2012. https://t.co/rwHjRV6hjr

— Blue Jays Prospect Tracker (@jays_tracker) August 21, 2026

One of the other teams that have assigned prospects to Mesa is the Los Angeles Angels, whose No. 1 prospect was formerly the Toronto Blue Jays’ No. 1 prospect — shortstop Arjun Nimmala. He and Parker were teammates at New Hampshire briefly this year before Nimmala was traded at the deadline for Jose Soriano.

So, for the next month, Nimmala gets to play with some of his former teammates. But in Saturday’s loss, Parker had the better game.

The catcher went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored as he also had a double. Nimmala had one hit, which was also a double and drove in a run.

Parker is working to position himself for the Majors at a position where the Blue Jays have solid depth in Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Valenzuela. But catching is one of those positions that tends to churn talent and were finding quality hitters can be a challenge.

Parker slashed .253/.347/.467 with 19 home runs and 48 RBI, numbers that have put him on the radars of prospect watchers. He is not among the Blue Jays’ Top 30 prospects at MLB Pipeline but he’s provided consistent production over three minor league seasons since he was selected in the sixth round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of UC Santa Barbara.

His main issue has been injuries. Those limited him to 63 games with High-A Vancouver in 2025 and to 87 games this season. Part of his assignment in Arizona is to get him more at-bats going into a 2027 that could see him challenge for a job at Triple-A Buffalo.

The other Toronto prospects in the AFL include Jake Cook, Jake Casey, Fernando Perez, Brandon Barriera, Jake Bloss, Yondrei Rojas, and Gilberto Batista. Action continues on Sunday in Arizona.