Inside The Blue Jays

Blue Jays Face Intriguing Decision With Outfielder Victor Arias

Toronto's No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline is eligible for the Rule 5 Draft if not added to 40-man roster.
Tobey Schulman|
Oct 8, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; A view of a Toronto Blue Jays hat before game four of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
Oct 8, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; A view of a Toronto Blue Jays hat before game four of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

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Toronto Blue Jays

The Tuesday 4:00 pm EST deadline for adding players to 40-man rosters is nearly here, and the Toronto Blue Jays face an intriguing decision. One of their top prospects is eligible for this year's Rule 5 Draft, and they'll be tasked with deciding whether or not to protect the 22-year-old outfielder.

When a player signs at the age of 18 (or younger), they have five years to be added to the 40-man roster before becoming eligible to be taken by a different organization during the Rule 5 Draft. After being signed in 2019, Victor Arias' deadline is here, and it forces Toronto to make a tough choice.

Arias is coming off of a 2025 season where he spent most of his time in High-A Vancouver. In 66 games, he slashed .294/.381/.437 with an .818 OPS, five home runs, 15 doubles, and five triples. The production was enough to earn a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire.

He'd finish out the 2025 season playing 36 games at the Double-A level. In that time, he'd slash .226/.293/.331 with two homers and six stolen bases. Over both High-A and Double-A in 2025, he recorded a .756 OPS with seven home runs and 18 stolen bases.

With how well Arias was able to adjust to High-A over 2024 and 2025, the Blue Jays may think it could be worth protecting Arias, but still in Double-A, he might still be too far away from being Major League ready to make it worth adding him to the 40-man roster.

Toronto's No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline is clearly a valuable piece within the farm system, but with an estimated time of arrival to the Majors of 2027, it's also worth looking at the future of the outfield at the highest level as a factor in making this decision.

Both George Springer and Daulton Varsho are free agents after the 2026 season, but Anthony Santander and Nathan Lukes are both locked down for the foreseeable future. With this in mind, it could be worth it for the Blue Jays to protect one of their top outfield prospects.

There are multiple prospects in Triple-A however that are closer to becoming an impact at the Major League level. Yohendrick Pinango and RJ Schreck both had standout 2025 seasons, and look poised to debut in 2026.

With all of this in mind, the tough decision to leave Arias unprotected might be the choice Toronto has to make. If that's the decision made, an organization can pick up a very solid outfielder that looks to be ready to make a Major League impact in 2027.

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Tobey Schulman
TOBEY SCHULMAN

Tobey Schulman is a freelance writer currently covering baseball in the South Florida area, independently on X and SubStack. Prior to freelancing, Tobey was a writer for The Skippers View, covering both Major and Minor League Baseball. Over the past year, he has grown a following of almost 10,000 on X, while covering all things across the sport, both professional and amateur. In his free time he produces and live streams a podcast ‘Inside The Diamond’, where he co-hosts player interviews, breakdowns, and game watch parties.

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