Blue Jays Prospect Weekly: Keys Keeps Mashing, Dasan Hill Brings the Heat to Vancouver
By Hannah Wells ·
Blue Jays Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Blue Jays farm system.
Keys Keeps Piling Up Damage at Triple-A Buffalo
Sean Keys (AAA, 3B, Rank: 17) had another monster week, going 9-for-23 with a double, a triple, and five RBI across his plate appearances at Buffalo. The counting stats are almost secondary at this point to the broader picture he has constructed across the 2026 season. Combined between Double-A and Triple-A, he is slashing .282/.396/.566 with 28 home runs and 83 RBI in 462 plate appearances, which is a production line that sits well above what a second-division, 50 hit/55 power projection would normally generate. Over the last 30 days specifically, the numbers have climbed further: a .343/.445/.616 slash with six home runs and 23 RBI in 119 plate appearances, all while pulling his swing rate down to 43.6 percent, a tick below his season average, suggesting he is hunting pitches rather than just swinging his way through hot stretches.
The honest tension here is that the brief MLB cup of coffee this year, 37 plate appearances with a .167 average and 13 strikeouts, showed what happens when advanced pitchers execute against a 50 hit tool with some stiffness in the hands. His season-long contact rate of 72.5 percent is below average, and the loft-oriented path that produces all those home runs in Triple-A creates exploitable holes against elite spin and premium velocity. The projection is still a second-division bat, probably settling at first base, and there is a plausible Quad-A ceiling if the swing and miss does not improve at the highest level. But 28 home runs, 83 RBI, and a .566 slugging percentage across the upper minors at 23 years old is not a profile you file away without a second look. The Blue Jays need to find out whether this is a legitimate bat capable of holding up in a big-league lineup, and another September opportunity seems almost inevitable.
Dasan Hill Settling In at High-A Vancouver
Dasan Hill (A+, LHP, Rank: 5) went 4.2 innings in his start this week, allowing zero earned runs on three hits with six strikeouts and a walk. It was another step in what has been a strong stretch since arriving in the Jeff Hoffman trade from Minnesota in early August. Over the last 30 days, Hill is sitting at a 3.31 ERA across 16.1 innings at Vancouver, with 23 strikeouts against six walks, and his strike rate over that span has climbed to 51.1 percent. For a 20-year-old left-hander who grades at 60 on the four-seamer and 55 on the two-seamer, that early-return stretch earns prospect attention across the whole system.
The walk rate is the variable worth tracking. His season walk rate across both his Midwest League stint with Cedar Rapids and his Vancouver outings sits at 15.8 percent of batters faced, which runs high and reflects the 45 command grade attached to his profile. The fastball touching 97-99 mph with ride gives him a bat-misser at the top of the zone, and the slider flashes enough to function as a second weapon. The changeup is still more developmental than reliable, which limits his ability to turn over lineups and keeps the third-time-through-the-order question very much open. His season ERA across both stops is 5.40, so the last-30-day stretch is a peak rather than a baseline, but the stuff is real and the projection, a number-three starter with an all-star outcome on the ceiling, reflects what scouts believe the ceiling can look like when the command tightens. The Blue Jays are going to be patient here. Hill has the arm to wait for.
Quick Hits
- Johnny King (AA, LHP, Rank: 4) · turned in four innings of one-run ball at New Hampshire, scattering one hit, issuing three walks, and striking out six. The 11 swinging misses he generated on 78 pitches underline why the 34.9 percent whiff rate he has carried all season is no mirage. The command volatility, nine walks now in his last 21 Double-A innings, remains the gap between what he is and what a number-three starter needs to be, but a 2.08 ERA across three Double-A starts is difficult to argue with. He is an interesting arm in the entire organization at 20 years old.
- Dameury Pena (A+, SS, Rank: 30) · was promoted to High-A Vancouver on August 24 and made an immediate impression, going 7-for-20 with two doubles and a walk across his first games at the new level. The promotion capped a stretch at Single-A Dunedin where he posted a .318/.388/.432 line over 49 plate appearances, and his season-long contact rate of 85.2 percent with just a 7.1 percent strikeout rate makes him a hard hitter to put away in the system. He is a 50 hit tool with plus speed and solid defensive actions at second base; the power (40 grade) is not part of the conversation, but the contact bat has held up at every stop.
- Austin Smith (A+, OF, Rank: 43) · had a productive week, collecting 6 hits in 21 plate appearances with three doubles and two hit-by-pitches. His numbers at Vancouver this season are genuinely striking: a .321/.380/.605 line with five home runs in 93 plate appearances, a 6.5 percent strikeout rate, and a contact rate of 86.5 percent over the last 30 days. That is a very different hitter from the one who posted a .207 average with a 18.0 percent strikeout rate at Single-A Dunedin earlier in the season. Whether the Vancouver numbers represent a real offensive step forward or a level mismatch will start to become clearer as the sample grows.
- Silvano Hechavarria (A+, RHP, Rank: 25) · threw six shutout innings at High-A, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out five and generating eight swinging misses. It was the cleanest outing of his season by a wide margin. His combined ERA sits at 7.41 across 71.2 innings between Dunedin and Vancouver, so one strong start does not rewrite the narrative, but a 94-97 mph four-seamer with a 55-grade slider gives him the raw material to have nights like this. The walk rate (12.1 percent of batters faced on the season) and home run rate (14 allowed in 71.2 innings) are the two biggest concerns, and both need to come down before the number-four starter projection starts looking reachable.
- Adrian Pinto (AA, 2B, Rank: 37) · drew six walks against three hits in 20 plate appearances at New Hampshire. He has a 20.0 percent walk rate over his last 30 days and a 31.8 percent swing rate in that same stretch, which is about as selective as hitters get. The average has dipped to .211 over those 13 games and the power (30 grade) continues to be a non-factor, so the profile is essentially on-base percentage and contact with speed, which is a narrow path to an everyday role at second base. He is a 55 hit tool with good defensive instincts; the bat will need to show more punch as he works through Double-A.
- Ryan Sprock (A+, C, Rank: 34) · went 4-for-15 with a double and three RBI in his week at Vancouver. He is slashing .291/.420/.455 over the last 30 days with an 15.9 percent walk rate, and his season across all stops combines for a .292/.420/.439 line with 68 walks in 400 plate appearances. For a 21-year-old catcher, that walk total and on-base figure are legitimately above average. The power projection (45 grade) and defensive development are both works in progress, but Sprock continues to show that his feel for the strike zone is a genuine carrying tool.
- Brandon Barriera (A+, LHP, Rank: 31) · was promoted to High-A Vancouver on August 23, his first appearance at the level. The debut was rocky: 1.1 innings, three walks, and a 33.75 ERA in his first outing. His Single-A Dunedin line this season was 4.22 ERA over 32 innings with 22 walks in 12 games, so the command (45 grade) is still the lead concern. The 20-year-old left-hander has legitimate stuff when he is right, but the durability and command questions that have followed him are not going to be answered by one promotion. The jump to High-A is the next test.
- Daniel Guerra (AAA, RHP, Rank: 22) · was promoted to Triple-A Buffalo on August 25, his first appearance at the level. He threw one inning in his debut, issuing a walk and allowing one earned run. The 23-year-old right-hander posted a 3.20 ERA in 59 innings at High-A Vancouver earlier this season with 78 strikeouts and 29 walks, and a 2.25 ERA in four innings at Double-A New Hampshire, so the promotion is earned. One ugly inning in a Triple-A debut means very little.
- Ty Southisene (A+, SS, Rank: 38) · was placed on the seven-day injured list at Vancouver on August 22. The cause has not been confirmed publicly. He had been hitting .262/.380/.429 in 50 plate appearances at Vancouver and .326/.451/.372 in 213 plate appearances at South Bend, with 20 stolen bases across his High-A stints. No return timeline has been announced.
- T.J. Brock (AA, RHP, Rank: 44) was placed on the seven-day injured list at New Hampshire on August 24, with his last appearance having been August 12. No diagnosis has been confirmed. He held a 9.64 ERA in 4.2 innings across five relief appearances at Double-A this season; the control (six walks against three strikeouts in those outings) had already been a problem before the IL stint.