Blue Jays load up on international FA shortstops after Sasaki disappointment

TORONTO — Even if Roki Sasaki had decided to head north, the Toronto Blue Jays were determined to find a way to keep all of their international free-agent commitments this year, complicated as doing so would have been.

That’s why amid their disappointment when the coveted Japanese righty opted for the Los Angeles Dodgers, there was also a small bit of relief, too, as the years of work following a group headlined by shortstops Christian Polanco, Juan Sanchez, Elaineiker Coronado and Kennew Blanco could be realized.

“This is the most excited I’ve been in a while about a group,” said Andrew Tinnish, the Blue Jays’ vice-president, international scouting and baseball operations. “We’ve got two extremely skilled, left-handed hitting shortstops who can really hit in Polanco and Coronado. And then the other two guys, Sanchez and Blanco, they’re both six-two, six-three, they both have a chance to be what I would call big shortstops.”

That top-end foursome — Polanco signed for $2.3 million, Sanchez $1 million, Coronado $800,000 and Blanco $600,000 — was among the 22 players signed after Sasaki’s decision and it was no guarantee all would be there for the taking. During the two-and-a-half days of limbo between the opening of the signing period and his Jan. 17 Instagram announcement, the Blue Jays were concerned about possible attempts by other clubs to lure their targets.

Once signed, the deals ate up the majority, but not the entirety, of the club’s $6,261,600 signing bonus pool, although the Blue Jays still have an extra $2 million beyond that, acquired from Cleveland — along with $11 million of the money still owed to outfielder Myles Straw — as a gesture to Sasaki.

While the international market gets largely picked over once the period opens Jan. 15, unsigned eligible players can develop and emerge during the year and having bonus pool room allows teams to be opportunistic. The Blue Jays have had success with latter-period signings in the past — Kendry Rojas, Sem Robberse and Yosver Zulueta, among them — and they’ll have until Dec. 15 to use their remaining pool space.

“We have some ideas and are looking,” Tinnish said. “We’ll be able to use this well.”

More pivotal is that what they’ve already spent was used well, with Polanco the centrepiece in that regard.

A left-handed hitter from the Dominican Republic, he’s five-foot-11 and 180 pounds, described by Tinnish as “super-tooled up and twitchy.” His strength plus his ability to get to pitches all over the zone and handle velocity give the Blue Jays confidence that he’ll continue to hit as he moves up the ladder.

“He can kind of do a bit of everything,” says Tinnish. “He’s got a chance to have plus tools across the board.”

Sanchez, who at six-foot-three and 200 pounds seems primed to outgrow shortstop, has actually gotten better at the position over the past couple of years the Blue Jays have followed him. The right-handed hitting Dominican moves and runs well with an above-average arm that will play at third base if needed, but for now he has the potential to stay at short and hit with power there.

“As he gets bigger and stronger, he also moves faster, runs faster, becomes more explosive, so to speak,” Tinnish said. “You worry he’s going to put on 30 pounds, but his 20-25 pounds extra is actually making him faster and making him look more like a shortstop, not less. It’s like that tall, lean, wide-shoulder, tapered sort of body where adding weight strength doesn’t just equal more power but equals more range, more speed, as well.”

Coronado, a Venezuelan in the five-foot-10, 180 range, is more similar in build to Polanco, while the six-foot-two Blanco, a right-hander, more closely resembles Sanchez, although each brings different attributes.

Tinnish called Coronado “probably the best pure baseball player, he knows how to play the game, does everything, smart,” with a good approach and swing that should produce some gap power, if not more.

Blanco, another Venezuelan, is a bit less refined but has shown the ability to both hit and hit for power, with enough athleticism to give himself a chance to remain at shortstop.

Among the remaining 18 members of the Blue Jays’ signing class, Dutch catcher Keegan Pieternella, whose bonus was $60,000, is an outlier as the only player acquired from outside of Latin America.

A switch-hitter who may end up bouncing between defensive positions, he stood out as a “really good gamer, a pretty-tough-not-messing-around kind of kid,” Tinnish said. “There’s some intensity there. He’s interesting.”

Miguel Pantoja of Mexico and Raduan Perez of Venezuela, both getting bonuses in the upper $100-plus range, are the two standouts among the nine pitchers the Blue Jays signed.

Pantoja, who is six-foot-one, has been up to 94 m.p.h. while showing the ability to spin a breaking ball, with a mound presence Tinnish called “pretty advanced.”

Perez, despite being among the youngest players in the class with a late July birthday, is already approaching six-foot-seven while showing an athleticism that belies his size.

“When you watch videos of him workout,” says Tinnish, “if you didn’t know how tall he was, you’d be like this guy’s five-11, six-feet the way he moves.”

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