The Blue Jays are staring at a center-field decision that could shape the way their winter unfolds, and Brett Bateman’s breakout has only made the picture more interesting.
Bateman gave Toronto plenty to think about in 41 games, and the early returns were strong. Through his first 181 plate appearances, he posted an elite .268 expected batting average and kept his whiff rate down at 14.4%. The offense alone was encouraging, but the real intrigue came from everything else he brought to the spot.
His arm jumped off the page. Among center fielders with at least 100 throws in 2026, Bateman averaged 93.6 mph, which ranked eighth in MLB, and he also unleashed the third-fastest throw at 101.4 mph.
Defensively, he logged +4 Fielding Run Value and +4 OAA across 348 innings, with 288 of those in center and 59 in right. Add in baserunning that landed in the 87th percentile in Sprint Speed, and you can see why his .402 on-base percentage matters so much if he can keep anything close to that up over time.
The Jays still have another option already in house if they want to keep things simple. They must decide whether to pick up Myles Straw’s $8 million club option, which comes with a $1.75 million buyout. Straw, like Bateman, gave them elite baserunning and useful outfield play.
If Toronto looks outside the organization, the free-agent board includes a few different types of fits. Michael A.
Taylor stands out as the affordable, glove-first possibility who also made real noise with the bat in 2026. He put up a 128 OPS+, the best mark of his career in any season with at least 200 plate appearances, while hitting 11 home runs and driving in 38 runs in just 241 plate appearances.
That was a clear jump from the nine homers he managed in 686 plate appearances between 2024 and 2025 with the Mets.
Taylor’s offensive gains were tied in part to a more aggressive pull approach, as his Pull-AIR rate climbed to 27.7%, the highest of his career. He did especially well against fastballs, going deep eight times and hitting .277 with a .555 slugging percentage against them. On the whole, he posted positive Run Value against nine of the 10 pitch types he saw in 2026, with curveballs the lone exception at -2, though that came in only 13 plate appearances.
After the trade deadline move from the Mets to the Cubs, Taylor kept producing over 30 games in Chicago. In 82 plate appearances, he hit .351/.390/.500 and backed it up with the defensive value and elite arm that have long been part of his appeal. He also hammered left-handed pitching, batting .318/.348/.573 with six home runs, 19 RBIs and a .921 OPS in 118 plate appearances.
Thomas offers a different kind of package, but one that could still make sense for Toronto. He has experience at all three outfield spots, brings the best baserunning of the group, has elite arm strength and has shown a solid track record against lefties. The most useful version of him in Toronto would probably be as a corner outfielder who can regularly handle center field when needed.
There are limits, though. Thomas slipped in 2026, finishing with -3 FRV and -6 Range after spending 459 of his 733 total innings in center. Over his last two seasons in center, he has posted -9 FRV, though he did settle in some after a rough start in Kansas City and finished with 0 OAA during his time in Atlanta in the second half.
Even with the defensive dip, the platoon profile remains real. Thomas owns a career 132 wRC+ and .848 OPS against left-handed pitching, compared with an 83 wRC+ and .664 OPS against righties.
Then there’s Grisham, whose case is shaped by how much he’s fallen off from his 2025 peak. The memory of his postseason at-bats against Tampa Bay still lingers, including an 0-for-5 showing in Game 2 with three strikeouts, two of them without swinging. He can look like a player who doesn’t always attack the game with enough force, but the ceiling is obvious if he finds his 2025 form again.
That’s the question. Grisham followed a career year in 2025, when he hit 36 home runs and posted a 128 wRC+, with a much quieter 2026 that brought 18 homers, a 98 wRC+ and just 0.7 fWAR.
His plate discipline also backed up, with his on-base percentage falling from .348 to .308. The broader impact numbers weren’t pretty either: he finished in the 13th percentile in baserunning and the 19th in fielding.
Still, if Toronto is looking for a full-time center fielder who could also fit at the top of the order, Grisham would bring a different kind of upside than Taylor or Thomas. If the bat rebounds, he could be the kind of leadoff option that changes the look of the lineup.
In Other News...
Former Blue Jay Just Turned Up Pressure On Toronto's Offseason Plan
The Blue Jays offseason wish list has already been a topic of plenty of debate, and a recent conversation between former Toronto outfielder Kevin Pillar and ex-Rogers Centre staple Ricky Romero only added to it. On their podcast, the two former Blue Jays talked through potential free-agent fits for the club and landed on Luis Arraez as a particularly intriguing option, the kind of contact-first hitter who could bring a different look to a lineup that could use more certainty at the plate.
Arraez is coming off a season split between the Giants and Phillies, and his appeal is obvious because of how consistently he puts the bat on the ball and the batting titles he has piled up. The bigger question for Toronto is where he would fit defensively, with possible alignments around the diamond part of the discussion, along with what sort of contract it would take to get him into the mix. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Roster Move Leaves One September Call-Up In Limbo
Rudy Martin Jr.s brief September run with the Blue Jays has already taken another turn. After clearing waivers, he was outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo and removed from the 40-man roster, a procedural move that trims the clubs depth chart while sending him back out of the big-league picture for now.
Martin got into two major league games for Toronto this month, a small but notable stop for a player who has spent most of his career bouncing through the minors and independent ball. Because he has been outrighted before, the next step is not entirely straightforward, and the clubs roster flexibility is part of the broader story as September gives way to whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Look Poised To Strike Before Baseball Freezes
With a labor stoppage looming on Dec. 2, the free-agent market suddenly has a clock attached to it, and the Blue Jays look like one of the clubs most likely to move before everything gets stuck in neutral. Toronto has obvious roster needs and the payroll room to chase them, which makes this a natural fit for a team that has spent the winter weighing how aggressive to be while the rest of the market tries to guess how long the freeze might last.
The scramble could create a short window where clubs are forced to act faster than planned, and Toronto is being mentioned among the teams best positioned to take advantage. In the broader picture, the Blue Jays are linked to several of the top names still out there, with one projection connecting them to Seiya Suzuki, a reminder that the market may not wait for the usual long negotiations to play out. [Read more 🡒]