Pair of Toronto Blue Jays prospects living winter ball dream in Australia
Photo credit: https://www.mlb.com/prospects-beltre-ss
While many prospects head to South America and the Caribbean for winter ball, a couple of Blue Jays prospects have chosen to go a different route: Australia.
Infielder Manuel Beltre has had a coffee with the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League, getting 22 at-bats across five games. Although he has only hit .227., he does have two home runs and four RBIs.
Let's Go Perth Heat Baseball
A second, lesser-known Blue Jays prospect is also playing in the land of kangaroos and wallabies.
Catcher Dylan Leach, whom the Blue Jays signed this past summer, is playing on the other side of the country, getting into 22 games with the Sydney Blue Sox.
While his performance has been less than smooth - he is slashing .118/.273/.118 - he does have two RBIs and two singles and has walked more than he has struck out.
The Blue Sox and Heat are two of the four teams that make up the Australian Baseball League.
The other two are the Brisbane Bandits and the Adelaide Giants.
Neither Beltre nor Leach were drafted by the Blue Jays.
Beltre came to Toronto as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2021.
Leach, who went undrafted, was signed by the Blue Jays this past summer after several years at Missouri State University, where he was a member of the Bears baseball team.
Winter ball a chance for prospects to stay fresh
Teams have long taken advantage of the winter leagues' warmer climates as places where prospects can continue their development on a more year-round basis.
While the focus has always been on the Caribbean and Central and South America, Australia is a location that has been gaining more traction and respect as of late.
The ABL season runs until mid-January.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 30 | 337 ANSWERS Pair of Toronto Blue Jays prospects living winter ball dream in Australia Who do you think is the better prospect? | ||
| Manuel Beltre | 73 | 21.7 % |
| Dylan Leach | 51 | 15.1 % |
| Too early to tell | 213 | 63.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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