Road to The Show™: Blue Jays’ Bloss

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at third-ranked Blue Jays prospect Jake Bloss. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

It’s easy to forget that Jake Bloss just completed his first full professional season.

The Blue Jays’ No. 3 prospect made his Major League debut, pitched at four levels of the Minors and was traded to a new organization in 2024. But the turbulent season was an objective success.

Across four Minor League levels, Bloss posted a 3.18 ERA with 88 punchouts over 93 ⅓ innings.

The right-hander was part of the Trade Deadline deal that sent veteran left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to the Astros. The package, which was considered to be a tremendous haul for Toronto, also included outfielder Joey Loperfido and infielder Will Wagner (TOR No. 18).

The 6-foot-3, 223-pound hurler’s low release point makes it difficult for hitters to get on plane with his mid-90s fastball. He also throws a sinking changeup and three distinct breaking balls -- a sharp-breaking curve, an upper-80s slider and a low-80s sweeper.

Bloss has struggled with his command and control at times. His 7.9 percent walk rate with Double-A Corpus Christi jumped to 11.5 percent in 27⅓ frames for Triple-A Buffalo. But the development of his deep pitch mix has been impressive considering he wasn’t really on the national prospect radar until last spring.

“I don’t think there was ever any question about the arm talents,” Houston's senior director of player development and performance science Jacob Buffa told MLB.com in June. “The art of competing. He has matured tremendously in that respect in a really, really short amount of time.”

The Greensboro, N.C., native was a pitcher, catcher and third baseman at The Early College at Guilford, where he won the Metro 4A Conference championship in 2018.

Bloss attended Lafayette College (Penn.), compiling a 5.20 ERA with 112 strikeouts and 52 walks over 107⅓ innings in three seasons, and was a First Team All-Patriot League selection in 2022.

The now-23-year-old graduated early with a double major in economics and mathematics. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in finance at Georgetown but ended up becoming a legitimate Draft prospect.

Bloss’ arsenal improved as he took advantage of his naturally high spin rates and created more distinction between his breaking pitches. He was named the Big East Pitcher of the Year after turning in a 2.58 ERA with 96 strikeouts across 76 2/3 innings.

MLB Pipeline ranked Bloss as the No. 178 prospect in the 2023 Draft class. The Astros selected him in the third round with the No. 99 overall selection, making him the highest drafted player in Georgetown history.

After signing for a below-slot bonus of $497,500, Bloss posted a 2.89 ERA in seven outings between the Rookie-level Florida Complex League and Single-A Fayetteville.

His 2024 debut came during the Astros’ Spring Breakout game in which he took the loss after surrendering three hits, including a homer, and two walks over 1 2/3 innings.

Bloss opened the regular season with High-A Asheville and made just four starts there, posting a 2.08 ERA with 25 punchouts in 17⅔ innings, before being promoted to Corpus Christi.

In eight starts for the Hooks, he compiled a 1.61 ERA over 44 2/3 innings and held opposing hitters to a .127 average. Bloss also started the first no-hitter in franchise history in his final outing before his big league debut.

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Needing starters to eat innings as they dealt with rotation injuries in June, the Astros turned to Bloss. He went just 3⅔ innings in his debut before exiting with right shoulder discomfort. After a stint on the injured list and a rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land, Bloss returned to the Houston rotation and made two more starts before being traded.

The Blue Jays first sent Bloss to their complex in Dunedin, Fla., wanting to limit his innings after the trade. He then went to Buffalo and a pair of ugly outings inflated his ERA to 6.91 over his final eight appearances, three of which were scoreless.

There should be an opportunity for Bloss to win a job in the Blue Jays rotation this spring. Toronto made eight deals and landed 13 players, including eight of their top 30 prospects, in what could be a franchise-changing Trade Deadline. Bloss seems best suited among that bunch to provide quick and significant impact.