Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Toronto Blue Jays.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.

Last year, the Blue Jays had a disappointing campaign where they had a losing record.  There were no new entrants, but two elevations

As always, we present our top five, which saw one change based on the new calculations.

1. Dave Stieb

2. Roy Halladay

3. Jose Bautista

4. Tony Fernandez

5. Carlos Delgado

You can find the entire list here.

First Baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. vaulted ten spots to #12. 

Notably, Bo Bichette’s poor year dropped him two spots to #27.

The new algorithm brings Brett Lawrie at #45.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

From Langley, British Columbia, Brett Lawrie is one of the few Canadian Baseball players to be drafted in the First Round, though it was not the Canadian team that drafted him; that would be Milwaukee.  However, before he made it to the Brewers, he was a hot prospect who was traded straight up to Blue Jays for Pitcher Shawn Marcum.  The year after, Lawrie, who was converted to Third Base, made it to Toronto.

Lawrie’s first full season (2012) was his best in Baseball where he won the Platinum Glove and led all American League Third Basemen in Total Zone Runs.  Offensively, he had career-highs in Hits (135) and OPS (.729), and while he played two more years for the Jays, he never reached those heights offensively or defensively again.

Lawrie’s end in Toronto came when he was one of three players dealt for Josh Donaldson, and considering that Donaldson would be the league MVP shortly after, it was the right move for the Jays.

With Toronto, Lawrie had 345 Hits with a 5.7 Defensive bWAR.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Toronto Blue Jays, which means we have finally completed all of the MLB teams!

Our Top 50 lists in Baseball look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2022 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always, we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Dave Stieb

2.  Roy Halladay

3. Jose Bautista

4. Carlos Delgado

5. Tony Fernandez

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists. 

Look for our more material coming soon!

As always, we thank you for your support.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, that the Toronto Blue Jays will be inducting Jose Bautista into their Level of Excellence.

Jose Bautista's success in emerging as one of the game's top power hitters might be one of the biggest “Where the hell did this come from?” stories in Baseball.

Bautista was barely even a journeyman, playing briefly for Baltimore, Tampa Bay. and Kansas City before having a respectable season in 2007 as a Pittsburgh Pirate. The Blue Jays traded for him during the 2008 Season, and Bautista began 2009 as the fourth Outfielder. He worked all year with Toronto's hitting coach, Dwayne Murphy, who helped him work on his stance and leg kick. It yielded a coming out part in 2010 that blew everyone away.

After a previous high of 15 Home Runs, Bautista won the Home Run Title with 54. He also had 124 RBI, which would become his personal best. Bautista won the Silver Slugger that year and was fourth in MVP voting. Some in the baseball media thought he had to be a one-year wonder. He wasn't. Bautista won his second straight Home Run Title (43), and he led the AL in Walks (132), Slugging (.608), and OPS (1.056). He added a second Silver Slugger, and this year was third in MVP voting.

Bautista missed quite a few games due to injury in 2012 and 2013, though he still had at least 27 Home Runs in both seasons. Fully healthy in 2014, Bautista won his third Silver Slugger on a 35 HR/103 RBI campaign, blasted 40 taters in 2015, and helped lead the Blue Jays to the playoffs. In the deciding game in the ALDS against Texas, Bautista hit the game-winning Home Run and delivered after the most famous bat flip in Canada. Toronto did not win the Pennant that year, but Bautista's moment will be forever etched in Blue Jays fans.

Age caught up to Batista after, and so did a bit of karma, in terms of a punch to the face by Texas's Rougned Odor. He was not resigned after 2017, and he left the Jays with 1,103 Hits and 288 Home Runs.

Bautista will be officially honored on August 12 before their home game against the Chicago Cubs.  He joins George Bell, Dave Stieb, Joe Carter, Cito Gaston, Tony Fernandez, Pat Gillick, Tom Cheek, Paul Beeston, Carlos Delgado and Roy Halladay.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Jose Bautista for his impending honor.

Damaso Garcia was not an original Blue Jay, but for many in Toronto, he was their first infielder who connected with the fans.

After two years in a reserve role with the Yankees, Garcia was traded to Toronto in 1980, where he was still rookie-eligible.  He collected 151 Hits, finished fourth for the ROY, and had a respectable Batting Average (.278), and arguably had his best season in 1982, batting .310, swiping 54 bases, and winning a Silver Slugger.  After another decent year in 1983 (.307, 31 SB), Garcia went to the All-Star Game in both 1984 and 1985, though his season-end Batting Averages were under .300, though still good (.284 and .282, respectively).

1986 was a disaster for Garcia, who was dropped to ninth in the lineup and slumped.  Looking to break out, he burned his uniform in the clubhouse, drawing the ire of Manager Jimy Williams, who ripped him apart in front of his teammates.  Garcia never broke out of the slump and was traded to the Braves after the season.

If the rank of Garcia seems low, he was penalized for his lack of power (32 HR in 902 Games), average defense, and weak OBP (.312).  

Adam Lind played most of his career with Toronto (2006-14), first showing up to the Jays as a September callup. 

Lind proved that he could hit, but he was an abysmal fielder and could only find a place in the Majors as a Designated Hitter, and for a brief time, he was among the best in this role.  Lind entered this role full-time in 2009, and he was phenomenal that year, hitting 35 Home Runs with 114 RBI and a .306 Batting Average.  He won the Silver Slugger and the Edgar Martinez Award as the game's top DH, but this was his high-water mark.

Lind had three more 20 HR years but struggled with his average and strikeouts, and would spend more time in the Minors.  He never got that 2009 level back and was traded to Milwaukee after the 2014 Season, and left the team with 931 Hits, 146 Home Runs, and a .276 Batting Average.

Mark Eichhorn had a tumultuous road to the Majors, first making it in 1982, but shoulder issues kept him from another MLB Game until 1986.

Eichhorn found a role for the Jays in late relief, winning 24 Games from 1986 to 1988 and leading the American League in Games Pitched (89) in 1987).  Toronto retooled and sold his contract to Atlanta in 1989, but the then-Angel was traded back to Toronto before the 1992 Trade Deadline.  Eichhorn was used in middle relief, and he helped Toronto in their back-to-back World Series wins in 1992 and 1993.

Eichhorn left as a Free Agent for Baltimore after the second World Series, and the Pitcher threw in 279 Games with a 3.03 ERA.

Jose Cruz came from a baseball pedigree as the son of the Astros star of the same name.  Also playing in the Outfield, the younger Cruz went to the Jays from Seattle as a rookie, and though there were high hopes for Cruz, the Mariners dealt him for pitching help in their playoff run.  He finished the year as the American League runner-up for the Rookie of the Year with a 26 HR year.

Cruz looked poised for greatness after his rookie year, but the next two seasons, it did not come to fruition, with Cruz missing Games due to injury with diminished power numbers (25 HR in 211 Games) with a Batting Average barely scraping .250.  His next two years were much better, belting 31 and 34 Home Runs, respectively, but with the exception of 2001, his OPS never breached .800, though he was a 30-30 player that year.  He regressed again in 2002 and left for the Giants after as a Free Agent.

Cruz might have disappointed, but he did manage to belt 122 Home Runs with 640 Hits as a Blue Jay, which is more than many can claim.

The son of star Pitcher (and bigger star Coach) Mel Stottlemyre, Todd Stottlemyre was Toronto’s Frist Round Pick (3^rdOverall) in the 1985 Draft.  The righthander needed three years to make the Jays roster.

With his pedigree, Stottlemyre was expected to be a star, but that did not happen, though he was a solid late-rotation starter for years.  Stottlemyre helped Toronto win the 1992 and 1993 World Series, with the UNLV product winning at least 11 Games annually from 1990 to 1993, with a peak of 15 Wins in 1991.  That was the only year as a Blue Jay that Stottlemyre had an ERA under four (3.78).

Stottlemyre signed with Oakland after the 1994 Season, and with the Jays, he had a record of 69-70, 662 Strikeouts, and a 4.39 ERA.

Over his seven seasons in Toronto, Venezuelan hurler Kelvim Escobar tried every role on the mound.

Debuting in 1997, five years after he was signed as an Amateur Free Agent, Escobar saved 14 Games as a rookie, but two years later was a starter, going 14-11, though his ERA was a bloated 5.69.  He again had an ERA over five in 2000 (10-14), going back and forth from starter to reliever, and was finding a groove in late relief in 2001.  

Toronto promoted Escobar to their closer in 2002, and though he had 38 Saves, the 4.27 ERA was not good, and they tried again in 2003 to figure out what to do with Escobar, who bounced between roles.  Escobar signed with the Angels in 2004, and though Escobar’s career as a Blue Jay was inconsistent and somewhat chaotic, he belongs on this list.

Lyle Overbay’s best years were with the Blue Jays, though it can be argued that the First Baseman did not live up to the expectations when the team traded for him in the 2005/2006 offseason.

The Blue Jays were in need of a First Baseman when they acquired Overbay, and in his first year North of the border, Overbay had career-highs in Home Runs (22), Batting Average (.312), and OPS (.880).  He could not reach those stats again, never batting .300 again, though he did have another 20 HR year in 2010, which was last year with the Jays, as he signed with the Pirates afterward.

Overbay had 672 Hits and 83 Home Runs and batted .268 in his five years in Toronto.

Orlando Hudson came a long way from the 1997 43^rd Round Pick to make the Jays roster in 2002, and the defensive-minded Second Baseman used his glove to show his worth on the Majors. 

Hudson went into 2003 as Toronto’s starter at Second, finishing the season with a 1.5 Defensive bWAR and batted .268.  He then had his best year as a Jay, leading the American League in Defensive bWAR (2.7) with 12 Home Runs and a .270 Batting Average.  Hudson then won the Gold Glove in 2005 (he should have won it in 2004) with similar metrics.

Toronto sent Hudson to Arizona in 2006, leaving the Infielder with 437 Hits and a Defensive bWAR of 7.5.

Marco Estrada struggled as a Starting Pitcher with Milwaukee, but the potential was there.  Toronto believed so, and they traded Adam Lind straight up for him before 2015, and it worked out well for Estrada and the Jays.

Estrada’s debut year with Toronto was his best in Baseball, setting personal bests of Wins (13), ERA (3.13), and WHIP (1.044), and he was the American League leader in H/9 (6.7).  He got a win in both the ALDS and ALCS, and the Jays were able to resign him as a Free Agent.  Estrada had another good year, going to the All-Star Game (his only) while again finishing atop the leaderboard in H/9 (6.8).  

His stats dropped afterward, with his ERA ballooning over five in 2018.  He signed with Oakland in 2019 but only appeared in five more Games.

With Toronto, Estrada had a 39-40 record with 575 Strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.235.

Doyle Alexander arrived in Toronto as a Free Agent early in 1983, right after the Yankees released him.  The righthander was a crafty veteran and had already played 13 seasons with six different teams, and when the Blue Jays picked him up, it would not have surprised anyone if this was the end of the road for Alexander.  It wasn’t, and he was about to have the best run of his career.

Alexander finished ’83 7-6 with a 3.93 ERA, and proved that he could still contribute.  He then produced his best year to date, complimenting ace Dave Stieb with a 17-6 record and a 3.13 ERA, and he followed that with another 17-Win year, with a 3.45 ERA.  With Alexander as a key part, Toronto made their first playoff, and though he faltered against Kansas City in the ALCS, he was sixth in Cy Young voting, the first time he ever received votes for the coveted award. 

Alexander got off to a slow start in 1986, and he was traded to Atlanta for Duane Ward.  With the Jays, Alexander posted 46 Wins against 26 Losses with a 3.56 ERA.

Teoscar Hernandez played a handful of Games for the Houston Astros before the Dominican Outfielder was traded to the Blue Jays at the 2017 Trade Deadline.  Hernandez spent most of that year in AAA but would be in the Majors the following year, belting 22 Home Runs, though his Batting Average was only .239.  2019 was much of the same (26 HR, .230), but the COVID-shortened year 2020 was Hernandez' breakout.

In 50 Games, Hernandez had 16 Home Runs but raised his Batting Average to .289, winning the Silver Slugger and finishing 11^th in MVP voting.  He kept that through a full year in 2021, smacking 32 Home Runs and 116 RBI and increasing his BA to .296 while going to his first All-Star Game and winning a Silver Slugger.  Hernandez had another post-season honor, as he was selected to the All-MLB 2 Team.  

Hernandez had another good year in 2022 (25 HR, .267), but the retooling Jays traded him to the Mariners in the off-season.  With Toronto, Hernandez had 129 Home Runs with a .263 Batting Average.

Marcus Stroman was considered one of Toronto's top prospects since he was a First Round Pick in 2012, and it only took him two years to make the Jays starting rotation.  It was a promising rookie year for Stroman, who went 11-6 with a 3.65 ERA and 111 Strikeouts, though a torn ACL in 2015 Spring Training hampered his growth.

The Blue Jays were an improving club in 2015, and Stroman was able to come back late in the season, winning all four of his decisions and helping Toronto reach the ALCS.  Stroman was not as good in 2016 (9-10, 4.37 ERA) but rebounded with a 13-9/164 SO/3.09 ERA year, where he also won the Gold Glove.  

The up-and-down career of Stroman continued, with an awful 2018 (4-9, 5.54 ERA), but he was much better in his first 21 Games in 2019, despite a losing record of 6-11, though he had a 2.96 ERA.  The 2019 Jays were not contenders, and Stroman was dealt to the Mets, ending Stroman's career with a 47-45 Record, 635 Strikeouts, and a 3.76 ERA.

A 1991 First Round Pick in 1991, Shawn Green first made it to the Majors as a September call-up in the 1993 World Series winning season.  Green did not play in the post-season and was in the minors for most of 1994, but he was the starting Rightfielder going into 1995, a position he would keep for the rest of the decades.

Green was a middle-of-the-road starter at RF for the Blue Jays for a few years but had an elevated stat line in 1998, belting 35 Home Runs with 1000 RBIs.  That was the type of season that the Blue Jays were hoping for, but he took it to another level in 1999.

Green’s 1999 campaign was the best of his life, compiling career-highs in Home Runs (42) and OPS (.972) while obtaining an All-Star, a Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger.  The Outfielder was also ninth for the American League MVP.  This was a star-making, yea, but Toronto was not a contender and traded Green to the Dodgers after this year.

With Toronto, Green had 119 Home Runs and 718 Hits and batted .286.

When the Toronto Blue Jays won the 1992 World Series, their Designated Hitter was future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.  They would upgrade that for 1993 with another eventual Cooperstown resident, Paul Molitor.

Molitor had more left in the tank than Winfield did, and in his first year as a Blue Jay, he had his best season in years.  Batting .332, Molitor led the American League in Hits (211), won the Silver Slugger (he had a career-high 22 Home Runs), and was second in MVP voting.  The Blue Jays repeated as World Series Champions, with Molitor winning the World Series MVP from a .458/2 HR/7 RBI performance.  

Toronto faltered in 1994, but Molitor did not, batting .341 with a seventh All-Star in tow.  His third and final season in Toronto saw him slip to .270, but he was still one of the best Designated Hitters in the business.  A native of Minnesota, Molitor opted to finish his career with the Twins, where he played for three years before retiring.

Molitor’s stay with the Blue Jays was not long, but it was impactful, with 508 Hits, a .315 Batting Average, and one incredible post-season.  He entered Cooperstown as a Brewer, but he won a ring as a Blue Jay.

In his first five years in the Majors, Rance Mulliniks saw limited action, three with California and two with Kansas City.  A trade to Toronto was just what Mulliniks needed, and for most of the 1980s, he was the main Third Baseman, often in platoons against right-handed pitching.

With the Blue Jays, the versatile Mulliniks had at least five years where he accrued 100 Hits and 10 Home Runs, batting over .300 in three of those years.  He was a competent defensive player, and though he would never be a megastar, he would not be a liability either.  

As Third Baseman Kelly Gruber emerged, Mulliniks’ time decreased, though his injuries and age grew.  Although he barely played that year, he was a member of Toronto's 1992 World Series-winning team.   Mulliniks retired after, totaling 843 Hits with a .280 Batting Average.