More Please: John Schneider excited by Blue Jays prospect promotions

TORONTO — John Schneider is enthusiastic about the Toronto Blue Jays’ future.

Shortstop JoJo Parker and pitcher Johnny King — two of the top prospects in the Blue Jays organization — each moved up a level within Toronto’s minor-league system on Sunday, to the delight of Schneider. The manager of the major-league club spoke about the two promotions the following day.

“Keep him going,” said Schneider of Parker’s promotion from the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays to the High-A Vancouver Canadians. “Keep him moving up.”

Schneider was then asked about King’s promotion from Vancouver to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

“Keep him going too, you know what I mean?” said Schneider. “Minor leagues is practice.”

Parker is ranked 27th on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list and is Toronto’s highest ranked minor leaguer. King is the third-highest ranked prospect in the Blue Jays system, behind fellow pitcher Nolan Perry, who is also in Double-A.

The 20-year-old Parker was the Blue Jays’ eighth-overall selection in the 2025 MLB Draft. He hit .259 for Dunedin this season with 13 home runs and 66 runs batted in over 87 games. He had a .389 on-base percentage and .471 slugging percentage in that span.

Parker was especially effective through June and July, hitting 10 homers and posting a .973 on-base/slugging percentage.

Schneider said that Donnie Murphy, the minor league infield coordinator for the Blue Jays, was in Toronto on Monday and had delivered a report on Parker.

“We were talking about him a little bit, and he’s another smart kid,” said Schneider. “For a young guy, he can obviously hit, there’s all those tools, but pretty baseball savvy.”

King was taken in the third round of the 2024 draft, 93rd overall, by the Blue Jays.

The left-hander, who is also 20 years old, had a 5-2 record with a 3.21 earned-run average for Vancouver this season. He had 112 strikeouts, 50 walks, and 1.381 walks/hits per inning pitched over 84 innings in 21 starts.

“The biggest thing is if you’re posting and you continue to do well, it’s like get going,” said Schneider. “The reports on him have been really, really good for the whole time he’s been here.”

Schneider said the organization hopes King will continue to attack the zone more and reduce the number of walks he issues.

“I think just as he continues to go, just say, ‘hey, the more you’re around older hitters, you got to just trust that your stuff is going to be good in the zone,'” said Schneider.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press