Jays draft an Auston, again

 No, this is not a misprint, The Blue Jays drafted Austin Martin, not Auston Matthews.

Scout Shane Farrell said he was “surprised,” but also “prepared.”

And then, eventually, “ecstatic.”
In a wildly unpredictable first round of the MLB draft on Wednesday night, Vanderbilt utility man Austin Martin fell to the Toronto Blue Jays at No. 5.


 That meant Farrell, Toronto’s amateur scouting director, had the honor of taking the player many believed to be the "best pure hitter" in the 2020 class.

“Obviously we’re keeping an eye on the mock drafts as they come out throughout the week and are aware of industry consensus,” Farrell told reporters.

 “But it really started to shake up at picks two and three and we were surprised a bit but certainly prepared to make that selection.

“We were ecstatic to have the chance to pick Austin.”

It seemed every baseball pundit and his/her cousin — at sites like MLB.com, The Athletic, ESPN, CBS Sports and Bleacher Report — had called for Martin to go No. 2 to the Baltimore Orioles. Instead, those mock drafts were ruined almost instantly.


So how exactly did Martin, who MLB.com’s Jim Callis deemed the “best pure hitter in the draft,” fall to Toronto? A pick-by-pick breakdown helps to explain.

Jays new "car"