Blue Jays keeping it all in the family
Son of two-time World Series champion likely to patrol Canadians’ outfield this summer
Griffin Conine could be joining the list of Vancouver Canadians with a big-league dad.
The Toronto Blue Jays are the C’s major-league parent club and selected the 20-yearold son of former Florida Marlins outfielder Jeff Conine with their second-round pick, 52nd overall in baseball’s amateur draft, on Monday night.
The younger Conine is a left-handed hitting outfielder in his junior season at Duke University.
The draft continues Tuesday with rounds 3-10 and Wednesday with rounds 11-40.
Jeff Conine spent 17 seasons in the majors, winning World Series titles with the Marlins in 1997 and 2003. He retired in 2007, with a .285 career batting average, 214 home runs and 1,071 runs batted in.
Toronto has been routinely sending their college player picks to Vancouver. For instance, the Jays assigned 17 of their 41 selections from last year’s draft to Nat Bailey Stadium’s short-season, Single-A Northwest League team at some point last summer, including eight of their top 10 choices.
Among them was first baseman Kacy Clemens, son of former big-league ace Roger Clemens. He was Toronto’s eighth-round pick out of
Texas.
In 2016, Toronto drafted second baseman Cavan Biggio in the fifth round out of Notre Dame and assigned the son of longtime Houston Astros stalwart Craig Biggio to Vancouver.
The Blue Jays also drafted shortstop Bo Bichette in the second round that year out of a Florida high school. His dad is Dante Bichette, the former Colorado Rockies’ slugger. The Blue Jays opted to keep Bichette in rookie-level ball that summer instead of sending him to Vancouver.
The Blue Jays did the same last summer with Hagen Danner, a California high school catcher they picked in the second round last June. That certainly suggests that Toronto won’t send their first rounder from Monday, Texas high school shortstop Jordan Groshans, to the C’s this season. He was the 12th overall choice.
Vancouver, under new manager Dallas McPherson, begins its Northwest League campaign on June 15 with a visit to Eugene. The C’s home opener is set for June 20 vs. the Everett AquaSox. The game is sold out.
Duke continues its NCAA playoffs this weekend, facing Texas Tech in the best-ofthree NCAA Lubbock Super Regional. Duke is 44-16 on the season, and the 6-foot-1, 200pound Conine leads the team in home runs (18) and RBIs (52) while hitting .278.
Conine’s time with the C’s will be tied to how deep Duke goes into the post-season and how quickly he comes to an agreement with the Blue Jays. According to mlb.com, he’s in line for a signing bonus of $1.4 million.
Toronto used the 22nd overall pick last June on North Carolina shortstop Logan Warmoth. He spent six games in rookie ball before being assigned to Vancouver, where he made his debut on July 13.
The Blue Jays also had the 28th overall choice a year ago and used it to select Central Florida junior college right-hander Nate Pearson. He made one start in rookie ball before coming to Vancouver. His first appearance with the C’s last season was on July 23.
Catcher Noah Naylor was the first Canadian player selected in this year’s draft, the Cleveland Indians using the 29th overall choice on the Mississauga, Ont., native on Monday. He was the topranked player from this country, according to the canadianbaseballnetwork.com.
The website rated Surrey native Kyle Stubbins, a righthander with Douglas College, as B.C.’s best prospect, slotting him at 10th overall across the country.