The Blue Jays have made a “trade deadline” deal as the July 31 non-waiver deadline approaches. It’s just gone way under the radar, involving a pair of minor leaguers to help the Blue Jays add some middle infield depth.

 

 

On Saturday, the Blue Jays sent Double-A first baseman Ryan McBroom to the New York Yankees for 26-year-old Korean-born infielder Rob Refsnyder. McBroom has been assigned to Double-A Trenton in the Yankees’ organization while the word is that Refsnyder will be assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.

 

 

 

For McBroom, his Blue Jays career is over (at least for now). The 25-year-old Virginian has had an award-filled minor league career in the Jays’ organization thus far. He was a 15th-round selection by the Blue Jays in the 2014 draft, coming out of his senior year at West Virginia University and was promptly named the Player of the Week in the Northwest League on June 30, 2014. He was also a mid-season All-Star for the Vancouver Canadians that season, posting a .297/.339/.502 slash line with a whopping 23 doubles and 11 home runs.

 

In 2015, McBroom exceeded all expectations, slashing .315/.387/.482 with 39 doubles and 12 home runs in the Midwest League, capturing an MiLB.com Organizational All-Star award, a mid- and post-season All-Star mention for the Midwest League as well as the MWL’s MVP award. In 2016, he was in Dunedin, earning a player of the week award as well as a Player of the Month award, earning mid- and post-season All-Star mentions as well.

 

This season, McBroom’s numbers are down as he faces his first full-season of Double-A competition, hitting .243/.321/.402 with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 54 RBI in 96 games with New Hampshire. He also was a mid-season All-Star in the Eastern league (his fourth consecutive year in which he has been an All-Star in his league). Many think that McBroom, at 25, has hit his ceiling in the organization but clearly the Yankees believe that there may be more to come as he went to the Pinstripes in exchange for middle-infielder Rob Refsnyder.

 

Refsnyder attended the University of Arizona and was drafted in the fifth round of the 2012 draft. He didn’t show the most offensive potential, heading to the Class-A South Atlantic League immediately after signing and hit .241/.319/.364 with eight doubles and four home runs in 46 games. He spent 2013 split between Class-A and Advanced-A, hitting .293/.413/.413 before hitting .318/.387/.497 with 14 home runs, 38 doubles and six triples split between Double-A and Triple-A.

Refsnyder made his big league debut in 2015, hitting .302/.348/.512 in 16 games with the Yankees, spending all of his time at second base. The following year, Refsnyder split his time between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and the Bronx, hitting .316/.365/.402 in the minors and .250/.329/.309 in 58 major league games. Refsnyder has played just 20 games in the big leagues this year and didn’t hit well (.135/.200/.216) but has a very strong .312/.390/.464 slash line in 38 games in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year.

 

Refsnyder has played several positions both in the majors and in the minors, spending a lot fo gimes at second and third base while also playing first base and both corner outfield positions. Refsnyder had been designated for assignment by the Yankees before being traded.

 

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