Blue Jays prospect Josh Kasevich prides himself on 'being boring' while leading Double-A in hits

Photo via New Hampshire Fisher Cats

While Josh Kasevich might be ranked as the Toronto Blue Jays 11th ranked prospect, he still might be flying under the radar a bit.

The Blue Jays are having a down year in regard to wins and losses, and it is rumored they could be very active as a seller at the deadline. If they do happen to sell off a few pieces at the major league level, Kasevich would certainly benefit due to spots opening up at the level above him.

Kasevich has spent all of the 2024 season with Double-A New Hampshire and is leading all of Double-A in hits. He is also sitting in the top ten in batting average as he is in route to one of his better seasons in his young professional career.

“It has been great because I get to play baseball every day which is my dream.” Kasevich said of his season. “Obviously we are working towards moving up in the system and reaching that ultimate goal. There has been a lot of learning and development going on this year for me. There is a great group of guys here in New Hampshire that make it easier too.”

To lead all of Double-A in hits, something has to be clicking and feeling good in the batter’s box.

“I am just staying consistent with my approach.” Kasevich said. “I have been trying to learn myself as a hitter and that comes with time and a lot of at-bats. Being able to get that this year has been awesome. I am also not wavering what my plan is each at-bat based on the pitcher. I just need to stay to my strengths opposed to trying to play to the pitcher’s weaknesses. Staying to what I am good at and being confident I can get it done.”

The difference in talent going from High-A to Double-A is much higher than the difference from Single-A to High-A. The higher end of talent and higher rated prospects makes the jump much tougher for each player going through.

“You face more guys throwing much harder velocity wise.” Kasevich said. “The fastballs are just so different with unique movement profiles. You really just don’t see a straight heater anymore. You see fastballs rise, sink, cut all over the plate. Everybody has a unique shape on their fastball up here. It is not an easy pitch to hit so you have to train how to do that at this level.”

While you can take a look at his hitting stats on Baseball Reference and they speak for themselves on how good he has been this season, can the same be said about his defense?

Kasevich primarily played shortstop in college at Oregon and has spent most of his time there so far in the Blue Jays system. He has also suited up at third base and second for brief stints in High-A, but has yet to play anywhere else nut shortstop in Double-A.

“I pride myself on being boring.” Kasevich said of his defense. “I want the pitcher to know that I might not make the flashy play, but I will make every single play I can get to. A guy I grew up watching was Brandon Crawford. He is not the most flashy player but he will get the out every single time and was a pitcher’s best friend. I take pride in helping out the pitcher. They are working their butt off out there to try to get outs so anything I can do to help them out, I will do.”

As we head towards the month of August, the minor league season will be down to their last two months. What is a guy like Kasevich have in store before the end of the season hits?

“Obviously my ultimate goal is to win at the big league level.” Kasevich said. “That isn’t my goal this year but I am working towards it every day and just working on my craft. If I go into each day knowing that I am putting myself in the best position to reach that ultimate goal, then I am satisfied and proud of the work that I have done. My goal going into each day is just to improve on what I am focused on that day between hitting, defense, or strength and conditioning. I just want to get a little bit better every single day.”