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Blue Jays Nation’s Pre-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 10: Damiano Palmegiani

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation  |  By Brennan Delaney  |  Last updated 2/20/24

The prospect we’ll look at today has some of the best power in the organization.

This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual pre-season list, in which I’ll take a look at the top 50 prospects in the organization. We’ll look at the player’s stats, my observations, and other publications’ scouting reports if available.

Let’s take a look at Damiano Palmegiani.

Getting to know Damian Palmegiani…

Position: Third base/First base

Bats: Right

Born: January 24, 2000

Acquired: 14th-round, 2021 draft (Blue Jays)

2023 Team: Triple-A Buffalo

Previous Ranking: 9

When Damiano Palmegiani’s name was called on day three of the 2021 draft in the 14th-round, it wasn’t the first time the Blue Jays drafted him. Back in 2018 out of Vauxhall High School, the Jays drafted the Venezuelan-born, Canadian-raised infielder in the now-defunct 35th-round. Of course, he didn’t sign and spent time in the NCAA as well as community college.

Well, he hit the ground running in professional baseball and never looked back. In 2021 with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays, Palmegiani slashed .333/.458/.538 with two homers in 48 plate appearances. He started the 2022 season in Florida with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, slashing .256/.351/.508 with 11 homer runs in 228 plate appearances, along with a 10.1 BB% and a 20.6 K%.

Palmegiani was called up to his hometown of Vancouver, where he slashed .224/.335/.443 with 13 home runs in 272 plate appearances, along with an 11.4 BB% and a 22.1 K% for a 116 wRC+, the lowest total of any level he’s stopped at. In fact, he helped the Canadians make it to the Northwest League Championship Series, where the team lost in heartbreaking fashion in all three games.

The Jays started the corner infielder in Double-A to start the 2023 season, where he slashed .249/.351/.463 with 19 home runs in 461 plate appearances. While the BB% remained high at 12.6%, the K% increased to 27.1% once he started battling upper-minors pitching. Either way, he finished with a 123 wRC+ at the level, and even earned a promotion to Triple-A.

There, he slashed .284/.427/.554 with four homers in 96 plate appearances, along with a 15.6 BB% and a 29.2 K%. The Jays got  him extra at bats in the Arizona Fall League, where he slashed .263/.366/.575 with six homers in 101 plate appearances, along with 12 walks and 26 strikeouts, helping the Surprise Saguaros win the 2023 Arizona Fall League championship.

At this point, most publications have him in the top-20 for Blue Jays prospects, as Fangraphs is the only publication released so far that has him ranked towards the backend of the list at 25th. However, TSN’s Scott Mitchell has Palmegiani ranked as the 14th-best Blue Jays prospect, while Baseball America has him ranked as the 19th-best Blue Jays prospect.

Fangraphs note that Palmegiani’s bread and butter is the ability to hit fastballs to his pull-side, which is arguably just what the Blue Jays need. They note that he doesn’t look comfortable at third base defensively, but MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson did report on Tuesday that the team likes how his defence has improved. If he does end up at first base, his bat fits the profile anyway.

Mitchell reports the same, noting that he’s a great fastball hitter and he even believes he could have a similar season to Davis Schneider’s 2023. He’s a patient hitter who could end up at first base and designated hitter, but the power is just so intriguing.

It’s likely Palmegiani will start the 2024 season with the Buffalo Bisons, where he’ll have a chance to continue to hit against pitchers with big league experience. For Palmegiani, it’ll be important to improve the strikeout rate and improve defensively, but the bat could very well play at the big league level in the next two seasons.


This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

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