The Toronto Blue Jays used their 2003 First Round (13th Overall) to take LSU star Aaron Hill, who only needed two years to work his way through the Minors to make the parent club.
Hill played 104 Games in the infield as a rookie but only sat out seven Games over the next two seasons (2006 & 2007), batting .291 in both years. Showing skill offensively and defensively, Hill was injured for most of 2008 but had his most remarkable year in 2009. This was the year where he had career-highs in Home Runs (36), RBIs (108), and OPS (.829), and he was an All-Star and Silver Slugger. Hill also was 12th in MVP voting and won the AL Comeback Player of the Year.
2010 was inconsistent for Hill, who batted only .205 but belted 26 Home Runs. The Blue Jays, who declined his option the year before, traded the Infielder to the Diamondbacks during the 2011 Season, ending Hill’s stint in Toronto with 881 Hits and 96 Home Runs.
A First Round pick in 1999, Alex Rios debuted with the Blue Jays in 2004 as their starting Rightfielder. Rios was fifth in Rookie of the Year voting (122 Hits, .286 BA) but did not show any power, with only one Home Run. He improved in that aspect, peaking with 24 Home Runs and 85 RBI, his second of two All-Star years.
Rios also developed into a solid hitter, batting over .290 three years straight (2006-08), with an added speed game, swiping a career-high 32 bases in 2008. He looked like a potential superstar, but 2009 was an implosion for Rios.
Rios's numbers plummeted, including a five-strikeout game. The fans turned on Rios, and he, in turn, hated them back. Toronto placed Rios on waivers, and though he won a World Series Ring in his final year in the Majors (2015 with Kansas City), his All-Star days were behind him.
Rios contributed 875 Hits, 81 Home Runs, 112 Stolen Bases, and a .285 Batting Average as a Blue Jay.
Duane Ward only played only 10 Games for the Braves in the 1986 season before he was traded to the Blue Jays straight up for Doyle Alexander. Ward was in the Minors for most of the rest of 1986 and 1987, but by 1988, he was a dependable middle-innings reliever, eventually settling into an eighth-inning role to set up Tom Henke.
Henke departed for Texas as a free agent, and Ward took over as the closer, going to his first All-Star Game, leading the league in Saves (45), and helping Toronto repeat as World Series Champions. Ward still had plenty of Save opportunities, and he closed 76 Games from 1988 to 1992, leading the AL in Games Pitched (81) in 1991 and helping Toronto win the World Series. He was also fifth in Cy Young voting.
Ward did not know it then, but that would be his end. He missed the entire 2014 Season due to biceps tendinitis, and he only played in four ineffective Games in 1995. Ward retired soon after, and he recorded 121 Sves for Toronto. The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame also added Ward to their ranks.
David Wells was not the best Pitcher in most of the staffs he appeared on, but the man known as "Boomer" was often the most known.
The Blue Jays released Wells in 1993 before the season started, but he gradually got better and became one of Baseball's most potent lefthanded starters. Wells began his career with the Blue Jays, with the first strictly in the bullpen. The southpaw split his next three years as a starter and reliever and won a World Series Ring with Toronto but saw limited action in the playoffs.
Roger Clemens wanted to play for a contender, and Wells, who was in New York, was traded to the Jays as part of the deal. In his second run with Toronto, Wells won 37 Games in two seasons, including 20 that led the AL in 2000. That year, Wells was an All-Star and was third in Cy Young voting, despite a 4.11 ERA, but it was a hitter’s era.
The still-struggling Jays traded Wells to the White Sox after 2000, and with the Blue Jays, he went 84-55 with 784 Strikeouts.