Plucked from the Cleveland Indians in the 1983 Rule 5 Draft, Third Baseman Kelly Gruber would work his way up the ranks to become a starter in 1987.

Beloved by the women of Toronto, Gruber had his breakout in 1988, with his first 150-Hit year, with 16 Home Runs and a .278 Batting Average.  He slightly improved his stats in 1989 (18 HR,.290) and was named to the AL All-Star Team.  This bled into Gruber's best year, where he had career-highs in Home Runs (31), RBIs (118), and OPS (.842), and was named a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner, as well as adding a second All-Star.  Gruber was fourth in MVP voting, and it appeared that he would get even better, but that was not the case.

Gruber began to deal with injuries afterward and was unable to build on his best year.  He was still the starting Third Baseman on Toronto's 1992 World Series Championship Team, but that would be his swansong as a Blue Jay, with the club trading him to the Angels after the season.

Gruber had an even 800 Hits with the Jays, 114 as Home Runs.

The Toronto Blue Jays used their 2003 First Round (13^th 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 12^th 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.

Before becoming the reliable late-inning pitcher helping lead his team to a championship, Duane Ward started as a young, energetic right-hander eager to find his place. Drafted in the first round by Atlanta, he initially made just 10 appearances in 1986 before being traded to Toronto in a straightforward challenge trade for seasoned starter Doyle Alexander. After spending the next couple of seasons honing his skills in the minors, Ward finally made a steady return to the majors in 1988. There, he quickly proved himself as a dependable and resilient pitcher in the middle innings, eventually securing the crucial eighth-inning setup role for good.

Ahead of closer Tom Henke, Ward established a formidable late-inning presence for the Blue Jays. At 6-foot-4, with a powerful, explosive fastball and a sharp slider, he handled a heavy workload, often entering games with runners on base to prevent rallies. In 1991, he led the American League with a career-high 81 appearances. By the 1992 World Series, as Toronto approached its historic championship, the "Ward-to-Henke" combo effectively shortened games to seven innings. Ward shone during that first title run, securing two relief wins in the Series.

When Henke departed for Texas in free agency that winter, Ward stepped out of the setup role’s shadow and seamlessly assumed the closer role for the 1993 repeat campaign. He responded with an absolute masterpiece of a season. Pacing the junior circuit with a franchise-record 45 saves and finishing 70 games, Ward secured his first career All-Star selection and finished fifth in the AL Cy Young Award voting, permanently cementing his big-game pedigree by striking out the final batter in Game 6 to seal back-to-back world titles.

After averaging more than 100 innings per year over a grueling five-season stretch out of the bullpen, Ward's arm finally gave out. He missed the entire 1994 season due to severe biceps tendinitis, and despite a grueling rehabilitation program, he managed only four ineffective, painful appearances in 1995 before his body forced him into early retirement.

As a Blue Jay, Ward made 462 appearances (all but two in relief), compiling a 43–35 record with a 3.18 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, and 121 saves. He logged 662.2 innings, striking out 671 batters. The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Ward in 2023.