The Toronto Blue Jays have brought outfielder Rudy Martin Jr. back into the organization on a minor-league contract, with the 30-year-old set to attend big-league spring training as a non-roster invitee ahead of the 2027 season.
The move, first reported by Ari Alexander of 7News, returns a well-traveled speedster who had only recently left the club via free agency.
Martin first joined Toronto last August when the Blue Jays claimed him off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles.
Before that brief stop in Baltimore, he had spent time in the Kansas City Royals system; the Orioles acquired him from Kansas City for cash.
Once in Toronto, Martin earned a late-September call-up and made his major-league debut. In three plate appearances he drew a walk but recorded no hits.
The club later designated him for assignment, removed him from the 40-man roster, and he elected free agency—only to re-sign days later as organizational depth.
Most of Martin’s 2026 work came at Triple-A. Across 369 plate appearances split between the Royals and Blue Jays affiliates, he hit .274 with a .394 on-base percentage and .421 slugging percentage, good for a 119 wRC+.
He homered 11 times and stole 45 bases in 53 attempts, succeeding at an 84.9 percent clip. Those numbers fit a career built on contact, patience, and baserunning rather than power.
Drafted by Kansas City in the 25th round out of Lewisburg High School in Missouri more than a dozen years ago, Martin has compiled a minor-league line of .252/.358/.387 with 239 steals in roughly 2,500 plate appearances.
His path has been anything but linear.
Beyond the Royals, Orioles, and Blue Jays, he has spent time in the Washington Nationals organization, played independent-league ball with the Milwaukee Milkmen of the American Association in 2023 and the York Revolution of the Atlantic League in 2024, and appeared in Mexican winter and summer leagues, including a short stint with the Toros de Tijuana in 2025.
All told, the outfielder has logged 931 professional games and more than 3,700 plate appearances across affiliated, independent, and foreign circuits, all in pursuit of regular major-league playing time.
For the Blue Jays, the deal adds a proven baserunner and outfield depth option who already knows the organization.
For Martin, it represents another chance to turn a long minor-league résumé into a more substantial big-league opportunity after a brief glimpse last September.
