There’s an abundance of young talent on this year’s all-star teams, perhaps more so than usual. On the NL roster, for example, you’ll find recently-drafted players like Kris Bryant (2nd pick, 2013), Addison Russell (11th pick, 2012) and Corey Seager (18th pick, 2012). Considered top prospects last spring, they’re already among the NL’s best players.

In other cases, though, considerably more patience is required. If there’s a common thread for the five players representing the Toronto Blue Jays at the All-Star Game, it’s that their respective progressions to the Midsummer Classic took time.

Edwin Encarnacion has now made three all-star teams, but he didn’t make his first until 2013, more than a decade after the Texas Rangers selected him in the ninth round of the 2000 draft. He was traded twice before making an all-star team.

Michael Saunders is a first-time all-star 12 seasons after the Seattle Mariners took him in the 11th round on the 2004 draft. Though he’s technically been traded just once, the Blue Jays nearly sent him to the Los Angeles Angels this spring.

Marco Estrada took nearly as long to make his all-star debut; American League players voted Estrada onto the AL roster more than 11 years after the Washington Nationals made him a sixth-round pick in 2005.

Josh Donaldson has more in common with the likes of Russell than most of his teammates — he and Russell attended the same high school and were traded from Oakland by Billy Beane the same year. That said, Donaldson’s development required more time. It wasn’t until his age-28 season that he made his first all-star team and even then, he hadn’t peaked. The third baseman has become a much more productive player in Toronto (64 HR, .967 OPS, 14.1 WAR in 247 games) than he was in Oakland (63 HR, .805 OPS, 15.3 WAR in 405 games).

Aaron Sanchez reached the Midsummer Classic sooner than the others. Still, it took Sanchez, the 34th overall pick in 2010, six years of carefully-monitored progression to earn his trip to San Diego.

Of the five all-stars, only Sanchez was drafted by the Blue Jays. Toronto initially acquired the other four players in trades.

In fact, two of them were freely available for a time. The same year the Blue Jays drafted Sanchez, Encarnacion and Estrada were claimed on waivers. Facing a roster crunch, the Nationals designated Estrada for assignment to create roster space for reliever Tyler Walker, at which point Milwaukee claimed the change-up artist. Months later the Athletics briefly claimed Encarnacion, only to make him a free agent and enable the Blue Jays to bring him back to Toronto.

These players are the exception, to be sure. Broadly speaking, all-star rosters feature first round picks like Bryce Harper, top international prospects like Yoenis Cespedes and elite free-agent pickups like Jon Lester. That’s still your best avenue for finding all-stars, since they certainly aren’t available on waivers every winter.

If anything the Blue Jays’ all-star representatives reinforce the value of patience. Giving up on any one of Encarnacion, Saunders, Estrada, Donaldson and Sanchez would have been easy as recently as a few years ago. Combined, they are now rewarding the Blue Jays with an especially pronounced presence at the All-Star Game.