Conine eager to catch up to fellow bloodline players in Jays’ system Selected by the Toronto Blue Jays as the 52nd-overall pick in the MLB draft earlier this month, Griffin Conine knows he’s behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, the Double-A group of bloodline players already in the team’s system. But like any draft-stock-gone-bad story, he’s yearning to prove he should’ve gone higher, Scott Mitchell writes.

TORONTO — Griffin Conine is well aware of the Blue Jays’ love for players with bloodlines.

You don’t even have to point out to the 20-year-old outfielder, who the Jays selected with the 52nd-overall pick in last week’s draft, that he’s the latest son of an ex-big leaguer to join the organization.

“I don’t think I knew the full extent,” Conine said this week after his Duke Blue Devils season wrapped up with a heartbreaking loss to Texas Tech in the NCAA Super Regionals, missing out on a trip to the College World Series in Omaha. “I knew (Vladimir) Guerrero and I knew (Bo) Bichette — those guys are tearing it up and you hear about them a lot and I knew about their dads, obviously — but I didn’t know (Kacy) Clemens, (Cavan) Biggio, and the full extent.”

Now, he’s part of it.

Or close to it, at least.

Conine is the only notable name from the Jays’ 2018 draft class that remains unsigned, but he says it’s at the point where they’re just working through some details and he expects the deal to get done shortly.

The slot value for his pick is $1.35 million, but the Jays have been creative with their bonus pool, shifting numbers around in order to hand third-round high-school right-hander Adam Kloffenstein first-round money.

While Conine knows he’s behind the Double-A group of bloodline players already in the system, he’s also older than both Guerrero Jr. and Bichette, and many evaluators believe he’ll be able to move fast if things click for the left-hander with a power stroke that allowed him to hit 31 home runs over the last two seasons at Duke.

“I’m sure they have a lot of stories, just like my dad,” said Conine, son of Jeff, who hit 214 home runs in 17 major-league seasons. “It’s amazing all the stuff he’s told me. I’m sure they have a wealth of knowledge about the game and just things that their dads experienced and went through. I’m looking forward to getting to know them and, hopefully, being future teammates with those guys. I know they’re a little further along than me in the process right now, but, hopefully, I’ll catch up to them and we can share the field one day.”

Had Conine not scuffled to begin his junior season at Duke this spring, he likely would not have made it to pick No. 52.

Heading into the year, Conine had top 10 buzz, built mostly on a strong summer in the Cape Cod League last year, showing scouts the power doesn’t disappear with a wood bat in his hands.

A small-sample-size drop may have turned into a steal for the Jays in the second round.

Chris Pollard, his manager at Duke, is steadfast in his belief that will be the case.

“Really, for the first six or eight weeks of this season, he had junioritis, which a lot of guys have in that they put a lot of pressure on themselves in their junior year because there’s a lot of scrutiny and a lot of pressure and you have to read about yourself,” Pollard said. “It’s harder than it was when I played because guys have to read about themselves on social media and every at-bat is scrutinized. He was finally able to work through that and I told him and I told the Blue Jays he’ll be a better player because of it, having gone through that experience.

“That’s why as soon as he was drafted, I texted the scout that drafted him and said, ‘You’re going to look like quite the genius because you guys got a first rounder in the second round.’ ”

After struggling to begin the season, Conine eventually turned it around, but it was the summer on the Cape in 2017 that Blue Jays director of amateur scouting Steve Sanders couldn’t forget, even though some other teams did.

“He’s somebody that coming into the year I think we certainly had hoped to have the opportunity to add to the organization, and coming into the year it felt like that may even be a little bit higher in the draft,” Sanders said. “So we certainly felt like it was a good opportunity to add somebody with his ability at that spot, where maybe had he not gone through some struggles this year, we might not have had that opportunity.”

Hitting his way out of that funk impressed Sanders.

“That’s something that you don’t always get to see, somebody of that talent level go through, a period of struggle,” Sanders said. “But in a lot of ways, it made us believe in Griffin’s ability to persevere and deal with adversity, and seeing him come out on the other side of it and put together a good season and finish on a strong note was certainly a positive for us.”

Sanders and his front office team made the pick, but it’s now up to director of player development Gil Kim to maximize that talent base over the next couple of years.

There’s even talk the Jays could send Conine to full-season ball in Low-A Lansing, skipping over short-season Vancouver completely, but that’s one of the details being worked through.

“The tools and the talent are obvious,” Kim said. “The passion for the game and the way that we’ve heard that he can analyze and specifically articulate his areas of development are all pretty impressive, and we’re just fortunate to have someone like that in our system.

“Obviously, we have had success with bloodlines, and it’s not by design that we’re drafting sons of big league all-stars, but what is by design is we’re drafting competitors who have aptitude and who have passion and who have work ethic and who are comfortable in their own skin. We’re drafting good makeup guys, and sometimes those things tend to flow together, being in big league clubhouses and being around that atmosphere.”

Whether it was top 10 or pick No. 52, Conine is far from a finished product.

After striking out 45 times in 218 at-bats during his sophomore year, Conine whiffed 74 times in 227 at-bats this spring.

Scouts took notice, but so, too, did Conine.

“Something I definitely want to work on developing more is speed,” Conine said. “It’s kind of something that’s hard to work on throughout the course of a college season with classes and practices and long hours on the field, so I’m definitely working on lower-body strength and flexibility and speed and defence.

“Definitely, the strikeouts are a big thing.”

Pollard spent time this spring talking up Conine’s all-around game to scouts, saying his defence is underrated.

At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, Conine is nearly a carbon-copy of his father, who hit from the right side.

“He’s a tremendous player, physically,” Pollard said. “He’s a unique combination. He’s got tremendous power, he’s got unbelievable bat speed. I think the one thing, for me, that I was always trumpeting is he’s a really good outfielder with a plus arm. I read things talking about how he was just a bat, but he’s a very good defensive baseball player. That part of his game will become more noticed as he gets into professional baseball.”

Pollard’s bias is obvious, but he’s adamant this is a pick that’s going to work out extremely well for the Jays as another name-brand addition to its stable of familiar last names.

“I think he’ll be a fast riser,” Pollard said. “I think they got a steal. That’s the biggest thing. I think they got an absolute steal.”

It’s been a whirlwind year for Conine, and he’s eager to put pen to paper and get to work catching up to the other bloodlines in the pipeline.

Like any draft-stock-gone-bad story, he’s also eager to prove he should’ve gone higher, a motivational fuel many before him have successfully used to light the fire through the minor-league journey.

“I’m confident that I fell for a reason and I experienced the adversity this year for a reason,” Conine said.

“I’m planning on proving that I was the best 52nd-overall pick in the history of the draft. That’s my plan.”​