PHILADELPHIA -- When Brett Bateman got called into the manager’s office Thursday at Triple-A Buffalo, he figured he knew the topic of conversation.
Turns out, he had no idea.
In the seventh inning that night, Bateman grounded out to second base with runners at second and third and nobody out in a one-run game. He had been beating himself up about the at-bat, so he assumed manager Casey Candaele wanted to talk to him about it.
“After the game, he brought me into the office and was like, ‘Hey, man, just wanted to talk to you about the [at-bat with] guys at second and third; what was going through your head during the at-bat?’” Bateman said. “I was like, ‘I’ve obviously got to be better, got to do the job.’ He was like, ‘You don't have to worry about doing that here, because you're going to Toronto.’ I had been there for pretty much under three days, so it was pretty crazy.”
Bateman, one of two prospects traded from the Cubs to the Blue Jays for starter Kevin Gausman on Sunday, has enjoyed a breakout in 2026. In 84 games at Triple-A, Bateman hit .311 with a .429 on-base percentage and .845 OPS, all career highs for the outfielder. An eighth-round Draft pick in 2023 by the Cubs, Bateman, Toronto’s No. 20 prospect, has only six home runs in 317 career Minor League games, but his elite speed and defense has helped put the 24-year-old on the radar.
COMPLETE BLUE JAYS PROSPECT COVERAGE
“I know a lot of people say, ‘He doesn't have power, doesn't have pop,’ but if you do one thing right and you make it so ‘Skip’ doesn't have an option to not put you in the lineup, you're doing something well at that point,” said Bateman, who was in the starting lineup at center field and batting ninth for the Blue Jays in their series opener against the Phillies. “I try not to focus on the things that I'm not good at and focus on the things I'm really good at.”
Toronto manager John Schneider loved hearing that from Bateman, who will have a chance to show the Blue Jays what he can do on a big league field.
“A guy that's aware of what he's good at is really, really important,” Schneider said. “It's refreshing to hear that from a young guy. … I've said this a lot this year; this is a big-boy league and we're still trying to win every single game we can. This isn't like, ‘Hey, let's see what this kid can do that we traded for.’ We think he can help us win games.”
Bateman had a good mentor in that area. His father, Keith, was the head baseball coach at Division III Augsburg University in Minneapolis from 2004-26 before taking the assistant athletic director position at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., earlier this year.
Keith taught his son the importance of being a good teammate, hustling on every ground ball, backing up plays in the field -- “the little things” his father stressed were the ones that would help Brett get to the Majors.
“He's been really good about not believing in the hype,” Bateman said of his dad. “Just be where your feet are at, compete every day and the rest will figure itself out. Ultimately, that's definitely helped me a lot more than worrying about where I fit in.”
Fitting in with the Cubs did occasionally enter Bateman’s head, which is only natural when you’re a center-field prospect playing in the same organization as Pete Crow-Armstrong.
“The Cubs have an NL MVP front-runner in center field,” Bateman said with a smile. “Being anywhere else probably other than there would give me a better opportunity. As soon as I got traded, it was kind of onto the next step and being where my feet were at, which was at that time in Buffalo.”
Bateman’s reward for Friday’s callup was a matchup against Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, but the youngster made sure his new manager knew he was eager for the challenge.
“I said, ‘What's your first question to me?’ and he said, ‘Am I playing tonight?’” Schneider said. “I said, ‘Do you want to play tonight?’ I can't repeat what he said, but it was very, very encouraging. … I liked the initial conversation with him.”
Since Sunday, Bateman has gone from Des Moines to Indianapolis (he found out he had been traded one hour into that seven-hour bus ride), then back to Des Moines, on to Buffalo (with a layover in Philadelphia), finally returning to Philly for the biggest day of his career.
“I haven't even had time to process the fact that I was traded,” Bateman said. “It's been a crazy five-day storm for me so far, but I'm really excited for this opportunity.”