C’s Chat – 2025 Vancouver Canadians 3B #2 Tucker Toman – C's Plus Baseball

The latest C’s Chat is with 2025 Vancouver Canadians third baseman Tucker Toman.

The son of longtime college coach Jim Toman and younger brother of Charlie Mac Toman—a lefthanded pitcher who was coached by his father at Middle Tennessee State—Tucker considered going the college route as well after committing to Louisiana State University during his time at Hammond High School in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina.

Toman helped Hammond win two SCISA (South Carolina Independent School Association) 3A championships in 2019 and 2021 by belting five grand slam home runs during those playoff runs for the Skyhawks. Three of those slams came in 2019 and he was the winning pitcher with 5⅓ innings of two-run ball and six strikeouts in the 2021 final. Toman capped off his high school career at Hammond in 2022 by hitting .487 and slugging .887 with seven homers and 27 runs batted in. That was enough for Skyhawks coach Chris Braciszewski to declare that nobody would wear Toman’s number 9 for Hammond again.

In addition to his high school exploits, Toman starred on the showcase circuit by taking part in events sponsored by Perfect Game and earned a plethora of awards from 2018-2021. One highlight was taking part in the 2021 Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park in San Diego and the home run derby in which he hit nine home runs to reach the semfinal. That helped create a lot of buzz for Toman at the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft. There was speculation that he would be taken in the first or second round and was ranked 40th by Baseball America and 35th by MLB Pipeline. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline said Toman had “one of the best all-around bats in high school. He has grown up around the game, has a great feel for it and is a great kid.”

Toman was invited to attend the MLB Draft in Los Angeles, but he decided to watch it from his grandparents’ house in Florence, South Carolina. MLB sent over 30 team hats so he would be prepared for the occasion and it would be a Toronto Blue Jays cap that Toman would wear when the Blue Jays drafted him 77th overall, based on the recommendation of scout Mike Tidick. It was a second-round compensation pick for the Jays after for losing infielder Marcus Semien in free agency. The Jays also had the 78th pick after lefthander Robbie Ray left in free agency and selected infielder (and 2023 Vancouver Canadian) Cade Doughty out of LSU, the same school Toman was considering before deciding to turn pro. He would receive a signing for $2,000,000.

The 2022 season saw Toman start his pro career with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays and he batted .289 with a .391 on-base percentage in 11 games. Baseball America ranked Toman as the sixth-best prospect in the Jays system after his pro debut.

“Toman is a gifted switch-hitter with advanced plate discipline and a knack for contact. He’s a pure hitter who displays plus bat speed and feel for the barrel from the left side and makes consistent hard contact. His righthanded swing lacks loft and doesn’t have much power behind it, but his discerning eye and advanced command of the strike zone allow him to be a threat from both sides of the plate. He’s at least an above-average hitter and could grow into average power with physical maturity. While views on Toman’s long-term upside were split among amateur evaluators, few questioned Toman’s ability to hit with wood in pro ball. The Blue Jays drafted Toman as a shortstop, but he projects to move to second base. He’s a fringy runner with fringy arm strength that plays up with a quick release and solid accuracy. He has a chance to be an average defender at the keystone with more development.”

Toman began 2023 at Low-A Dunedin and batted just .208, but he led the team with 51 RBI, 24 doubles and 134 total bases while drawing a walk 12.5 percent of the time and stealing seven bases in eight tries. In 2024, the adjustment to the Florida State League was proving to be a tough one for Toman. He was assigned to the Development List from July 12 to August 13 and finished the year batting .221 in 80 games.

A third tour of duty in Dunedin awaited Toman in 2025 and he overcame a .228 batting average at the end of May with a 10-game hitting streak to begin June. That spurred him on to a .329 BA for the month with an OPS of .854 in 23 games. In July, Toman had his first two-homer game in a win against Tampa on July 20 and walked off Lakeland with an 11th-inning single on July 31. In his 283rd career game with the D-Jays, Toman homered in his final plate appearance to cap a 3-for-4 day with a walk and four RBI in Tampa in the second game of a doubleheader on August 14. That performance was Toman’s team-leading 24th multi-hit game of the year and he reached base in 22 of his last 23 games.

On August 15, Toman was promoted to Vancouver and began his Northwest League career with a four-game hitting streak. His first multi-hit game came against Tri-City, and he scored the winning run on a Hayden Gilliland eighth-inning home run on August 20. Toman recorded a hit in eight of his 12 contests with Monty’s Mounties, including a 3-for-3 night at the plate with a walk in a win over Everett in his final game on September 6. That bumped his batting average to .302 with an OBP of .415.

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2025 was also a year where Toman expanded his defensive versatility where he made nine starts at first base and one in left field for Dunedin after splitting time at the other infield positions in his first three professional seasons. With Vancouver, he showcased a strong throwing error and made just one error in 10 games at third.

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C’s Plus Baseball spoke with the now 22-year-old Toman during the team’s late-August homestand against Tri-City. This interview has been edited for clarity.

C’s Plus Baseball – Tucker, let’s take it back to draft day. What was that experience like for you?

Tucker Toman – It was definitely a roller coaster. I was just excited going into the day, thinking that I was going to go into pro ball, and I’m glad I ended up with the Blue Jays.

CPB – I know there was speculation you were going to go in the first round. From what I’ve read, you were very happy it was the Jays who took you. Why was that?

TT – I really felt at home with the Blue Jays. I know (senior vice-president of player personnel) Tony LaCava from a family background. He knows my Dad from a while back. They’re from the same area, but I kind of just felt at home with him and (former amateur scouting director) Shane Farrell and all the people that I met at the Player Development Complex in Florida before the draft.

CPB – I think it was around that time after you were drafted that the Blue Jays started its draft camp process? What do you remember about that? Was there anyone you hit it off with right away?

TT – Yeah, I met a lot of good guys. Honestly, a lot of them were college guys, like Josh Kasevich, Cade Doughty, Alan Roden, Ryan McCarty. All these guys I met, and they were a little bit older than me, and they took me under their wing and kind of honestly pushed me to work harder and just try to get the best out of myself, especially Josh Kasevich. He’s basically a big brother to me. I still talk to him today, and I was just with him two weeks ago in Dunedin before he went off to Buffalo, but yeah, he’s like a brother to me. He’s great, and his work ethic is unmatched.

CPB – You mentioned Cade Doughty. As it turns out, you could very well have gone to LSU (where Doughty attended). Did you have a chance to touch base with Cade about LSU?

TT – Yeah. I mean, we still talk about it today of like, ‘Hey, how are they going to be this year? How’s so-and-so?’ Because we kind of know the players there. Honestly, I really wanted to go to Omaha and win a College World Series. My Dad has been three times with the University of South Carolina and never won it, so I kind of really wanted to go win it. But me personally, like where I was at in my life, like my dreams and aspirations, I wanted to play in the big leagues. I think it was the right time for me to go to pro ball.

CPB – Just want to touch a bit on your high school career, when you look back on it, what would you say is a memory or memories that maybe stand out for you?

TT – Probably Petco Park, Perfect Game All-American game, that was a highlight of mine, just meeting a lot of good guys, there was a home run derby. I also met a kid named Meyer Turkin, he was a cancer survivor, a little kid, so I met him and him and his family, and they were super nice, and got to get them on the field, and it was nice.

CPB – You started out in the Florida Complex League. What do you remember about that first pro experience at the end of 2022?

TT – I thought it was good. I thought it was good that I got to see good pitching on a day-to-day basis and just really get my feet wet.

CPB – Going through the grind in Dunedin, I know there were ups and downs. Talk about what it was like going through that.

TT – Yeah, I think at least for me the name of the game is consistency. I think it’s something that I learned probably this year the most in Dunedin. I feel like I’ve shown flashes and signs of what I can do, but trying to put it together is another thing on a day-to-day basis, and I feel like I had a good taste of that and how to do it this year in Dunedin.

CPB – I know you were in Dunedin probably for a lot longer than you would have wanted, but what’s been the key to your success this year?

TT – I think a lot of it has just been simplifying things, simplifying an approach, making sure I’m getting good pitches to hit and not missing them.

CPB – Any specific adjustments that you made in the batter’s box as far as your approach at the plate, what you’re looking to do in each at-bat?

TT – Really just making sure I’m on time and that I’m getting something in the middle to hit.

CPB – The bat waggle, is that kind of like a timing mechanism when you’re at the plate?

TT – Yeah, it’s pretty much all timing, and honestly just to get me to give everything I got into my swing, so it’s kind of timing, and then kind of like a rubber band effect, pulling it back as far as I can.

CPB – Switch-hitting. How big a challenge is that to really keep both swings sharp?

TT – I think it’s something that’s difficult, but I think something that you need to do is basically swing from both sides every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re not hitting righty that day for the lefty, but they might bring in a lefty reliever and it’s kind of hard because you have to be dialed on each side no matter what pitches out there.

CPB – When it comes to switch-hitting, I know you and JR Freethy were at the top of the order (recently). Do you sometimes compare notes with each other as far as switch-hitting goes or bounce ideas off of each other?

TT – Yes. He was my roommate in Dunedin. He’s one of my best friends. We talk a lot. He’s very smart. He’s very intelligent. He has a really good eye at the plate. I love seeing his approaches, honestly, day in and day out, because he makes his plan and then he’s committed to it. He’s going to go execute it. He’s really good. I like talking to him about his approach.

CPB – The Player Development Complex. How’s that helped you develop as a player?

TT – I think it’s just helped really from like a physical standpoint. They got everything you need and honestly from a coaching standpoint as well. They usually have a ton of coaches over there, so they’re just constantly trying to help you be your best self. So just use it to your advantage and just see how good you can get.

CPB – I’ve heard about the Trajekt machine. How extensively did you work with that?

TT – It’s been really good. I think it’s hard to hit off of sometimes, but I think it’s really good to just get at-bats and see spin and just honestly this feels it’s the closest thing to a game you can get.

CPB – Would you say there was anything you learned about yourself at the Player Development Complex? Maybe about why your swing operates in such a certain way?

TT – Yeah, they have all that information there and they actually have a biomechanist there, Ben Jones. He’s helped me a lot this year behind the scenes mostly, but he’s helped me a lot to figure out how my body moves, what does it look like when it looks good, and what does it look like when it doesn’t look good. So he’s helped me out with that along with my hitting coach in Dunedin (former Vancouver Canadian) Nash Knight, and the whole staff, honestly.

CPB – When you got called up to Vancouver, how did you find out the news that you were coming up here?

TT – It was after a game in Tampa against the Tampa Tarpons, and they called up two people in front of me, which was Hayden Gilliland and Matt Scannell, and then Gil Kim, my manager in Dunedin, he was like, ‘Tucker, come here.’ I was like, ‘Well, this is it.’ Basically, he said some nice words and said that my next step was Vancouver, so I was really excited. I have a lot of friends here, and of course I’ve been wanting to be here for a little bit, so I’m just really excited to be here and kind of just get settled in and keep going.

CPB – I know you’ve probably heard a lot from other players about how it’s awesome playing in Vancouver. Has it lived up to the hype?

TT – 100%. I think even more, too. I think they don’t even know if they did it justice, just because there’s so many fans here and it gets loud. I think they’re into it, for sure.

CPB – I know you got some diehards in Dunedin, but it’s really got to make a huge difference playing in front of thousands here.

TT – I think it feels like baseball. It feels a lot more like what you would think in a pro atmosphere, or honestly like a Power 5 (conference), SEC or ACC school on a Friday night. Last night there was almost 6,000 people here, so it was super cool and it seems like they really enjoy it and have the players’ backs.

CPB – Were you in Toronto at some point, maybe, or is this the first time you’ve been in Canada?

TT – First time I’ve been in Canada, ever. I love it. Very nice weather.

CPB – You’re here in the Northwest League, your career began with a hit-by-pitch and you get plunked in three straight games. You’d think the pitchers would better control at this level, but what’s the adjustment been like going from the Florida State League to here so far?

TT – Honestly, it’s been good, I think the arms are pretty good here. They’re definitely better, I think, like stuff-wise. I think there’s a lot of guys who throw harder, like all the guys coming out of the bullpen kind of throw around 95 (miles per hour), so I think it’s been a good adjustment. I’m excited to keep on going, but I think it’s been it’s been pretty, pretty good so far.

CPB – How would you compare hitting from Dunedin to Vancouver? It seems like Dunedin is more of a hitter’s park.

TT – Dunedin is, yes, compared to here, compared to Nat Bailey, but I honestly like it here. Hopefully I can get a ball to left field, so probably staying away from right field unless I’m going to crush it.

CPB – One game I wanted to ask you about. You were at third base when you saw Hayden Gilliland’s home run go out. I saw you leaping in the air. Honestly it kind of reminded me of Carlton Fisk, I don’t know, that’s what it seemed like to me, but what do you remember when you saw that ball go over the fence?

TT – Once he hit it, I was like, ‘That is a moonshot. This is definitely going out.’ I mean, you have to tag, because there’s less than two outs, so I was just waiting at third, I was like, ‘Okay, this is definitely going out’. I see the ball and it keeps on going, I’m like, ‘Okay, this place is big, there’s a 30-foot wall, and then I was like, and then it went out. I was like, ‘That’s awesome!’ A top moment this year.

CPB – Looking at the defensive side of the ball, we’ve seen you at short, we’ve seen you mostly at third now, and I think you had a start in the outfield this year with Dunedin. What’s been like, more or less settling in at third, but still getting a chance to see time at other positions?

TT – Yeah, I started playing in a little bit of first base this year, and then I have one game in left field, I have a couple games in second, I played some second base last year, and some short last year and the year prior, but third base has been the position I’ve played like basically my whole life, so I kind of feel at home there, and I feel comfortable, but honestly, whatever gets you in the lineup, whatever helps the manager out.

CPB – We’ve seen you make some really strong throws. Your throwing arm is really one of your strengths of your game.

TT – Yeah, yeah, 100%. I think I can spin the ball well, so hopefully I can get some backspin underneath it, and just have good carry on the ball, and with some arm strength.

CPB – Final couple of questions, did you have a favorite major league team or player growing up?

TT – Robinson Cano. Robinson Cano was my favorite player, I think that’s why I moved my bat a lot when I hit, and then I just like the way he plays, super smooth. A favorite team? Man, I honestly really didn’t have a favourite team, but I loved watching the Red Sox play, so I loved watching David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis.

CPB – My final question, the Canadians have lots of different uniforms—white, red, black, blue, gray, the lumberjack, do you have a favourite?

TT – Man, they have the blue retro one with the hat. I don’t have the hat yet, but I’m hoping we wear it, honestly, because I really like that one. I think it’s a good look.

Tucker Toman File

Born – November 12, 2003, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Height/Weight – 6’0″, 207 pounds
Bats/Throws – Switch/Right
Uniform Numbers – Wore number 5 for the Florida Complex League Blue Jays in 2022, wore number 35 in 2023, number 9 in 2024 and number 8 in 2025 with the Dunedin Blue Jays.
Walkup Music – “Where I Belong” by Building 429.
Twitter – @tuckertoman
Instagram – @tuckertoman35
Professional Debut – August 8, 2022, for the Florida Complex League Blue Jays at FCL Phillies.
First Professional Hit – August 8, 2022, for FCL Blue Jays at FCL Philllies. Singled against Estibenzon Jiménez.
First Professional Home Run – May 13, 2023, for the Dunedin Blue Jays vs. the Clearwater Threshers off Estibenzon Jiménez.
C’s Debut – August 16, 2025, at Spokane. Hit by pitch by Konner Eaton in first plate appearance.
First C’s Hit – August 16, 2025, at Spokane. RBI single off Alberto Pacheco.
Fun Fact – Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Shawn Green (1993-1999) announced the selection of Toman at the 2022 MLB Draft.