C’s Chat – 2026 Vancouver Canadians OF #4 Jake Casey – C's Plus Baseball

C’s Chat covers the outfield again with 2026 Vancouver Canadians outfielder Jake Casey.

Born in Cincinnati, Casey grew up in Pittsburgh and played baseball and basketball at Upper St. Clair High School, just south of the Steel City. Upper St. Clair was where his father “The Mayor” Sean Casey, a 12-year big league veteran, and his older brother Andrew Casey attended. Andrew committed to Dayton University and played one season for the Flyers in 2022.

COVID cancelled Jake’s 2020 high school campaign but he was still able to play ball by joining the Steel City Wildcats of the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) baseball for a second straight season and batted well over .500 in the summer of 2020. In his senior season back at USC, Casey batted .304 with a .529 on-base percentage and a .652 slugging percentage for the Panthers in 2021.

Casey would return to his Ohio roots when he accepted an offer to attend Kent State University. After getting in just 25 games with the Golden Flashes in his 2022 freshman year, he would return to the Keystone State and play for the Johnston Mill Rats of the Prospect League. Casey piled up 21 extra-base hits for an on-base-plus slugging mark of .946 and stole 16 bases in 19 attempts.

In his 2023 sophomore season at Kent State, Casey doubled his playing total to 50 games and continued to showcase his power with 12 home runs among with 21 XBH and he stole 13 bases without getting caught. He would head to the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod League and slug three homers in 33 contests.

The 2024 season saw eight of Casey’s 16 extra-base hits leave the yard to give him a slugging mark of .523 but he was limited to 30 games because of an injury to his right elbow, leading to Tommy John surgery.

Casey came back from that setback with a stellar 2025 campaign for Kent State. He slashed .356/.500/.736 with 17 roundtrippers and 20 stolen bases to help the Golden Flashes win the MAC (Mid-American Conference) regular season championship. That resulted in ABCA (American Baseball Coaches Association) All-East Region First Team and All-MAC First Team honours. Another stat that jumped out from 2025 was Casey getting hit by a pitch 23 times, which was half of his four-year college total in taking one for the team.

That performance helped Casey earn an invite to the MLB Draft Combine in Arizona, the first time anyone from Kent State got that honour. He stood out with his power and speed, recording a pair of top-10 finishes in exit velocity and speed by running a 30-yard dash in 3.58 seconds.

Toronto Blue Jays scout Tom Burns convinced the club to take Casey in the 2025 MLB Draft. Casey’s name was called in the 15th round and he received a $150,000 signing bonus.

The first foray into professional baseball for Casey was a successful one. He debuted with the Dunedin Blue Jays and batted .281/.439/.531 with three doubles, two triples, three home runs and four stolen bases in 23 games. His signature performance was a two-homer game to lead the D-Jays to a win at Lakeland on August 19.

The 2026 season started out with early promise for Casey when he homered in his first Spring Training at-bat with the Toronto Blue Jays with his Dad in attendance during a game against the New York Yankees at Dunedin on February 24. Assigned to Vancouver to start the year, Casey got the start in center field on Opening Day at Tri-City on Opening Night and recorded a hit and a walk on April 3. However, he broke a hamate bone in his hand and was sidelined for over two months. Returning to action with the Florida Coast League Blue Jays, Casey homered in his first at-bat and was also hit a pitch against the FCL Tigers on June 9. He was promoted to Low-A Dunedin after three games at the FCL and continued to regain his form by going 4-for-15 with a double and a triple in four contests.

Casey rejoined Monty’s Mounties in late June at Hillsboro before finally getting to play at Nat Bailey Stadium. His first Northwest League home run came during the Max Scherzer game, a blast that started the comeback from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the visiting Eugene Emeralds in Game 1 of a doubleheader on July 3. Against Everett on July 12, Casey drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the winning run in the eighth inning. He also tripled home the winning run in a game at Tri-City on July 19 and clubbed a two-run dinger in a victory at Hillsboro on July 21. His heroics against the Hops continued when he delivered a pinch-hit infield single to drive in the winning run on June 22 and had another GWRBI single on June 25. That was part of a 16-game on-base streak that ran from July 4-28 where he compiled a .393 OBP for the month.

August started out on a good note for Casey as he had a home run and a double in a huge win at Spokane on August 2. He went deep for a two-run shot to kick-start a win at Everett on August 8 as part of an eight-game on-base streak to begin the month.

C’s Plus Baseball spoke with the 23-year-old Casey during the team’s homestand against Everett in July. This interview has been edited for clarity.

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C’s Plus Baseball – Jake, how did you get started on playing baseball? Obviously, your Dad had a lot to do with that.

JC – Yeah, for sure. Obviously, I grew up around the game. I was basically born into this life a little bit, you could say that. I played when I was young, and I really fell in love with the game at a young age. And I always had dreams of playing in pro ball, playing in the big leagues, as every kid does. But you know, there’s a lot of work that goes into it as you get older and you start to realize when you’re in high school, when you’re trying to play Division I baseball, that’s a challenge within itself. So, you know, just kind of just basically getting better, getting as good as I could get in high school. And then, I was blessed enough to play at Kent State University. I had four great years there. And I got a lot better there as every year. And I’m here so it’s been a good journey.

CPB – Where did you play in high school?

JC – Upper St. Clair in Pittsburgh.

CPB – What was that experience like playing high school ball there?

JC – It was good. Same high school my Dad played at too. So I grew up in the same neighbourhood, the same Township he grew up in. It was cool. You know, it’s a great town. Good baseball town. Good sports town. Great people. And I just really enjoyed it.

CPB – You were born in Cincinnati, I saw Pittsburgh, PA is on the scoreboard. Where do you consider home?

JC – I was born in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh is my home. I want to make sure it says Pittsburgh whenever my name’s up there. I like to represent Pittsburgh for the battle.

CPB – You played in the Cape Cod League. What was that experience like?

JC – Yeah. The Cape was probably one of the best summers ever in my life, just in terms of like meeting some great people, meeting some really good dudes, obviously good players, but most of all good dudes and lifelong relationships I’m going to have, you know, for the rest of the time. And I still talk to some of those guys. I played against some of these guys here too, which is pretty cool. But yeah, I mean, just being able to experience the Cape as a baseball player is one of the coolest things you can do. I feel like I learned a ton. I got a lot better mentally and physically, you know, being able to learn from certain guys and coaches and having that experience overall.

CPB – What’s it like playing against that level of competition? There are a lot of summer college leagues, but the Cape always seems to be the one that’s the most famous.

JC – Yeah. Like when you’re in college, you want to play in the Cape. That’s the ultimate. That’s your goal to play in the Cape. And I think when you get to the Cape, you kind of realize like, ‘Okay, I got a real shot to play pro ball.’ And also too, you’re able to kind of be around the top prospects, you know, quote-unquote in the country and kind of see how they are in person, see how they are as guys and kind of realize that everyone puts their pants on the same way. Seeing how they work and seeing, you know, maybe guys do certain things differently. Like that’s what makes them great. And just kind of learning is the biggest thing I think there.

CPB – Kent State, how did you wind up there? Were there any other offers or was Kent State just the one you wanted?

JC – There’s a couple other offers from other schools. But, you know, ultimately Kent State was close to home. You go to play at a school that has good coaching staff that you really can ask yourself, how they can develop you. And a big reason why I went to Kent was because of coach Jeff Duncan there, shout out coach Duncan. And it was close to home. So I knew that when I played at Kent, my family can come see me play. And that means the world to me when I got people in the stands that I really truly care about coming to watch me play. And that’s also probably the biggest reason why I went there as well.

CPB – You had Tommy John surgery during your time there. As a batter, you can return quicker than pitchers would but what was that process like for you?

JC – Yeah. Like you said, it’s pretty crazy that I got Tommy John just because it’s usually a pitcher’s injury, but yeah, I just kind of like just was throwing the bases one day and during the pregame and I blew out my arm, which is crazy. But yeah, it was about like nine months till I was back playing again. And I think pitchers are about 12 to 15. So it is a lot quicker for sure. And obviously it was a long journey and it was tough, but you know, injuries are a part of the game. So just kind of being able to manage that and prepare for my senior year of college, it was fun. I mean, I honestly enjoyed like the journey of getting back into playing and having a great senior year.

CPB – You had a pretty good final season with the Golden Flashes. When did you feel like you were back to 100% with your swing and with your throwing and all that?

JC – Honestly, yeah. I was feeling back to being myself when the season started, because I was able to build up my swing three months before the season even started, you know, the swing progression as they call it. And then throwing too, like it was a six to eight month throwing progression. And then once that nine, 10 month mark hit, I felt back to normal.

CPB – You got drafted by the Blue Jays. What do you remember about your drafting experience?

JC – Yeah, it was a pretty crazy experience. I mean, I’m sure everyone has a pretty crazy draft story as well here. It’s just a crazy day overall. You wake up and you don’t know whether you’re going to get drafted. You don’t know what team you’re going to go to. You don’t know a lot of things, a lot of uncertainty that day, but you know, being able to have your family around is the biggest thing and people you love having them around and having that support. We had a little draft party after as well at my house, just all family and friends that I’m really close to, people I grew up with. It was good to have their support.

CPB – Did you have any idea the Blue Jays were interested in you before you got picked by them? Or did you think you were going somewhere else?

JC – Yeah. Tom Burns is my scout at Kent State. And I really give a lot of credit to Tom for the reason I’m here. And he really believed in me when I was at Kent State. And obviously, other teams I knew, I talked to the scouts, but I always knew Tom pretty well. And I always knew the Blue Jays were on the radar, which is pretty cool.

CPB – You get down to Dunedin, you got to check out the Player Development Complex. What do you remember about walking in there for the first time and what stood out to you when you walked in?

JC – Yeah. I mean, the PDC, the complex is state of the art. I don’t know what other complexes look like but I can definitely tell you right now, this is definitely one of the best in the league for sure. And they really put a lot of detail into it to benefit the players and props to them for having a great facility to give us everything we need to get better every single day. I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ Walking in, getting to meet the guys and getting to meet all the staff was a pretty surreal experience, especially getting into the Blue Jays family. It was really cool. But yeah, I’d say just overall, it was just a mind-blowing experience.

CPB – When you get introduced to the organization, was there anyone you hit it off with right away?

JC – Yeah. I mean, a lot of the guys in my draft class, like, you know, Maddox Latta, Austin Smith, Eric Snow, to name a couple guys. Will Creswell, all the guys in my draft class. We got to hang out outside the field and get dinner and get to know them, get to know a lot about them outside the field. Just a bunch of really good dudes. And I feel like we all got along really well and got to know each other. And even now, I feel like we already have a lifelong relationship with these guys that I will always talk to for the rest of my life.

CPB – Your first season with Dunedin, what was that like getting your first taste of pro ball?

JC – It was awesome. I remember, I got drafted and went through a draft camp process for about a week and a half, two weeks, and then they’re like, all right, ‘You’re gonna play for Dunedin.’ It was really exciting being able to have that opportunity to finish off the season last month and a half playing, you know, get that first taste of pro ball. So that was really cool. Just getting to experience the competition of pro ball, seeing how basically playing at one of the highest levels in the world. Obviously you’re not in the big leagues, but these guys are all really talented still at Low-A and you kind of realize how you stack up against these guys. And you realize that you belong and you kind of realize what it takes to be consistent every day. You kind of get that routine. I think the biggest thing was just being able to experience that and find a routine. You can’t teach experience so just having that experience is the biggest thing.

CPB – What did you work on in the off season, getting ready for 2026?

JC – Just working on staying in shape, putting some pounds and some muscle on and just maintaining my athleticism and keeping in touch with the hitting coaches and the hitting side, trying to keep it super simple. But the biggest thing was just maintaining and getting stronger, I would say.

CPB – You get promoted here to Vancouver to start the year. And the first series in Tri-City, you were sidelined. What happened there?

JC – Yeah, I broke my hand and what’s called a hamate bone in your hand. I broke it just swinging. Obviously not the ideal situation you want to have at the start of the season, but you know, injuries are a part of the game and it’s just about responding and just going from there and figuring out how to get back to a hundred percent.

CPB – What was that process like recovering from the hamate injury? They say it usually takes a while before the power returns and all that.

JC – Yeah, for sure. It’s definitely a tricky recovery process because the funny thing about the hamate bone is that you can’t break it again once you take it out your hand. But you obviously got to get the strength back and your hand, your grip strength and your having that bat speed, building that up is kind of tough. So it was definitely a longer process than I thought it would be, but, you know, it’s all good. Like it’s a part of it and just embracing it. For now, I’m trying to maintain that grip strength and still work on it as much as I can and get back to feeling better every day.

CPB – While you’re here in Vancouver now, what’s it been like, your first few games playing here at The Nat?

JC – Yeah, this is way better than anything I expected. I’ve obviously heard great things about The Nat, I think there’s 6,000 some fans here almost every game, but it feels like a lot more because it’s so close and they’re so into it. It’s really cool to play in front of these fans and it helps us guys go out there and play our best every day. When your body hurts or something hurts and you’re sore, when you get out there, you get that shot of adrenaline once looking at the fans and you’re able to go out there and play your best. It’s been a lot of fun.

CPB – You hit your first home run here the other day (July 3). What do you remember about that home run swing?

JC – I obviously got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it, but I just remember the crowd pop when it went over the fence and being really excited just to have that moment, get the first one out of the way. That’s always the hardest one to get is the first one. So, yeah, I’d say that’s what I remember.

CPB – What is your approach when you’re in the batter’s box? Do you have a certain philosophy when you step in?

JC – Yeah, you know, as a hitter, you always got to be on time for the fastball and, you know, I’m looking to looking to do damage in the middle of the field and try to get something up, something I can do damage on.

CPB – As far as hitting here at Nat Bailey Stadium. This is considered a pitcher’s park. How does that play into your approach?

JC – I wouldn’t say it changes much about the approach. If anything, you just stay in the middle of the field more. I think you have a lot more gaps to work with here and, you know, the field obviously plays big, but home runs will come. You’re going to run into a home run, you’re going to run into a ball and you catch something out front, you pull it or you hit it off. But, yeah, it doesn’t change much of the approach, but I think it makes you want to hit the ball more for the gaps.

CPB – Defensively, we’ve seen you in center field, we’ve seen you in the corners. How do you found playing the outfield here at Nat Bailey and what do you do to prepare?

JC – Every park, you kind of get used to the dimensions a little bit, start to figure out which gaps play deeper than others. And, yeah, you talk to other outfielders, but I would say it’s been good getting used to the bigger outfield here and it’s a good opportunity to make some good plays and track down some balls in the gaps and help our pitchers out.

CPB – What’s better for you, a diving catch or throwing someone out on the bases?

JC – Probably a diving catch.

CPB – Funniest teammate?

JC – Funniest teammate? That’s a good question. Probably Carson Myers.

CPB – And finally, your favorite uniform of the Canadians, they’ve had nine of them so far. Do you have a favourite? You got the white, red, black, blue, gray and The Nat.

JC – Probably The Nat uniform with the black hat.

Jake Casey File

Born – April 17, 2003, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Height – 6’2″, 190 pounds.
Bats/Throws – Left/Right
Uniform Numbers – Wore number 21 for the Kent State Golden Flashes from 2022-2025. Wore number 25 for the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2025. Wore number 22 for Dunedin in 2026.
Instagram – @jake.casey4
Twitter – @jakecasey_
Professional Debut – July 29, 2025, for the Dunedin Blue Jays vs. Lakeland Flying Tigers. Hit by pitch from Jaden Hamm in first plate appearance.
First Professional Hit – July 29, 2025, for Dunedin vs. Lakeland. Two-run triple off Zack Lee. Also added a stolen base.
First Professional Home Run – August 19, 2025, for Dunedin at Lakeland. Homered off Carlos Marcano.
C’s Debut – April 3, 2026, at the Tri-City Dust Devils. Walked in first professional plate appearance by Chris Cortez.
First C’s Hit – April 3, 2026 at Tri-City. Singled against Cortez in his second plate appearance.
First C’s Home Run – July 3, 2026, vs. the Eugene Emeralds. Homered off Hunter Dryden.
Walkup Music – “Everyday” by A$AP Rocky feat. Rod Stewart, Miguel, Mark Ronson.
Now You Know – Casey is the first Kent State player to appear with the C’s since 2016 pitcher Andy Ravel and 2018 hurler Joey Murray.