Alford designated for assignment by Toronto

The Blue Jays made the difficult decision to designate outfielder Anthony Alford for assignment between games of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Phillies. Toronto won the first game, 3-2, on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s walk-off single. Alford has been with the Blue Jays since 2012, when he was selected in the third

The Blue Jays made the difficult decision to designate outfielder Anthony Alford for assignment between games of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Phillies. Toronto won the first game, 3-2, on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s walk-off single.

Alford has been with the Blue Jays since 2012, when he was selected in the third round of the MLB Draft out of high school as a dual-sport star. Alford also went on to play NCAA football at Mississippi early in his Minor League career, but eventually shifted his focus full time to baseball and is now in his ninth professional season.

Long considered to be one of the best athletes in the organization and a perennial fan favorite for his personality as much as his physical talents, Alford has struggled to put it together at the plate, hitting just .155 with a .454 OPS over 75 plate appearances at the Major League level, but he rarely had the opportunity to find a groove with regular playing time. He’d appeared in 13 games this season, often as a pinch-runner, and went 3-for-16 (.188).

Alford was a top prospect in the Blue Jays’ system for several years, and he peaked as the No. 42 prospect in baseball prior to the 2016 season, according to MLB Pipeline.

In a corresponding move, the Blue Jays activated Trent Thornton to make the start in the second game of the doubleheader. Now that Alford has been DFA’d, the club has seven days to trade him or place him on irrevocable outright waivers, where he could be claimed by another team. If Alford clears waivers, he may then stay in the organization.

Keegan Matheson is a reporter/editor for MLB.com based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter @KeeganMatheson.