PHILADELPHIA – The Toronto Blue Jays selected imposing Arizona State lefty Cole Carlon with their first pick, No. 39 overall, in a draft made more challenging for them by their run to the World Series and payroll spending.
At six-foot-five and 230 pounds, the 21-year-old started this season after two years as a reliever while also adding velocity to his fastball, which averages around 96 m.p.h. and gets up to 100-101, according to Baseball America’s scouting report.
The heater is secondary to his slider, however, which he threw more than half the time this past season and was described as “one of the best breaking balls in the class,” by BA.
How he fits in with what the Blue Jays try to do elsewhere in the draft will be intriguing as the Blue Jays’ signing bonus pool in the draft is only $5,543,100 – smaller than every team’s but that of the Los Angeles Dodgers at $3,951,900.
The No. 39 pick’s assigned value is $2,571,700 but they could try to move some money around to take some swings at high upside prep players lower in the draft.
The Blue Jays are second-last in the draft order after reaching the World Series a year ago, but they also lost two picks for the signing of free agent Dylan Cease and had their first selection pushed from No. 29 to 39 because their 2025 payroll exceeded the second Competitive Balance Tax threshold.
Currently projected to spend beyond the second CBT line again this season, the Blue Jays will be similarly penalized in the next draft, unless the system is changed in time for 2027 once a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is signed.
Given that they’re likely to be in the market for qualified free agents again this off-season (also assuming portions of the current system remain in place under the next CBA), working with smaller bonus pools and fewer picks lower in the order will be an ongoing challenge as long as the big-league team wins.
There were no major surprises atop the draft, as the Chicago White Sox selected UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky first overall, leaving the Tampa Bay Rays, with their highest pick since having No. 1 in 2008, to take fellow shortstop Grady Emerson after. Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey went third to the Minnesota Twins, UC Santa Barbara righty Jackson Floras was the San Francisco Giants’ pick at four and the Pittsburgh Pirates took LSU outfielder Derek Curiel to round out the top five.
None were in attendance at the second floor of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where the proceedings went from feckless Journey sing-along to commissioner Rob Manfred announcing a draft pick to a DJ spinning Snoop Dogg to a stilted Hollywood Walk of Fame fan trivia contest.
The mascot plushy toss was a real low point and the afternoon’s content Frankenstein was a perfect metaphor for MLB’s jumbled attempts to build the event into a must-see show – a worthy endeavour still trying to find the right mix.
Indiana State outfielder Carter Beck of Candruff, Sask., was the first Canadian picked in the draft, going to the Atlanta Braves at No. 26. Prep infielder Taj Marchand, whose father Hugo is a native Montrealer and was a seventh-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1997, went to the Rays at No. 33.
Carlon was the first of four picks the Blue Jays have in the first five rounds, along with 103, 131 and 164.
