The Toronto Blue Jays spent the 2026 MLB Draft piling up arms, then kept going after it ended.
Toronto took nine pitchers overall, starting with Cole Carlon at No. 39 and later grabbing Nolan Higgins in the fifth round. The run on pitching got even heavier in the middle and late rounds, when the Blue Jays went from picks 12 through 18 without selecting anyone but pitchers.
Then came four more. After the draft, Toronto signed Reese Bassinger, Dax Dathe, Devon King and Gavin Seebold, taking advantage of the fact that the draft only runs 20 rounds and leaves plenty of senior college pitchers available to sign.
Bassinger, a right-hander listed at six-foot-one and 185 pounds, spent the last two seasons at the University of West Virginia. This year, he went 4-3 in 31 games with a 3.30 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He struck out 64 batters in 60 innings, worked solely out of the bullpen and picked up two saves.
Dathe had limited time at LSU this season, but his 2025 work at Angelo State University stood out. He finished 8-1 with a 2.99 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP in 15 games, including 13 starts. Over 72.1 innings, he piled up 98 strikeouts.
King came out of the University of California, San Diego and spent three seasons with the Tritons. In that span, he posted a 5.21 ERA in 54 games. This past season, he logged 33.2 innings, struck out 37 and put up a 3.48 ERA with a 1.04 WHIP.
Seebold, from the University of Indiana, also added to the group. The right-hander worked 44.1 innings in 17 games this season, finishing with a 4.67 ERA, a 1.49 WHIP, 56 strikeouts and two saves.
All of that pitching traffic raises a bigger question about what Toronto is building toward.
The Blue Jays reached the All-Star break at 45-51, sitting 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. One strong week could change the picture, but their recent internal numbers suggest they may need help from outside the organization to make that happen.
That’s where the trade deadline comes in. Last year, Toronto used some of its pitching prospect capital to land Shane Bieber, Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez. Another move like that would mean parting with more young arms, and the Blue Jays have some names that could draw interest, including Johnny King and Nolan Perry, who just appeared in the MLB Futures Game.
Toronto has not exactly built a reputation for developing pitchers smoothly, which makes this sudden wave of arms more notable. If the organization believes its pipeline is finally taking shape, Ross Atkins could have enough pitching depth to make another deal or two before the deadline.
In Other News...
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For Toronto, it is another reminder of how much value can come from the right fit at the right time. Clement has gone from a player searching for stability to the clubs everyday second baseman, and his breakout has only grown louder with his postseason production and a spot among the Blue Jays four representatives at the 2026 MLB All-Star Game. [Read more 🡒]
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The numbers behind the buzz are strong enough to explain why the betting board has tightened around him, even with other names still hanging around the top of the race. Drew Rasmussen, Gavin Williams and Sonny Gray all have cases of their own, which is part of what makes this feel less like a one-man chase and more like a crowded second-half race. For the Blue Jays, the bigger question now is whether Cease can turn a strong first half into something that keeps him in the award picture all the way to the finish. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Fans Still Cant Believe How Yordan Alvarez Ended Up In Houston
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The most striking example is still the one Houston fans cannot quite get over, because the path that brought Yordan Alvarez there was so unlikely it has become part of baseball lore. Elsewhere in the All-Star mix, players like Clement and Griffin were reminders that a stalled career can still be revived, whether through a change of scenery or a long route back to relevance. For Toronto, it all serves as a useful backdrop to the kind of pitching and roster-building the club is betting on now, even if one of the nights biggest stories was how thin the line can be between a forgotten transaction and a franchise-changing one. [Read more 🡒]