TORONTO — The Blue Jays have agreed to a $2.4 million bonus with their first pick from the 2026 MLB Draft, lefty Cole Carlon.
The bonus, first reported by MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, comes in just below the slot value for the No. 39 pick, which is $2,571,700. The Blue Jays did not pick in the first round because they, along with the Dodgers, Mets, Phillies and Yankees, received a 10-pick penalty on their first pick for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax, which bumped them back to No. 39.
Carlon is a powerhouse on the mound, every bit of 6-foot-5, 230 pounds with the ability to touch triple digits. Callis also calls his slider the best in the MLB Draft, and the Blue Jays were thrilled to land the Arizona State product where they did, expecting him to be off the board by the time they got their first crack at the Draft.
“One of my friends texted me after, and I was laughing about the way he put it. He said that ‘He’s got two October pitches,’” said director of amateur scouting Marc Tramuta. “I felt like that was a good characterization of the fastball and slider that are currently in place. We just like the big physicality at 6-foot-5. We think there’s some athleticism to his delivery.”
Carlon’s 133 strikeouts over just 83 2/3 innings ranked fifth in Division 1 this past NCAA season, and given the Blue Jays’ success with Trey Yesavage coming out of college, it’s easy to dream on how quickly Carlon could climb the ladder.
Given his NCAA workload this season, which was already ramping up from a bullpen role in previous seasons, don’t expect the Blue Jays to push Carlon much more in 2026. It’s possible he’s shut down entirely and spends the rest of this summer focused on development at the club’s complex in Dunedin, Fla., but once Carlon gets on a mound, he’ll be a must-watch prospect in this system.
“He throws backwards. He throws his slider more than any other pitch,” said Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo on MLB Network’s Draft coverage. “He throws that about 52% of the time. You look at how big this guy is, I see Robbie Ray, just a bigger version of him. The Blue Jays had [Ray]. This guy is going to come at you, but you’re going to be guessing. Are you going to get a 100 mph pitch or are you going to get a slider that has incredible movement?”
Money matters, of course, especially with the Blue Jays having the second-smallest bonus pool in the Draft. Coming in roughly $170,000 below the slot value on Carlon’s pick is valuable, along with some of the bonus pool money the Blue Jays are expected to save in rounds four through 10, where they went heavy on college picks. All of these arrows point to catcher Will Brick, the high schooler who represents the Blue Jays’ “big swing” of this class.
Brick was widely considered the best prep catcher in this class and had been connected to the Blue Jays as early as the No. 39 pick, but they landed him in the fourth round (No. 131) and are expected to make an aggressive, over-slot play to land him. An excellent defensive catcher, Brick’s power also has Tramuta and the Blue Jays’ scouting group excited. Presuming the Blue Jays pull this off, which would be a major win for their farm system, Brick would immediately become one of the highest-upside position players in Toronto’s Top 30.
