'He's got two October pitches': Blue Jays draft ASU lefty Carlon with 1st pick

SAN DIEGO -- The Blue Jays selected left-hander Cole Carlon with their first pick Saturday in the 2026 MLB Draft, at No. 39 overall.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound lefty out of Arizona State was ranked as the No. 26 prospect in the class by MLB Pipeline and provides an exciting combination of raw talent and physical upside.

“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 isn’t here to keep hitters off balance. He overwhelms them, and that power profile already has the Blue Jays’ development staff excited.

After pitching out of ASU’s bullpen for his first two seasons with the Sun Devils, the 21-year-old Carlon moved into the rotation this past season and saw his Draft stock skyrocket. With a 3.87 ERA, Carlon posted an eye-popping 133 strikeouts over 83 2/3 innings, mixing a fastball that flirts with triple digits and sits at 94 mph and an 88 mph slider that could someday be his "out" pitch in the big leagues.

“Not only does he have a fastball that can get up to 101 mph, 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?”

Carlon joins a farm system on the rise, led by some strong selections in recent Drafts and some legitimate momentum generated by the club’s player development philosophy. Entering 2025, the group was led by right-hander Trey Yesavage, who provided a development blueprint that organizations will be chasing with their top young arms for years. The system is now topped by 2025 first-rounder JoJo Parker, the No. 8 overall pick from a year ago who is currently with Single-A Dunedin.

Expected to immediately jump into the top five on the Blue Jays’ Top 30 list, where he’ll rank among the top pitching prospects in the organization alongside Nolan Perry (No. 3) and Johnny King (No. 4). Keep Yesavage’s incredible 2025 season in mind, too, when he shot all the way from Single-A to the World Series and touched every level of the farm system. It takes the right pitcher and a perfect set of circumstances, but the Blue Jays have proven to have the resources, willingness and aggression to push a talented college pitcher.

“This was only the second left-handed pitcher I’ve taken in the higher rounds. The first one was 2017 [with the Mets], David Peterson out of Oregon,” Tramuta said. “They’re similar in terms of build, but this guy just has a unique blend of power. If we can build off that arsenal, this guy fits very well into a good rotation because of the power stuff that he has.”

This kicks off an intriguing Draft for the Blue Jays, who 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. This bumped the Blue Jays’ first selection back from 29 to 39, and they’ll also be without their original second-round pick, which was forfeited when they signed Dylan Cease, who had received a qualifying offer from the Padres.

What’s that all add up to? After selecting Carlon with their first selection at No. 39, the Blue Jays won’t pick again until the final slot in the third round, No. 103. From there, the rest of the Blue Jays’ Draft will play out normally. The slot value for Carlon at No. 39 is $2,571,700.

Given that Carlon threw 83 2/3 innings this season in NCAA ball, which was already a big step up from his workload out of the bullpen in previous years, it’s possible the Blue Jays either shut him down for the season or give Carlon a very limited, controlled workload in 2026. Given his age and experience against college competition, though, Carlon has the potential to move very quickly through the Blue Jays system when his talent is fully unleashed.