Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 31: Connor O’Halloran
1 month ago
Next up on our countdown is a Canadian pitcher who the Blue Jays recently drafted.
Just a quick recap of the mid-season list: We’ll look at the player’s stats, my observations, and finally other publications (Prospects Live, MLB Pipeline, Baseball America)’ scouting reports.
In this article, we’ll be looking at 2023 draftee Connor O’Halloran.
Getting to know Connor O’Halloran…
Position: Starting Pitcher
Throws: Left
Born: September 1, 2002
Acquired: 5th round, 2023 draft (Blue Jays)
Current Team: Single-A Dunedin
Previous Ranking: Not ranked
Like with all 2023 draftees, the 20-year-old Canadian doesn’t have a large sample size of professional work. He made his professional debut on Friday, finishing with a line of 2 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, giving him a 4.50 ERA on the season.
However, he ate a ton of innings for the University of Michigan in 2023, posting a 4.11 ERA in 103 innings pitched, along with a 25.5 K% and a 6 BB%. Coming into the draft, he ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 164th-best draft prospect, and was selected with the 157th pick.
Pipeline notes that O’Halloran was the first pitcher in the University of Michigan’s history to hit 100 strikeouts twice. His bio also states that he’s one of the more polished lefties that was available in the draft.
Despite only sitting in the high-80s with the fastball, he has great deception which makes the fastball play up. He also features a changeup with some fade, but his best pitch is his slider which has a ton of sweep and can be used against both righties and lefties. O’Halloran also has good control and command of his pitches. Sort of reminds you of a certain Korean pitcher on the Blue Jays.
MLB Pipeline also notes that he has the floor of a back-of-the-rotation starter, meaning he has a good chance at becoming a major league pitcher at some point in his career. However, it appears he’d need to do that as a starter, as I’m unsure of how his high-80s fastball would play out of the pen.
Next up…
In the next article, we’ll stick with a left-handed pitcher who has some intriguing stuff in the lower minors, so stay tuned!
In case you missed it…
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 50: Garrett Spain
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 49: Connor Cooke
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 48: Michael Dominguez
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 47: Alejandro Melean
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 46: Trenton Wallace
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 45: Brennan Orf
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 44: Robert Robertis
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 43: Sam Shaw
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 42: Rafael Lantigua
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 41: Yhoangel Aponte
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 40: Nick Goodwin
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 39: Irv Carter
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 38: Jimmy Robbins
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 37: Otto López
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 36: Peyton Williams
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 35: Trent Palmer
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 34: C.J. Van Eyk
- Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 33: Dasan Brown
As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads @Brennan_L_D.
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