With the 514th overall pick, the Blue Jays have selected Sam Kulasignam

Photo credit:Matt Dirksen/AP

4 months ago

The Blue Jays stuck with a position player with their 514th overall pick.

Toronto selected Sam Kulasingam, a first baseman, out of the United States Air Force Academy. They play in the Mountain West Conference, a Division I school in NCAA.

With USAFA, he slashed .426/.537/.655 with six homers in 294 plate appearances, and he walked significantly more (17 BB%) than he struck out (8.2 K%). Although he didn’t hit for a ton of power in 2023, he slashed .411/.487/.683 with 12 homers in 310 plate appearances the year prior, although he struck out one more time than he walked.

The Blue Jays really like their first basemen that can hit for average. We have already seen Spencer Horwitz had a few plate appearances with the Jays this season. However, they also selected Peyton Williams (career .317/.455/.593 slash line in college) and Alan Roden (career .383/.484/.640 slash line in college) in the 2022 draft. Although it’s worth noting Roden has only played the outfield as a pro.

Kulasingam, who only turned 22 years old on Monday, has experience playing in the outfield, as he played 10 games for the New Port Gulls in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a summer ball league. If you’re curious, he slashed .383/.465/.517 with two homers in 71 plate appearances with the Gulls in 2023.

It’ll be interesting to see how Kulasingam’s career shakes out, but I am intrigued.