Blue Jays Nation’s Mid-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 31: Connor O’Halloran

Photo credit: Michigan Photography

Aug 20, 2023, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 19, 2023, 21:54 EDT

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.