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Blue Jays 2026 Draft: History of the 193rd overall pick
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Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 30, 2026, 13:15 EDTUpdated: Jun 30, 2026, 19:42 EDT
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Of the 19 picks that the Toronto Blue Jays have at the 2026 Major League Baseball draft, three selections have produced a Hall of Famer.
The 39th overall pick was used to select Barry Bonds, who is the greatest hitter of all-time. Bonds didn’t end up signing after the San Francisco Giants selected him in the 1982 draft, but he eventually found his way to the team and went on to hit the most home runs in MLB history.
The 193rd overall has also seen an all-time great drafted in the spot, albeit he also didn’t sign. In the 1965 draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers selected Tom Seaver with the 193rd overall selection, but he ended up a New York Met after electing to re-enter the draft in the following winter.
From 1967, the beginning of his big league career, until 1978, Seaver missed just one All-Star game, finishing his career as a 12-time All-Star. Seaver also won the National League Rookie of the Year in 1967, then one of his three NL Cy Young Awards in 1969. That same season, the Mets knocked off the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, earning the moniker of “Miracle Mets”.
Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992, a well deserved honour for one of the best pitchers of all time.

Notable players selected 193rd overall

The Blue Jays have selected 193rd three times in franchise history. In 1983, they selected outfielder Ken Whitfield with the selection. Whitfield played four seasons in the Blue Jays’ lower minors, but departed the team and sat out the 1987 season. He returned for a cup of tea in the Cleveland Guardians’ system, playing 19 Triple-A games, but he retired following the 1991 season.
In 1999, the Jays selected high school pitcher D.J. Hanson. Like Whitfield, he never made the big leagues, pitching in 63 games before calling it a career following the 2003 season. Hanson and Whitfield are the lone players selected 193rd  by the Jays, and in fact, no player selected 193rd has gone on to play for the Blue Jays.
Another player who pitched in the organization was Kyle Johnston. They acquired the right-handed pitcher from the Washington Nationals for Daniel Hudson before the 2019 trade deadline. Hudson went on to throw the final pitch of the 2019 season, as the Nationals captured their first and only World Series. Johnston reached as high as the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons in 2023.
The player selected 193rd overall with the second-most bWAR, Dave Heaverlo, also didn’t sign. A right-handed pitcher, Heaverlo pitched in seven big league seasons, spending time with the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and Seattle Mariners.
Matt Capps has the highest bWAR of any player who signed after being selected 193rd overall. Over eight big league seasons, Capps finished his career with a 3.52 ERA and 3.92 FIP in 439.2 innings of work, earning a nod to the All-Star game in 2010.
Ray Delgado was selected 193rd overall in the 2018 draft, but only made his big league debut with the Tampa Bay Rays this season. He’s one of three players selected 193rd overall to make their debut this season, joining Houston Astros’ Collin Price (2022) and Los Angeles Angels’ George Klassen.
There are four other notable players. Scott Maine played 50 big league games, spending parts of three seasons with the Chicago Cubs from 2010 until 2012, as well as nine games with the Cleveland Guardians. After the Guardians DFA’d Maine, the Jays claimed him off waivers, but he never pitched in the organization.
John Knox spent the early 1970s with the Detroit Tigers, slashing .274/.335/.301 with no home runs over his 124 games in his big league career. Byran Holaday spent 10 seasons in the big leagues, amassing 301 career games where he slashed .236/.282/.330 with 10 home runs in 802 plate appearances.
As for the other notable player selected 193rd overall, the Minnesota Twins selected Andre David 193rd in the 1980 draft. Just a year prior, they selected him in the 14th round, but he elected not to sign. On June 29th, 1984, David made his big league debut, hitting his one and only home run in his first at-bat. He played another 37 games, with his final big league season being in 1986.

Other history of a pick…

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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