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BJN Draft Profiles: Cade Townsend is a high-strikeout college arm

Photo credit: © Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

By Ryley Delaney

Jul 3, 2026, 11:30 EDTUpdated: Jul 3, 2026, 10:45 EDT

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Two of the Toronto Blue Jays’ first round picks since the 2021 draft have been selected out of the state of Mississippi.

Just last year, the Blue Jays selected JoJo Parker eighth overall from Purvis High School, in Purvis Mississippi. Early in his professional career, it’s already starting to look like a good draft pick.

Four drafts before they selected Parker, the Blue Jays selected Gunnar Hoglund with the 19th overall pick. Hoglund never pitched in the Jays organization, instead being shipped off to the Oakland Athletics for Matt Chapman.

It’s one of six times the Blue Jays selected a player from the University of Mississippi, with four of the six selections being pitchers. Well, there may be another opportunity to select a right-handed pitcher from the University of Mississippi.

Scouting report

Cade Townsend is a 21-year-old right-handed who has pitched two seasons at Mississippi. He stands at 6’1”, 185 lbs and ranks as MLB Pipeline’s 35th-best draft eligible prospect. Similarly, The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Townsend as his 37th-best prospect.

The name of the game for Townsend his stuff with average command. His fastball, graded 55 by Pipeline, sits in the mid-90s but tops out at 98 mph. It’s not even his best pitch, though, as Pipeline grades his slider, cutter, and curveball at 60 (plus pitch).

Even his fifth pitch, a changeup, grades out as average. On top of all that, Townsend has good control, given a 50 grade by Pipeline. Law notes he’s a mid-rotation arm with reliever risk, but he’s a good bet if he falls to the 39th overall pick.

The statistics

Townsend’s stuff is great, but the same cannot be said for his numbers at Ole Miss. His freshman season saw him post a 6.35 ERA and 4.99 FIP in 34 innings pitched, starting eight of the 15 games he appeared in. While he had a strong K% of 28.1%, the command and control just wasn’t there in 2025, finishing the season with a 13.1 BB%.

His numbers improved across the board this past season, as Townsend’s BB% dropped to 8%, while his BB% jumped to 31.9%. Still, he wasn’t dominant in 2026, finishing the season with a 3.94 ERA and 4.13 FIP in 64 innings pitched. Good, but not great.

What Townsend can offer the Blue Jays

Townsend is a college pitcher with good stuff, meaning that he’ll be up in the upper-minors in a short amount of time, and able to contribute to the big league team in potentially two or fewer years. With a mid-rotation ceiling, Townsend has the potential to become a staple of the Jays’ rotation, even with numerous pitching prospects on the way.

If you want a gameplan of how the Blue Jays would develop a college pitcher selected with their first pick of a draft, look no further than the last three times that’s happened. Trey Yesavage was drafted 20th overall in 2024, made his professional debut in Single-A in April 2025, then was with the big league team by September of that year.

Hoglund didn’t have the same impact, but a big reason for that (aside from the trade) is because he received Tommy John surgery shortly before the Jays selected him in the 2021 draft. Hoglund still provided value to the Blue Jays, as he was the key piece in return for Matt Chapman.

Alek Manoah was drafted 11th overall in 2019, and he pitched just 35 minor league innings before forcing his way into the Blue Jays rotation in May 2021. While the pandemic was a big reason for so few innings, the Jays viewed him as their ace for two years before struggling in 2023 and beyond.

It’s easy to envision Townsend in the big league before the end of the 2028 season if the Blue Jays end up calling his 39th overall.