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Blue Jays 2026 Draft: History of the 164th overall pick
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 29, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 29, 2026, 21:16 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays’ first pick on day two of the draft is the 164th overall pick.
It’ll be the first time in franchise history drafting from that spot, but there have been a handful of players drafted 164th overall who have gone on to play for Canada’s team, including a current player on their 40-man roster.
Let’s take a look at the notable players selected 164th overall.

Notable players selected 164th overall

Last off-season, the Blue Jays traded pitching prospect Johan Simon to the Detroit Tigers for Chase Lee, who was picked 164th overall by the Texas Rangers in 2021. 
Lee pitched in 32 games with the Tigers in 2025, but has gotten into just three games with the Jays this season, where he has an 8.10 ERA and 13.90 FIP. The right-handed pitcher has better numbers in Triple-A, a 2.27 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 31.2 innings of work.
Drafted in 1987, Mickey Morandini has the highest bWAR of any player ever drafted 164th overall.  Morandini didn’t sign that time around, but he retired as a Blue Jay after parts of nine seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2000, he appeared in 35 games with the Jays, slashing .271/.316/.308. Before the start of the 2000 season, he signed with the Montréal Expos, but was traded to the Phillies for a second stint.
In 1995, he went to his only All-Star game, then earned MVP votes when he was with the Chicago Cubs in 1998. What Morandini is most famous for is turning an unassisted triple play in 1992, the first since 1968. A year later, the Blue Jays defeated Morandini and the Phillies in the World Series.
Mark Ross, drafted by the Houston Astros in 1979, appeared in 27 big league games, three of them coming with the Blue Jays in 1988. Over seven and one-third innings, he allowed four earned runs. For his career, he had a 3.83 ERA and 4.19 FIP in 42.1 innings of work.
Jacob Brumfield was drafted 164th overall in the 1983 draft by the Cubs, but didn’t make his big league debut until 1993 with the Cincinnati Reds. In May 1996, the Jays sent D.J. Boston to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Brumfield, who was released at the end of the season.
By 1999, Brumfield found his way to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was waived and claimed by the Jays. He was released again the following off-season, but signed shortly after, though he never appeared in a big league game. Over three seasons with the Jays, he slashed .238/.301/.379.
One of Brumfield’s teammates on the 1999 Blue Jays was John Bale. The left-handed pitcher was drafted 164th overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 1995, but elected not to sign. He was drafted a year later by the Jays, and made his debut in 1999 where he hurled just two innings.
The following season, Bale pitched just three and two-thirds innings, then was traded to the Orioles for Jayson Werth shortly after the 2000 season. Werth also didn’t play that many games with the Jays, but toward the end of his career, Werth was teammates with current Blue Jay, Max Scherzer.
Bale was drafted 164th overall by the Orioles, but elected no to sign and was drafted by the Jays the following draft. Jacob Latz was the opposite of that. The Jays drafted Latz in the 11th round of the 2014 draft, but he elected to go to Kent State. Three drafts later, the Rangers selected Latz 164th, where he remains to this day.
Latz’ current manager, Skip Schumaker, was also drafted 164th overall. The Cardinals drafted the outfielder/second baseman in 2001, and he helped them win the World Series in 2011. Over his 11 year career, Schumaker slashed .278/.337/.364 with 28 homers in 1,149 games.
While he’s the current manager of the Rangers, Schumaker got his start managing the Miami Marlins in 2023, the same year he won Manager of the Year. He replaced former Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly as the Marlins’ bench boss, who we’ll get to at some point in this series.
The following season, George Kontos won the World Series with the San Francisco Giants as a rookie. Selected in the 2006 draft by the New York Yankees, Kontos pitched eight seasons in the big leagues, appearing in 350 games authoring a 3.05 ERA and 3.70 FIP. His 3.9 bWAR is the second-most ever accumulated by a player selected (and signed) at the 164th overall selection.
As for the highest bWAR of any player to sign after being selected 164th overall, that title belongs to Scott Karl. In just six seasons, he pitched 1,002 innings, finishing with a 4.81 ERA and 4.87 FIP for an 8.4 bWAR. He also happens to one of a handful of players to wear Jackie Robinson’s legendary #42 after its league-wide retirement in 1997.

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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