The Toronto Blue Jays have made their first pick of day two of the 2026 MLB Draft.

With the 161st overall pick, the Blue Jays selected right-handed relief prospect Nolan Higgins from Michigan State University.

Born in Commerce, Michigan, Higgins stands at 6’4”, 215 lbs and moved into a relief role in his senior year at the school. Last season, he appeared in 27 games, giving up 26 earned runs over 45 innings of work for a 5.20 ERA.

More importantly, his strikeout rate jumped significantly, jumping from 13.1% in 2025 to 30.1% in 2026, while his BB% dropped from 12.5% to 6.3%. That gave him a 3.93 FIP, the best mark of his career.

The 22-year-old, who just celebrated his birthday on July 5th, has seemed to find a niche in a relief role. His career-best season before 2026 was in his freshman season in 2023, where he had a 6.56 ERA and 6.50 FIP in 46.2 innings of work, posting a 19.4 K% and 12.3 BB%.

According to MLB.com’s broadcast, Higgins sits 93-95 mph with the heater, and touches as high as 98 mph, with a breaking ball which can either be described as a slider or curveball depending on who you speak to.

The Spartans played three Big Ten Tournament games, winning two before falling in their third. Higgins recorded the final outs in the two victories, striking out four over one and two-thirds innings.

Higgins is a senior reliever, which means that he’ll clearly be under-slotted in this position. The slot value for this pick is about $421,300, expect him to sign less as the Jays need to save money to be able to sign their fourth-round selection, Will Brick.