Blue Jays grab pitcher Nolan Higgins with fifth pick in 2026 MLB Draft

The Toronto Blue Jays used their fifth round pick to select another tall starting pitcher. After getting six-foot-five Cole Carlon in the first round (No. 39 overall) the Blue Jays selected six-foot-four right-hander Nolan Higgins out of Michigan state with the No. 164 pick.

The 22-year-old Higgins posted mixed results during his college career. He has big strikeout potential, evidence by his 62 strikeouts in 45 innings during his senior year, while allowing only 13 walks and six home runs. But he also allowed the opposition to make a ton of contact, giving up 54 hits and allowing 34 runs (26 earned runs) attributing to a 1.48 WHIP and 10.8 H/9.

He pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in his senior year after being a part of the Spartans rotation for the first three years in college. He showed a knack for coming through in the clutch by finishing off back-to-back games in the Big Ten Tournament, knocking out the No. 5 seed Purdue on May 19 and the No. 8 seed Iowa the next day.

Higgins pitched a ton of innings over his career, finishing with 187.1, topping 60 innings during the 2025 season. He also had some really good stretches to end his time with Michigan. He did not allow a run of any kind in 13 outings, including a stretch of four-straight outings (April 17-26) and he did not yield an earned run in 16 outings, including the final six-straight games of season, highlighted by all three appearances in the B1G Tournament. Higgins also dominated in the zone as he did not give up a walk in 17 outings on the season, including a five-game stretch (April 17-26) and in the last four games of season.

Higgins faces a similar profile to Blue Jays first round pick Cole Carlon

Both pitchers the Blue Jays have drafted in 2026 so far could profile as starters but it wouldn't be a surprise to any scouts if they made it to the big leagues as relievers. While the goal is always to get length out of the guys you draft in the earlier rounds, you also need to develop guys that can be shut down arms at the back of the bullpen.

Carlon, according to Blue Jays amateur scouting director Marc Tramuta, has "two October pitches" in his fastball and slider. Evaluators saw his fastball get up to 100 and they graded his slider as "plus to better." The Blue Jays really see an opportunity to develop Carlon's changeup to help him stick as a starter.

That could be similar to Higgins who will likely enter the Blue Jays system with the development team looking at ways to mold him into a starter, but if that doesn't work they can fall back on his effectiveness as a back end option out of the bullpen.

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