PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball’s Cole Carlon became the first player drafted in the first round for the program since 2020 after being selected with the 39th overall pick by the Toronto Blue Jays on the first day of the 2026 MLB Draft on Saturday.
Carlon became the 53rd overall first round selection for the Sun Devil Baseball program - including supplemental, competitive balance, secondary and January drafts (the latter of which do not exist anymore) - a tally that leads all Division I programs. He is the 31st first round selection in the primary MLB Draft including supplemental rounds, a total that trails only Stanford’s 33 such selections. He is the 22nd Sun Devil selected simply in the primary MLB Draft’s first round - without supplemental picks - which is fourth among all Division I programs.
The southpaw is the first Sun Devil to go in the first round since Spencer Torkelson and Alika Williams in 2020. He is the 487th all-time MLB Draft selection for the Sun Devils - also a tally that leads all Division I programs.
Carlon is Arizona State’s highest drafted pitcher since Mike Leake was selected with the eighth overall pick of the 2009 Draft.
ASU has had at least one Top-10 round pick in all but four drafts in history (2017, 2014, 2002, 1970). Sun Devil head coach Willie Bloomquist has produced 16 top-10 round selections in his first five seasons and 28 selections overall, with Carlon representing his first First Round pick.
With Carlon’s selection, ASU has had at least one player go in the first five rounds in 10 of the last 11 drafts and in 22 of the last 24.
Carlon is coming off his second All-America campaign after being selected a third team All-American by D1Baseball. He is the first to earn All-American accolades in separate seasons since Torkelson earned the honor by at least one outlet each season from 2018-2020.
A full review of Carlon’s junior campaign and accolades can be found below.
More Sun Devils will look to have their name called on Sunday as the 2026 MLB Draft resumes with Rounds 5 through 20 and lasting throughout the day.
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Left-Handed Pitcher /// Tempe, Ariz (Corona Del Sol)
6-5 /// 230
D1Baseball All-American - Third Team (Starting Pitcher)
Big 12 All-Conference - First Team (Starting Pitcher)
The College Baseball Show Third-Team All-American
College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year Watch List
Spring Academic All-Big 12
Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award
*All notes were prior to the NCAA Regional unless otherwise noted
- Cole Carlon showed no signs that moving to a starting role fazed him this season, finishing the season ranked fifth in the nation with his 133 strikeouts and also fifth with his 14.31 strikeouts per nine innings.
- Carlon’s 12.77 career K/9 was 15th among active Division I players. His 253 career strikeouts are the fourth-most at ASU since the 1999 season. His 133 strikeouts this season are the fourth-most at ASU for a single season since 1999.
- Carlon had been at his best with traffic on the bases as he allowed just a .135 batting average against (10-for-74) with runners in scoring position - the sixth-lowest tally in the nation (min. 70 innings). He has allowed just one extra-base hit with a runner in scoring position, tied for third-lowest, prior to the regional.
- His 45 overall strikeouts with runners in scoring position are first in the country and five more than any other player. With a runner in scoring position and two outs on the board, Carlon’s 21-inning ending strikeouts are second-most in the country (min. 70 innings).
- Carlon stranded about 82.1 percent of his baserunners this season, good for 11th among D1 players with at least 70 innings of work.
- Carlon’s 95.7 MPH fastball/sinker average velocity was third-best among pitchers with 70.0+ innings of action this season. His fastest velo of the season, 100.7, was the third-best as an individual with at least 70.0 innings of work this season.
- Only 27.0 percent of Carlon’s pitches ended up in play this season, the second-lowest total nationally (min. 70 innings).
- Opponents swung and missed on 271 of Carlon’s pitches this season, the highest total in the country and 16 more than the next-closest player.
- Carlon’s overall whiff rate on pitches in the zone of 34.6 percent was tops among all pitchers with 70+ innings of work (326 total). His 44.4 overall miss percentage was also first in the nation.
- Among pitchers with at least 400 sliders thrown this season, Carlon’s .192 average against on the pitch was the 20th-lowest in the country.
- He induced an in-zone whiff percentage of 43.4 percent on the slider, which was the highest of any pitcher in the country that had thrown it at least 400 times this season and fourth-lowest among ALL pitchers with 70+ innings of work, regardless of total sliders thrown.
- Batters made contact in the zone on the slider just 59.9 percent of the time, which was the lowest total in the country (min. 400 sliders).
- Carlon was getting batters to swing on the slider 53.7 percent of the time, which was fourth-most in the country (min. 400 sliders).
- His 57.2 overall slider whiff percentage (including sliders out of the zone) was the highest in the country among those with 400+ thrown. He got batters to chase out of the zone 40.4 percent of the time, sixth-best in the country.
- His 86.7 MPH average velo on the slider was third in the nation among pitchers with at least 400 sliders thrown.