Blue Jays prospect Josh Mollerus reflects on the MLB Draft and first taste of professional baseball

Baseball has taken Blue Jays prospect Josh Mollerus to all different parts of the country but at the collegiate level, the right-hander stayed true to his roots on the West Coast. Originally attending the University of San Francisco, Mollerus spent four seasons with the Dons before switching in 2023 to join the Ducks program at the University of Oregon.

On a team boasting fellow Canadians in Matthew Grabmann and Turner Spoljaric in the pitching corps, Mollerus stood out in the Ducks bullpen, with his 28 outings ranking third on the squad while working as the team’s closer, accumulating 11 saves on the year through 36.2 innings. He finished the 2023 season with 50 strikeouts (fourth best), a 12.3 K/9 and a 1.227 WHIP, which helped him earn ABCA/Rawlings second-team All-West Region honours.

Last season, Oregon advanced out of the regional tournament in the College World Series and faced a tough Oral Roberts squad in the super regionals, eventually dropping out while the Golden Eagles advanced. For Mollerus, the senior pitcher appeared in all three contests and allowed two runs through 2 2/3 innings while striking out two.

Blue Jays prospect Josh Mollerus talks about the MLB Draft and his first experience in profesional baseball

After a successful campaign in Oregon, Mollerus found his name on the MLB Draft radar and became a day-two selection, going to the Blue Jays in the tenth round and one of the sixth Ducks players drafted that season.

“I had a few talks with teams throughout the season and after the season ended it picked up,” Mollerus said to Blue Jays Nation. “I knew I wasn’t going to be a day 1 pick and the next day was where I thought I would be going. I didn’t really hear anything over the first few hours and I started to get my day going, throwing and working out, and I was getting word from my advisor on possible movement from teams. It was when I was throwing when I started getting texts from some old friends at San Francisco that I found out I was drafted by the Blue Jays, and then the calls really started coming in.”

After the initial welcome at the Blue Jays player development complex, Mollerus finished out the season in single-A Dunedin, making 11 relief appearances and throwing 13 1/3 innings to round out the calendar year.

“It was super great to get drafted by the Blue Jays… a few days after the draft I was flown out to Florida and went through physicals and paperwork before a two-week draft camp with the organization,” Mollerus said. “Started to get into bullpens, and me and Kelena Sauer got into some game action with Dunedin about two weeks after the draft.” Sauer, like Mollerus was a 2023 draft pick (15th round).