Blue Jays selected Johnny King IV with the 95th overall pick in the 2024 draft

Over the years, the Jays have shown a propensity to select young, tall, left-handed pitchers with plus stuff. In the third round of the 2021 draft, the Blue Jays selected Ricky Tiedemann. With the first round pick in 2022, they selected Brandon Barriera. So it’s not shocking they selected King IV with their third-round pick.

He also happens to be the first prep player the Blue Jays picked, as King attended Naples High School and is committed to Miami University. Unfortunately, they aren’t stats for King IV.

However, King IV ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 124th best available draft prospect, quite a bit below the 95th pick the Jays drafted him with. Either way, he stands at 6’3”, 210 lb and won’t turn 18 years old for another 11 days.

The stuff is good, as the fastball and slider rank above-average, while the changeup is average. He sits in the low 90s with the heater, but it has a ton of life and can touch 94-95 mph. Moreover, as he fills out his frame, his average velocity may jump up.

Although his curveball doesn’t have a grade, Pipeline’s bio notes that it is a “high-spin power curve” that can get outs. He uses his slurve (slider) to strikeout left-handed batters, and the changeup is developing but has a good feel for it. Pipeline notes that his ceiling is as a mid-rotation starter.

The slot value for this pick is $767,200 and there’s a chance the Blue Jays over slot him given he is a prep pitcher. Toronto has a signing bonus pool of $8.897 million, so we’ll see how much of that King IV takes up.