Jake McCoy won't be joining the Toronto Blue Jays after all. The left-hander announced Wednesday he's transferring to Tennessee for another college season instead of turning pro.
Toronto selected McCoy in the 18th round, 552nd overall, back on day two of this year's draft.
He was ranked 152nd overall by MLB Pipeline heading into the draft, but teams stayed away after he missed the entire 2026 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
That injury history, combined with his commitment, dropped him all the way to that 18th round slot in the first place.
His last healthy season came in 2025 at South Carolina, where he went 4-5 with a 6.90 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP across 14 starts.
The strikeouts were always the selling point, though. He racked up 77 strikeouts over 60 innings that year, real swing-and-miss stuff hiding underneath rougher overall numbers.
Across two seasons with the Gamecocks, McCoy sits at 5-5 with an 8.41 ERA and a 1.72 WHIP over 76 innings, a tough collegiate résumé by any measure.
Why his Cape Cod League summer still turns heads
The stuff behind those college numbers looked completely different last summer. In three Cape Cod League starts, McCoy posted a 2.19 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP, striking out 25 of the 54 batters he faced.
His fastball sat 94 to 95 miles per hour and touched 98, backed by a four-pitch mix that kept opposing wood-bat hitters off balance all summer.
That's the arm talent that made Toronto take a shot on him this late in the draft in the first place.
It's a bit like a car with a great engine and a rough paint job. Buyers stay away from the surface issues even when the parts underneath still run fine.
Does another year at Tennessee actually help McCoy prove he's healthy, or does it just delay the same questions that pushed him to the 18th round this time around?
Toronto walks away with the bonus pool savings freed up by his decision, while McCoy bets on himself for a better draft slot in 2027.
Was Jake McCoy right to bet on himself and return to college instead of signing with the Blue Jays?
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