Roy Halladay's Son Braden Selected by Blue Jays in 32nd Round of 2019 MLB Draft
June 5, 2019
Braden Halladay, the son of the late Roy Halladay, was selected in the 32nd round of the MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, Halladay will be playing for the Penn State Nittany Lions next season.
Even though Halladay is heading to play college ball, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said the team was "glad to have drafted him," per broadcaster Hazel Mae.
There was no doubt some symbolism in the selection—Roy Halladay spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the Blue Jays, wearing No. 32 for the majority of his time with the team.
He was an eight-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young Award winner and was elected into the Hall of Fame this year. He died in 2017 after a plane crash off the coast of Florida.
His son Braden helped lead Calvary Christian to a Florida Class 4A state championship this past season, earning him praise from manager Greg Olsen, per Eric Horchy of TBNWeekly.com:
"What we've had with Christian [Cairo] and Josh [Emerson] and Braden [Halladay] and Nolan [Hudi], we had really, really high character seniors and talented kids. These guys are going to major universities to play college baseball. I wouldn't want to sell them short on the baseball end at all but as far as who they are as people and leaders for our team, they were huge."
According to MaxPreps, Halladay made 11 appearances (six starts) on the mound in the 2019 season, finishing 3-1 with a 4.06 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 31 innings. For his high school career, he was 14-2 with a 2.71 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 100.2 innings.