The Blue Jays already have two sons of Hall of Famers starting for the team this year, and on Wednesday they selected the son of another, Toronto icon Roy Halladay, in the MLB draft.
Braden Halladay, a right-handed pitcher out of Calvary Christian High School in Clearwater, Florida, was drafted by the Jays in the 32nd round. Roy Halladay wore No. 32 in the 12 seasons he spent with the Blue Jays from 1998 to 2009.
Braden Halladay has committed to play college baseball at Penn State and said in a tweet Wednesday that the Blue Jays understand he intends to play college ball instead of turning professional right after high school.
Thank you @BlueJays for drafting me in the 32nd round today! It's a great honor! It's with mutual understanding that I'll still be honoring my commitment to Penn State! I look forward to college and bettering myself as a player and person, thank you to all who have supported me! pic.twitter.com/tUcKWZESPl
— Braden Halladay (@BradenHalladay) June 5, 2019
Roy Halladay, taken by the Jays in the first round of the 1995 draft, was an All-Star in six of his seasons in Toronto and won the American League Cy Young Award in 2003. He was traded to Philadelphia in 2010, winning the National League Cy Young Award with the Phillies that year.
The senior Halladay retired after the 2013 season, and died four years later, on Nov. 7, 2017, when his amphibious plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.
The Blue Jays organization posthumously retired Halladay's No. 32 in 2018, and he was posthumously elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in January, in his first appearance on the ballot.
Rookie third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, and rookie second baseman Cavan Biggio, the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, are both starting for the Blue Jays this season.