The Toronto Blue Jays picked Air Force first baseman Sam Kulasingam in the 17th round of the MLB Draft on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound, switch-hitting, two-time Mountain West Player of the Year hit .426 with a .537 on-base percentage for Air Force in 2023, as he helped the team to within one win of defending the conference tournament title it captured for the first time in program history in 2022.
It is no certainty that Kulasingam will sign with the Blue Jays. If he does not, he can return to the Falcons for his senior year and be draft-eligible again in a year.
If he does sign, he will still return to Air Force to finish his senior year at the academy but will not be eligible to play on the baseball team.
Bonus money can vary greatly in the later rounds, depending on how teams use their allotted funds elsewhere. In 2022 the Baltimore Orioles gave 17th-round pick Carter Young $1.325 million to lure the shortstop out of his senior year at Vanderbilt.
Only one other signee in last year’s 17th round was given more than $125,000, and five of the players did not sign.
Because Kulasingam is grandfathered under the previous policy that allows athletes to delay active-duty service to play professional sports, Kulasingam probably will be able to play immediately after his senior year if he signs with Toronto, or immediately following the 2024 draft if he does not sign this year and is picked again.
The first of the 614 players taken in this year's 20-round draft was former Air Force pitcher/catcher Paul Skenes, who transferred to LSU following his sophomore year and was taken No. 1 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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