One of the Toronto Blue Jays’ picks from the 2025 happens to be the New Zealand-born, Canadian-raised Micah Bucknam, who ranks as our 19th-best Canadian prospect heading into the 2026 season.
# 19 – Micah Bucknam
Hometown: Abbotsford, British Columbia
Organization: Toronto Blue Jays
Draft: Fourth round, 2025 (TOR)
Position: Pitcher
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
The 2025 draft wasn’t the first time the Jays selected Bucknam in the draft. In the 2021 draft, the only Canadian team selected the right-handed pitcher from the Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
However, Bucknam elected to honour his commitment to Louisiana State University. Aside from pitching a summer in the MLB Draft League, Bucknam didn’t pitch all that much in 2022. Instead, he made his college debut with LSU in 2023. He only pitched seven innings, walking three batters in those eight games. Although Bucknam saw limited action, the LSU Tigers went on to win the College World Series that summer.
After a solid summer league in 2023, Bucknam once again struggled in 2024, posting a 7 ERA in nine innings of work, with three walks.
It was clear that Bucknam wasn’t going to get much time with LSU, so for the 2025 season, he transferred to Dallas Baptist.
2025 season
Bucknam got the playing time he needed, starting all 13 games he appeared in. In those 13 games, the right-handed pitcher had a 4.62 ERA and 3.67 FIP. More importantly, he struck out 29.4% of the batters he faced with a 9.2 BB%.
Entering the 2025 draft, Bucknam ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 131st-best draft prospect, and then with the Jays selected the 22-year-old with the 112th overall pick. As is the case with most pitchers that the Blue Jays drafted, Bucknam didn’t pitch in the organization in the following months, instead heading to the Player Development Complex.
Shortly after the draft, Bucknam slotted in as the Blue Jays 16th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline’s. The fastball, which sits 92-96 mph, is graded as average. What could make him such an effective arm is his breaking stuff, throwing a hard slider which is graded at 65, while his curveball (which is actually just a different variation of the slider) has a 60 grade. Changeup and command lags behind the breaking stuff.
Looking ahead to 2026
It’s almost certain that Bucknam will begin the 2026 season with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays. That said, he could be a fast-moving prospect in the system thanks to his age and potential.
Bucknam will no doubt get a long look as a starter, but to reach that next level, MLB Pipeline notes he’ll need to develop his changeup while also throwing his fastball for strikes. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly the Canadian prospect will raise up the Blue Jays’ system this coming year.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.