diff --git a/debezium-connector-mysql/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/mysql/AbstractReader.java b/debezium-connector-mysql/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/mysql/AbstractReader.java
index 2940e71ae..e4b5fe12e 100644
--- a/debezium-connector-mysql/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/mysql/AbstractReader.java
+++ b/debezium-connector-mysql/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/mysql/AbstractReader.java
@@ -98,9 +98,17 @@ public void start() {
     @Override
     public void stop() {
         try {
+            // Emptying the queue so to make sure that enqueue() won't block indefinitely when adding records after
+            // poll() isn't called anymore but before the binlog reader is stopped; note there's still a tiny chance for
+            // this to happen if enough records are added again between here and the call to disconnect(); protecting
+            // against it seems not worth though it as shouldn't happen for any practical queue size
+            List<SourceRecord> unsent = new ArrayList<>();
+            records.drainTo(unsent);
+            logger.info("Discarding {} unsent record(s) due to the connector shutting down", unsent.size());
             doStop();
             running.set(false);
-        } finally {
+        }
+        finally {
             if (failure.get() != null) {
                 // We had a failure and it was propagated via poll(), after which Kafka Connect will stop
                 // the connector, which will stop the task that will then stop this reader via this method.