TORONTO — Of the 954 players listed on opening day rosters last year, 265 of them — 27.8 per cent of the overall total — were born outside the United States. The vast majority among them came from the Dominican Republic (100) and Venezuela (63), underscoring the importance of success in international free agency.
“It may not sound like a lot, but it is fairly significant,” said Andrew Tinnish, vice-president, international scouting and baseball operations for the Toronto Blue Jays. “The risk-reward is pretty large in Latin America and the one thing I’d say, if you come out of a class and you end up with an everyday big-league player from that class, just looking historically how this works and how many players make it, that’s a pretty good outcome.”
The Blue Jays will be hoping to meet, if not exceed that standard with their haul of 25 players from the recently opened 2026 international signing period, headlined by Venezuelan catcher Juan Caricote, who signed for $1.95 million. Two other players signed just before the 2025 period closed in December — Cuban right-hander Alieski Torres for $200,000 and Dutch lefty Celwin Hurkmans for $150,000, using what remained of the extra bonus pool space acquired with Myles Straw from Cleveland last winter — join that group in providing the organization with a fresh infusion of talent.
With the Blue Jays sacrificing draft picks to sign qualified free agents in consecutive winters (Anthony Santander last off-season, Dylan Cease this one), the international market becomes an even more important pathway to maintain a productive farm system.
That’s no sure thing, of course, as players in international free agency can be as young as 16, versus 18 typically in the draft, making the market especially volatile. But the “majority of the players we sign, we’re seeing some path for them getting to the big leagues and contributing,” said Tinnish. “Obviously that’s not how things shake out, but you have to have that kind of vision when you’re evaluating and recruiting these guys.”
That being said, here’s a look at some of the bigger signings the Blue Jays made with this slate of players:
Juan Caricote, C, Venezuela ($1.95 million)
The 17-year-old is described by Tinnish as an “athletic, twitchy, strong left-handed hitting catcher. There are at times some bigger moves in the swing, but he has a whippy bat and has a pretty good idea at the plate. There’s a chance for real power. There’s a chance to be a good defender back there. He needs work. It’s going to take time. He is still learning the finer points, and we were talking about this the other day where balls that are just in the dirt, he’ll get caught in between blocking and maybe backhanding. But there are also times where you watch him catching, good arm in the lower-to-mid 90s with some life on the ball and he just looks really relaxed receiving back there. So the framework for an everyday catcher with power is there. It’s a long road to that.”
Michael Mesa, OF, Dominican Republic ($800,000)
Already six-foot-one and 190 pounds, the 17-year-old son of an athletic trainer “has a chance to be a physical monster who can hit the ball really hard,” said Tinnish. “Pretty left-handed swing with a chance to hit and do some damage. He’s really taken off physically, work ethic in the last, like year and a half or so. It’s a pretty good plan at the plate.” He’s also fiercely determined, with Tinnish recalling how about a month after a hitting session off a curveball machine went poorly, “he sent our scout a video of him hitting off a similar machine, line drives off of everything. It was less the point of, ‘Oh, I can hit a curveball now,’ and more the resilience to be like, ‘I was embarrassed. I’m going to work at it and get better.’ He’s taken that approach with like all aspects of his game.”
Aneudy Severino, OF, Dominican Republic ($700,000)
At five-foot-nine, Severino may be among the shorter players in the class, but “he could probably wrap any of these guys into a pretzel with his bare hands,” said Tinnish. “He is ridiculously strong. From a body perspective, you get somewhere between like an Adolis Garcia and a Raul Mondesi type. I have seen him hit a line drive at 108 m.p.h. off a batter’s eye on a 390-foot centre-field fence. He doesn’t have the projection Mesa and Caricote have, but it’s a very fast bat, it’s a very flat path and he can play with his barrel, get some cast. It’s probably going to be a swing he needs to simplify a little bit. But he could probably stand there at home plate with no stride, no load and you could soft toss him a ball and he could hit it out. He is really strong, with a chance to be very, very strong.”
Abrahan Diaz, RHP, Venezuela ($250,000)
Not turning 17 until late May and already six-foot-two and 175 pounds, Diaz is a strike-thrower with a good delivery who makes Tinnish think of a couple other pitchers when they were that age. “I didn’t see Aaron Sanchez when he was 15-16 — I did when he was 17 — and Diaz kind of gives me a bit of the Sanchez vibes,” he said. “Probably similar to Kevin Gausman at that age too — body, mover, actions, delivery-wise. It’s not huge velo at all. He’s probably 88 to 90 and I don’t mind that at all. We haven’t had a lot of success with the higher velo now guys at 16 years old. It’s different if they’re 18. But I like the actions a lot. He’s smart. He’s a worker. He wants to be a starter. And he’s really settling in to figuring out the starter routine. So it’s a projection starter but has some feel to do some things right now. Just needs time to get stronger and more physical and add velo as that builds appropriately.”
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Sebastian Casanova, SS, Venezuela ($180,000)
Gabriel Porras, SS, Venezuela ($70,000)
The two “twitchy middle-infield guys are really exciting,” said Tinnish. “Porras is a shorter but sneaky strong, super athletic, twitchy build guy. Switch-hitter. Good body. Lean but he’s getting stronger. He’s finally getting to triple-digits (exit velocity) in BP. Like the swing from both sides. Both he and Casanova can fly. Casanova is probably the most polished player in our class. He just does everything well. If you put Casanova at any of the eight positions on the field and let him play there this year, he will be the best defender at that position. More of a line drive hitter, not the same bat speed or power as like even like a Porras yet, but just a really, really good baseball player with instincts who happens to be really athletic.”
Alieski Torres, RHP, Cuba ($200,000)
The 18-year-old is six-foot-five, 240 pounds, and while Tinnish knows it’s “going to sound crazy,” Torres reminds him of Trey Yesavage at 18. “It’s less crazy when you look at the pattern,” he continues. “When Trey was 18, he was different and (Torres) has a fairly similar fastball shape, less spin. Trey wasn’t at a seven-(foot)-one release height then. He was like six-(foot)-six, with some carry and kind of a narrower shape to it. Torres is very similar. Similar carry. Similar in that it’s narrow, not a lot of tail, not horizontal, same release height, similar short extension, similar velo, similar spin efficiency, things like that. That Trey fastball didn’t model great, but it’s more the point that Torres can get high and come off a cliff and maybe create an uncomfortable at-bat and maybe that can like climb even more as he moves forward.”
Celwin Hurkmans, LHP, Netherlands ($150,000)
One of the club’s most unique signings is that of the 17-year-old Dutchman who stands six-foot-seven and won’t join the Blue Jays full time until he graduates high school next spring. “Raw, he’s only been pitching for about a year or so, had been a two-way player, outfielder and first baseman, he’s just a monster,” said Tinnish. “We’ll get him this summer when school’s done, he’ll get to the DSL for about a month, maybe a little bit more, then he’s back to school. Harry Einbinder, our assistant director (who also oversees Europe), did a nice job. He was touching 83 last spring at an MLB event. But in November, he was up to 89, so it’s like, OK, I can see the path that this is heading on: Left-handed; 6-7; moves fairly well for being as big a kid as he is. We know this is a challenge because it’s not hands-on right away. But he’s in a good spot. He’s training with good people. We’ll see.”
