Blue Jays sign $1.8 million catcher who might be overrated

The Toronto Blue Jays had what looked like a quiet Thursday in MLB's international signing window on its opening day.

Among MLB.com's top-50 international players, the Blue Jays signed just one, outfielder Michael Mesa from the Dominican Republic, for $797,500. Mesa is ranked No. 30.

But the Blue Jays did shell out a lot more money for another guy, despite him not being in the top-50 at all.

That's Juan Caricote, a catcher from Venezuela. His bonus cost Toronto $1,847,500.

Of course, these are mostly 16 and 17 year olds. There's no guarantee of almost anything here. The Blue Jays may have this evaluated much better than the MLB.com list.

But it's pretty crazy that Caricote cost nearly three times as much as Mesa, the guy who was actually in the rankings.

The Blue Jays also paid out $697,500 in bonus money to Aneudi Severino, an outfielder from the Dominican Republic.

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Toronto has clearly had some success in the international signing market in the past, highlighted by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The players in this pool often take a while to get to the majors, if they do, simply because of their age at the time of signing.

But there's plenty of time for the Blue Jays to prove themselves right on a pricy signing like Caricote. He very well could reach his potential and look like a great move for Toronto.

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