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Blue Jays Nation’s 2026 Pre-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 12: Juan Caricote
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Feb 24, 2026, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 24, 2026, 03:59 EST
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The Toronto Blue Jays top catching prospect heading into the 2026 season is Juan Caricote.
This is Blue Jays Nation’s bi-annual prospect ranking, where we’ll look at the top 35 prospects in the system in the month of February. As always, I’ll look at the player’s stats, what other publications have to say, as well as my own observations of the players. If you missed the 13th-ranked prospect, you can read about Fernando Perez here.

Getting to know Juan Caricote…

Position: Catcher
Bats: Left
Born: November 5th, 2008
Acquired: 2026 International Free Agency
Previous ranking: Unranked
Five years ago, the Blue Jays’ catching pipeline was one of the strongest in the league. Danny Jansen and Riley Adams were both young with power-hitting potential, while both Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno were arguably top 100 prospects in baseball. Fast forward five years, Jansen has become a journeyman catcher, Adams was recently designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals, and Gabriel Moreno hasn’t quite hit as expected (albeit with strong defence).
The best of the four is Alejandro Kirk, as he’s become one of the best defensive catchers behind the plate, with an improvement to the offensive side of things in 2025. Thankfully, he’s the lone catcher that remains as a Blue Jay.
It’s been a while since the Blue Jays had a catcher prospect worth getting excited about. Signed in 2022, it looked as if Luis Meza was the next great Blue Jays catching prospect, but he never hit for league average and was released after the end of the 2025 season. The Jays have two potential backup catchers in the farm system: Brandon Valenzuela and Edward Duran, who both ranked earlier in this list. However, the best of the three catchers on this list is Juan Caricote.
Signed to a bonus of $1.95 million, he was the Blue Jays top IFA prospect of the 2026 class and has yet to make his debut. When he does later this year, it’ll be with one of the two Dominican Summer League teams.
Still, there’s a lot to like about the Venezuelan catcher. The 17-year-old ranked as Baseball America’s 17th-best IFA eligible prospect, as they note he’s a strong blocker and receiver, with the potential to have an average arm as he fills out his frame. That projection also applies to the bat, as he could be a solid power hitter in the coming years. Additionally, Caricote ranked as Fangraphs’ 10th-best prospect ahead of the 2026 season, with that publication echoing much of what Baseball America did in their report.
The IFA market is even more of a crapshoot than the draft, look no further than Meza and Enmanuel Bonilla, the Blue Jays’ top IFA signings in 2022 and 2023 respectively. That said, Carticote will be an interesting prospect to monitor in 2026.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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