It’s officially official.
On Tuesday, numerous sources like Nolan (@NWints) and Francys Romero (@FrancysRomero) reported that the Toronto Blue Jays have officially signed Kwon Si-Woo to a bonus worth $330,000. Si-Woo’s fastball sits in the low-90s and has touched 93 mph. According to Romero, Si-Woo’s secondaries are a slider, curveball, and slider. He also throws from a high release point (think Trey Yesavage), which surely makes the pitches play up. The 18-year-old right-handed pitcher stands at 6’1”, 187 lbs and could have some projection remaining.
It’s clear that the Jays have looked to improve their standing in the Pacific Rim. Seojun Moon, also Korean, signed with the Blue Jays in the fall of 2025. Cody Ponce also spent his 2025 season in Korea’s best league, the Korean Baseball Organization. And who could forget the signing of Kazuma Okamoto out of Japan last winter?
Back to Si-Woo, his bonus is worth $330,000, but it’s unclear how much of the bonus pool the Blue Jays have remaining. They started with a bonus pool of $5,940,000, but have signed players like Juan Caricote and Michael Mesa, while also making a handful of trades that involved some signing bonus pool money.
If they have any remaining bonus pool money, it must be spent before the start of the next period on January 15th, 2027, as it doesn’t carry over. That said, next year’s IFA period may not even happen at this point given the impending lockout, at least not in January.
The Blue Jays have also been linked to two other notable prospects, Junior Fortunato and Ángel Montás, in future IFA periods. However, those verbal agreements may be in jeopardy depending if the International Draft gets implemented in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
