By Gabriel Fidler, Managing Editor.
The Blue Jays have dipped into the European market again, this time landing Keegan Pieternella, a rising star from the Netherlands and the catcher for its Under-18 World Cup squad in 2023. He is the seventh Dutch native to signed with a MLB club, inking for $57,500, an above-average sum for an Old World signing. Pieternella becomes the third player from Europe in Toronto’s organization, joining Slovakia and Ireland’s Adam Macko and Italy’s Giacomo Taschin.
Pieternella has attracted attention at European showcases for several years, unsurprising given that he is a switch-hitting catcher with a mature approach on the diamond. Only 17, he has played the last three seasons in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse for juggernauts Curaçao Neptunus, showing advanced plate discipline and good versatility. Primarily a catcher, he has also suited up at second base and third, though he is listed as a catcher at MLB.com. Over parts of three seasons for the Rotterdam club against much older competition, he hit .192/.338/.212, totalling 10 walks and strikeouts.
Only 15 at the U18 World Championship, Pieternella was the team’s No. 1 catcher, starting six-of-eight games behind the dish and another at third, despite being a few weeks shy of his sixteenth birthday at the time. Overall, he went 2-for-18, but walked five times and struck out in only three of 23 at bats. He nailed 3-of-11 baserunners.
Listed at 5-foot-8 (173 m), 169 pounds (76.7 kg), Pieternella has been assigned to the Dominican Summer League Blue Jays Red, officially a different squad from Taschin, but based at the same facility.