Celwin Hurkmans is Blue Jays’ Mysterious Minor League Signing of Offseason

Celwin Hurkmans is a “who is that?” signing for the Toronto Blue Jays amid a season of huge free-agent deals.

The Toronto Blue Jays logo during batting practice against the Cleveland Guardians at Rogers Centre. | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays have dominated the starting pitching and relief market like no other Major League team.

Signing a top-of-the-market free agent in Dylan Cease? Check. Snagging KBO MVP Cody Ponce with a three-year, $30 million deal? Check. Nabbing a reliever like Tyler Rogers, whose funky deliver mystifies hitters, on a three-year deal worth more than $30 million? Check.

Amid all those deals, the Blue Jays are also signing players to minor league deals. One, like Michael Plassmeyer, has MLB experience and an immense amount of minor league experience. Another, like Celwin Hurkmans, is a mystery.

Click on his name on the Blue Jays’ transaction page and it takes one to a MLB.com player page that has … no data. No Major League data, no minor league data. So, what’s up?

Meet Celwin Hurkmans

Game VS Neptunes Tridents defending champions semifinal best of three game 3.
FB 85-88
2S 84-87
CB 75-78
CH 78-81

6 IP (104 pitches)
8K
0ER
4BB
3H@speekie_49 @MartijnNijhoff pic.twitter.com/fGD8yNUcOE

— celwin hurkmans (@CelwinHurkmans) September 15, 2025

Celwin Hurkmans is from the Netherlands. He’s 17 years old, he’s 6-foot-6 and he signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays on Dec. 10. That explains why he has no MLB or minor league stats. He hasn’t pitched for either yet.

Hurkmans is the final piece of the Blue Jays’ 2025 international signing class. While Toronto spent the bulk of its pool money in January, it had to spend any remaining money by Dec. 15 because it doesn’t roll over. It’s likely he didn’t get much of a signing bonus and, like most international prospects, will need several years of development before he’s Major League ready.

Honkbal Softbal’s Seb Visser reported that Hurkmans played for DSS Haarlem in the Netherlands Eerste Klasse League, which is the Netherlands’ second-highest baseball league. He helped Haarlem win the first division championship and later played for Talent TeamNL in Toulouse Baseball Week in France.

MLB’s most famous Dutch-born player is Bert Blyleven, who won 287 games in his career and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Blue Jays had a Dutch player in their system in Sem Robberse, who was a rising prospect in the system and was named to the 2023 MLB Futures Game. He was traded later that season to the St. Louis Cardinals in the Jordan Hicks trade, and he is now with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate.

Where the Blue Jays slot him in their system will be interesting. Most international prospects his age head to the Dominican Summer League. But, Toronto could opt to start him at their complex at Dunedin and add him their Florida Complex League team to keep him stateside.