Hailing from Luceila, Brazil, Eric Pardinho reached an agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2017 once the free agent signing period began on July 1. The two sides would eventually agree on a $1.4 million dollar bonus, with the Blue Jays being the favourite to sign the hard-throwing Brazilian. Not a bad payday at 16 years old.
Ranked as the #14 international prospect in 2017 by Baseball America, Pardinho was the only Brazilian born player ranked within the top 50 prospects. With his signing bonus, he became the highest paid Brazilian born prospect to be signed by an MLB team through the international free agent system.