The Blue Jays have reportedly agreed to a record $5.5 million deal with Angel Montas, a 15-year-old Dominican who just tore up the U-15 World Cup.

The agreement came together in late August. Montas can't formally sign an international amateur contract until 2028, but Toronto moved early anyway.

The price tag sets a new bar. It tops the $5 million Elian Peña got from the Mets last year, which was the biggest international amateur deal at the time.

Then the kid went out and backed it up. At the U-15 World Cup that just wrapped in Merida, Mexico, he hit .538 with two homers and 14 RBIs over nine games.

His OPS for the tournament? 1.724, and against international competition in a short window, that kind of number is anything but routine.

He already stands 1.88 metres tall, matching plenty of grown men in big-league clubhouses. And he does his damage from the left side of the plate.

Elian Peña's minor league slide is the cautionary tale

Perfect Game's 2024 scouting report raved about his bat speed. It praised a natural swing rhythm, good timing and the way he uses his lower body to generate power.

In the field, he mostly plays the outfield with a strong, accurate arm. Perfect Game called his talent "beyond belief for someone his age."

This is exactly where Toronto should be spending. That money is a rounding error next to a big-league payroll, and a last-place organization needs ceilings like this in the pipeline.

But temper the frenzy. Peña is the warning label here.

The Mets' prize hit .292 with a .949 OPS in rookie ball. This season, across Single-A and High-A, that fell to .255 with a .739 OPS.

Signing a 15-year-old is like buying a plot of land because the soil looks great. You won't know what grows for years.

How long until he sees Rogers Centre? A long time, most likely, because physical growth, injury risk and every rung starting with rookie ball still stand in the way.

Jays fans on social media have already crowned him a next-generation monster. That's a heavy crown for a kid in his second year of middle school.

The bet is smart. The waiting is the hard part, and the big-league core Montas is supposed to join could look completely different by the time he's ready.