Future of Canadian baseball will get opportunity to shine at 2023 WBC

When Team Canada reviews to Mesa, Ariz. to organize for the primary spherical of the World Baseball Classic in early March, the way forward for Canadian baseball can be on full show.

While Canada wasn’t in a position to get a full turnout, with a few of its high gamers tied down by membership commitments or accidents, the door was left open for the subsequent wave of expertise.

The basis for the eventual 30-man roster representing the maple leaf within the fifth iteration of the event was laid at Baseball Canada’s National Teams Banquet, held in mid-January in Toronto.

It was there that Greg Hamilton, director of males’s nationwide groups, appeared over a bunch of Baseball Canada’s best and inspired the youthful gamers within the room to lean on and study from the achieved veterans suiting up alongside them.

“When we’re able to connect generations of players … it’s really powerful,” Hamilton stated on the banquet. “Players should need to play for his or her nation, however once they take pleasure in coming again to compete collectively and need to play for his or her nation, it means one thing.

“For us to have a culture of connectivity is really important.”

Connecting generations could also be a theme for this model of Team Canada. With ex-major leaguers like Andrew Albers, Adam Loewen and John Axford on the WBC roster and former all-stars Ernie Whitt, Larry Walker and Russell Martin on the teaching employees, there can be information for the subsequent era to soak up.

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The crew of present prospects and aspiring huge leaguers that hope to additional their growth and put themselves on the map at this 12 months’s event contains the likes of Twins infield prospect Edouard Julien, Cubs outfield prospect Owen Caissie, Athletics outfield prospect Denzel Clarke and Rangers pitching prospect Mitch Bratt. 

“It’s kind of cool when you have a small group of people and you stay in contact,” Bratt stated of the camaraderie inside Canadian baseball. “Yes, we’re in different organizations, but when you do run across each other, you give each other a fist bump or a head nod and go your separate ways.”

The 19-year-old southpaw emerged as one of many high younger Canadians in professional ball with a robust 2022 that earned him Canadian Baseball Network’s high minor league pitcher award. With the Rangers’ Class A Down East Wood Ducks, he struck out 99 hitters in 80.2 innings and completed with a 2.45 ERA. 

While Bratt’s function will probably be within the bullpen, he stated that simply being named to the event roster could be “such an honour.” It’s a sentiment that was shared amongst most of the youthful gamers contending for roster spots.

“Every time you get to wear the Canadian uniform, it’s going to be a cool experience,” Julien stated. “I’m looking forward to seeing some ex-teammates and meeting new ones and being able to pick their brains.”

Julien is coming off a season during which he slashed .300/.441/.490 with the Wichita Wind Surge at double-A. Later, he placed on probably the greatest performances on the 2022 Arizona Fall League (AFL), main all gamers in OPS (1.248).

The Twins’ quantity 4 prospect was one in all six Canadians showcasing their skills in Arizona together with Caissie, Clarke, Brewers infield prospect Tyler Black, Guardians pitching prospect Cade Smith and Blue Jays pitching prospect Adam Macko.

“I was thinking about (all the young Canadian talent) during the fall league because there were four of us on the field,” Julien stated. “It’s exciting to see all this young talent and to talk and interact with them, and it’s going to be fun to have a bunch of younger guys growing up together.”

Another a kind of gamers in Arizona was additionally honoured on the Baseball Canada occasion, as Clarke took house the Special Achievement Award following a robust season of his personal during which he hit 15 house runs and posted an OPS of .834 throughout two ranges.

The 6-foot-5, 22-year-old can have an opportunity to push for enjoying time in Phoenix when Canada opens its event towards Great Britain on March 12.

“I’d be really excited to get that opportunity,” Clarke stated earlier than rosters have been confirmed in January. “I think there’ll be a lot of success for Canada going forward. When you play for your country, you’re representing more than yourself, so everyone goes into it with a more team-oriented mentality.”

Bratt, Julien and Clarke are removed from the one three prospects making their World Baseball Classic debuts in 2023, and that’s simply a part of what has Hamilton excited concerning the future.

“We have the opportunity with our younger program to expose them to a professional environment, against professional competition. Then we see them start to get a foothold and establish themselves either in pro ball or through collegiate baseball,” he stated. “So it’s good to see a important mass of the subsequent era doing very well. It’s not only one or two, it’s a variety of them, so it’s thrilling.”

More from Sportsnet

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