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Draft  | Follow List | 6/7/2010

CANADA

2010 FOLLOW LIST
 
COMPILED by BOB ELLIOTT
 
COUNTRY OVERVIEW
Canada is a foreign entity for purposes of the baseball draft, and viewed with different degrees of emphasis by the scouting family.
 
For big-league clubs like the Brewers, Twins, Phillies, Mets, Reds, Mariners and, of course, the home-standing Blue Jays, Canada is like a well-known uncle who would never miss a family get-together, tells wonderful stories and can’t wait for his next visit. The Jays drafted nine Canadians a year ago, though failed to sign eight (including lefthanders James Paxton and Jake Eliopoulos, two of their first three picks).
 
For teams like the Indians, Dodgers, Braves, Giants and Yankees (the only club without a Canadian in their minor-league system in 2009), the country is a seldom-seen, distant cousin, who might appear at a reunion every five years or so. The Yankees, at least, took a step towards making amends last winter by hiring former major-leaguer lefthander Denis Boucher to scout Canada for the 2010 draft.
 
For a third group, notably the Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox, Rangers and Padres, Canada is North America’s attic, somewhere north of Minnesota and Washington state, where the igloos are stored.
 
Then, as one Michigan-based Detroit Tigers scout snidely said of Canada in the mid-1990s, “I wouldn’t invest in the toll to drive through the tunnel to cross the border and look for talent in Canada, there’s nothing there.”
 
Well, there is talent in Canada, and a lot of it this spring. Certainly enough to warrant paying the toll.
 
In fact, scouts have been not just driving into Canada, but flying from great distances to attend Major League Scouting Bureau workouts held throughout the country. They’ve also gone out of their way to follow the country’s elite travel teams, and the Canadian national junior team on its trips to Florida, and even the Dominican Republic.
 
With its wide expanse, tricky demographics, cold climate and unconventional training centers, Canada is not an easy territory to scout. Most of the quality is concentrated in British Columbia in the west, most of the quantity in Ontario in the east. But the two provinces are three time zones apart.
 
For scouts, it is often most practical to evaluate Canada’s elite high-school talent facing professional competition. And it was in that environment, in Arizona, that B.C. product Brett Lawrie firmly convinced the Brewers to take him with their first round pick (16th overall) in 2008.
 
Since Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada’s director of national teams, began taking Canada’s junior club to Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Florida in 1999, to play minor leaguers in spring training and extended spring training, or instructional league in the fall, Canuck high-schoolers have received more than their share of exposure against quality competition. It’s been a case of taking talent to where all the scouts are.
 
Typically, Canada’s junior-national team makes three annual trips abroad, in the fall and early spring to Florida, and late spring to the Dominican. In each case, it usually plays against first- and second-year pros.
 
The dividends have been substantial, and Canada is making a greater impact on Major League Baseball than at any time in its modest history.
 
In the week before the 2010 draft, Minnesota’s Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) and Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ontario) sat atop their respective batting races—for a day, anyway. They are just two of the 19 members of the invisible minority in the majors.
 
There are also 64 Canadians currently playing in the minors, and that total will undoubtedly swell to its usual 100-110 when the various short-season pro leagues begin their schedules after the draft.
 
A total of 703 Canadians played college ball this spring in the U.S.—more than the number of Canadians on NCAA hockey rosters—and another 650 played on an assortment of Canadian college teams.
 
While high-school baseball exists in few areas of Canada, the schedules are usually only 14-to-16 games, plus playoffs. The best Canadians normally play on elite travel teams like the Langley Blaze, White Rock Tritons and Nanaimo Pirates in B.C., and the Ontario Blue Jays and Inter-county Terriers in Ontario. Most of those teams play upwards of 60-80 game schedules on both sides or the border.
 
Langley, B.C., catcher Kellin Deglan, who could be both the first Canadian and first high-school catcher drafted this year, has pretty much divided his time the last two years between Team Canada’s junior team, and his own travel team, the Blaze. A big lefthanded hitter, Deglan has drawn a lot of parallels to Morneau, who also is from B.C., and was a lefthanded-hitting catcher when he was drafted in the third round by the Twins in 1999.
 
The 2010 draft signifies the 20th anniversary of Canadians being eligible for the draft, and this could be a banner year by Canada’s normal standards. The possibility exists of three players in the first round or supplemental first round (Deglan, Paxton and Ontario-groomed outfielder Marcus Knecht). The previous high was three, both in 1997 and 2007.
 
Paxton has had a whirlwind last 12 months, starting with his being drafted by the Blue Jays, and going unsigned. He later was ruled ineligible by the NCAA to play his senior year at Kentucky, and wound up in the independent American Association. Knecht blossomed this spring after transferring from Oklahoma State, where he played sparingly as a freshman, to nearby Connors State (Okla.) JC.
 
Canada can even take partial credit for Texas prep righthander Jameson Taillon, the top pitching prospect in the draft, as his parents are originally from Canada and Taillon retains his Canadian citizenship.
 
There is also a possibility of double-figure Canadians selected in the first 10 rounds. The high is 10, in 2007.
 
The record for most Canadians selected in one draft came in 2002, when 48 were selected. That was back in the days of the draft-and-follow rule, and underdeveloped and underexposed Canadians were a popular demographic for clubs to draft and follow their progress for the next year.
 
In 2009, there were 39 Canadians drafted—both those attending U.S. colleges, and Canadian colleges and high schools. Only seven individual states could claim a higher total.
 
IN A NUTSHELL
STRENGTH: High-end position players.
WEAKNESS: Corner infielders.
OVERALL RATING (1-to-5 scale): 4.
 
BEST COLLEGE TEAM: British Columbia.
BEST JUNIOR-COLLEGE TEAM: Douglas (B.C.)
BEST CLUB TEAM: Langley Blaze (B.C.); Ontario Blue Jays.
 
PROSPECT ON THE RISE: Brandon Dailey, ss, Brantford, Ontario. On average, Dailey hit two balls hard per game on Team Canada’s recent tour of Dominican Summer League teams.
PROSPECT ON THE DECLINE: Evan Grills, lhp, Whitby, Ontario. Scouts wanted to see an increase in velocity this spring; it didn’t happen, but he has shown excellent pitchability in more than 75 innings logged in his career against pro and college teams.
WILD CARD: Steve McKinnon, rhp, Duncan, B.C. A top-rated prospect for 2010 a year ago, he missed some early games due to basketball commitments, and then suffered an elbow injury on a trip to California.
 
BEST OUT-OF-COUNTRY PROSPECT, Canada Connection: Jameson Taillon, rhp, The Woodlands (Texas) HS (parents are from Canada).
TOP 2011 PROSPECT: Tom Robson, rhp, Ladner, B.C./Langley Blaze.
TOP 2012 PROSPECT: Dayton Dawe, rhp, London, Ontario/London Badgers.
 
HIGHEST DRAFT PICKS
Highest Pick, Draft History: Adam Loewen, lhp, Fraser Valley Christian HS, Surrey, B.C. (2002, Orioles/1st round, 4th pick).
Highest Pick, 2006 Draft: Kyle Orr, 1b, Lambrick Park HS, Victoria, B.C. (Dodgers/4th round).
Highest Pick, 2007 Draft: Phillippe Aumont, rhp, Ecole Du Versant HS, Gatineau, Quebec (Mariners/1st round, 11th pick).
Highest Pick, 2008 Draft: Brett Lawrie, ss, Brookswood HS, Langley, B.C. (Brewers/1st round, 16th pick).
Highest Pick, 2009 Draft: James Paxton, lhp, U. of Kentucky (Blue Jays/1st round/37th pick).
 
BEST TOOLS
Best Hitter: Marcus Knecht, of, Connors State (Okla.) JC.
Best Power: Marcus Knecht, of, Connors State (Okla.) JC.
Best Speed: Chris Bisson, 2b, U. of Kentucky.
Best Defender: Chris Bisson, 2b, U. of Kentucky.
Best Velocity: James Paxton, lhp, Grand Prairie (American Association).
Best Breaking Stuff: Evan Grills, lhp, Whitby, Ontario.
 
TOP PROSPECTS
Full scouting reports available on players ranked on national Top 250 list (click on National Top 300)
 
GROUP ONE (Projected ELITE-Round Draft / Rounds 1-3)
1. KELLIN DEGLAN, c, R.E. Mountain HS, Langley, BC                                 National Top 250 (Rank 29)
Lots of looks in AZ/FL; premier position, + LH bat, low effort for size, solid aptitude to catch, 1.9-pop times

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