By Kevin Glew
When it was time for Tim Piasentin to step into the batting cage at Chase Field for the MLB Combine on June 18, the 18-year-old slugger was so nervous that he was almost shaking.
“I had to put a bunt down for my first pitch and I bunted it straight back and I’m like, ‘Oh, no, this isn’t going to go well,’” recalled Piasentin. “Then the first swing I took I caught a barrel, and it was 105 [mph] or something like that off the bat and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re good.’”
The Coquitlam, B.C. native was more than good that day.
He put on a show, smacking several home runs that registered exit velocities higher than 100 mph. That performance certainly helped his draft stock and the following month he was selected in the fifth round by the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays drafted him as a third baseman and that’s where he has been playing in games at the team’s complex, but with his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and arm strength, some scouts believe he’s best suited for a corner outfield position.
Wherever he ends up playing, 2025 has been a dream year for the Piasentin.
Raised in Coquitlam, B.C., he started playing organized ball when he was 5. His father, Robert, was his Little League coach until he was 12 and by that age, he was a standout two-way player.
In 2019, he helped propel his Coquitlam Little League squad to the Little League World Series. In the B.C. title game against Little Mountain, Piasentin belted two home runs and drove in all five runs in a 5-3 win.
“That was one of the best games of my life,” recalled Piasentin. “In the first inning, I hit a home run and I was on top of the world and we were up and then I hit another one and that pretty much solidified the win.”
He repeated his heroics in the Canadian Little League championship against Quebec’s Mirabel Diamond team when he blasted a three-run home run to lead his club to a 6-3 win.
That team, which went 1-2 in Williamsport, was coached by Cole Bertsch, whom Piasentin ranks as one of the most influential people in his baseball career.
“He was the first guy I ever met that played high level baseball,” said Piasentin. “He played college baseball [Lewis University]. He was a left-handed pitcher, so position-wise we were very different. But just the way he talked about the game, I could tell he loved the game of baseball and I feel like that inspired me.”
Piasentin hurt his elbow when he pitched in the third game of that tournament against Curaçao.
“That was pretty much the end of my pitching career,” said Piasentin. “I thought if I want to play college baseball or play professional, I would much rather do it as a position player because I just love hitting.”
The following year, Piasentin would join the Coquitlam Reds where he honed his skills until he was 16. With his focus firmly on playing collegiate or pro ball, the left-handed hitting infielder transitioned to the Dawgs Academy in Okotoks, Alta., in 2023.
Jeff Duda, the head of the Dawgs Academy, can recall Piasentin coming to the Academy in the summer of 2023.
“His hitting stood out right away,” said Duda. “He was hitting balls over the scoreboard at Seaman Stadium. He was 16 at the time.”
Duda says Piasentin was initially a little raw defensively.
“But to his credit, he’s one of the most coachable kids that I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with and he put in the work,” said Duda. “Every opportunity he got, he was in here [at the Dawgs training facilities]. If he had a spare class in the morning or the afternoon, he was in here working on his weaknesses and he got significantly better as an infielder.”
Piasentin says the Dawgs’ coaches and facilities played a key role in his development.
“With the Dawgs, you have 24-hour access to pretty much the best facilities in Canada,” said Piasentin. “And the coaches are always there because it’s their full-time job. They were always there when I needed help.”
Under the tutelage of the Dawgs coaches, Piasentin added strength and further honed his powerful left-handed swing.
“They taught me how to learn to generate bat speed, how to lift the ball when I want to,” said Piasentin.
And what they taught him has clearly worked.
“When Tim squares it up, it’s going to be 100-plus [mph] every time,” said Duda. “When he hits a ball, it sounds different, it looks different.”
In the fall of 2023, Piasentin played for the Junior National Team for the first time.
“The Junior National Team had always been my goal,” said Piasentin. “As soon as I learned that that was a thing, I wanted to make that team.”
Piasentin struggled on his first trip with the junior squad, which was to the Dominican Fall Instruction League camp.
“I thought I was going to get cut,” said Piasentin. “I was not doing very well. But I didn’t get cut. I got called back and then I got more comfortable and did better.”
READ MORE: Trumpeting Tim
Greg Hamilton, the head coach of the Junior National Team, has seen Piasentin improve dramatically since that first Dominican trip.
“I think he has put on some productive weight and he has filled the frame out a lot more,” said Hamilton. “He also has a better understanding now that he doesn’t have to chase power. He’s got a lot of power in there and it’s more about getting the pitch than it is about trying to chase power and trying to force it. He has just matured as a hitter.”
That maturity was on full display at the 2024 Canadian Futures Showcase where Piasentin socked 22 homers at the Rogers Centre to win the Home Run Derby.
“I had so much adrenaline that I think I blacked out for most of that,” said Piasentin. “I was just swinging as hard as I could and just hoping I hit the ball.”
This June, Piasentin was on the Junior National Team that competed against MLB Draft League teams for the first time. He went 6-for-18 with a double and hit seven balls that had exit velocities over 100 mph.
“The competition was really good,” said Piasentin. “These guys were pretty much all about to be pros and drafted pretty high. But I felt like I knew I was right in there with these guys and I had to tell myself, ‘These pitchers aren’t better than me. These pitchers aren’t going to beat me.’”
His MLB Draft League performance helped convince the Blue Jays to select him in the fifth round. During the draft, Piasentin and his parents, Robert and Anne, were in a hotel room in Pullman, Wash., where his Dawgs team was competing in a tournament. He was overjoyed when the Blue Jays selected him early on the second day.
“The 2015 Blue Jays team is one of my favourite baseball teams ever. I was a huge Kevin Pillar fan. I also liked Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista,” he said.
After the draft, Piasentin and his parents drove to Okotoks to pick up his belongings and then back to his parents’ home in Vancouver. A few days later, he was off to Dunedin, Fla., where he signed his contract. The next day, he started practicing with his fellow 2025 draft picks.
These days, in between practicing and adhering to the program the Blue Jays have designed for him, he is playing in Bridge League games a couple of times a week against players from other major league organizations.
He’ll remain at the Blue Jays complex in Dunedin for the rest of this summer.
“My biggest shorter-term goal is that I want to start on the [Class A] Dunedin Blue Jays next year and not in the Complex League,” said Piasentin. “I know that’s up to the coaches and what they think is better for my development, but I’m trying to do everything I can to start in Dunedin next year.”
His ultimate goal, of course, is to play in the big leagues, which both Duda and Hamilton believe is possible.
“Honestly, I think he’s a future big leaguer,” said Duda. “I think he’s going to have the opportunity to play the game for a long time. I really do. I think the most important thing when it comes to any professional athlete as far as having longevity and reaching the highest level is having a love for the game. Tim genuinely loves baseball. He’s one of the hardest working – if not the hardest working – kids we’ve ever had. He’s incredibly coachable. He’s humble. And he’s never content with where he’s at.
“I just think he has that motor and that makeup. He handles failure very well. He addresses it. He learns from it and he moves on. He just checks all of the boxes as somebody who’s going to have the opportunity to play the game for a very long time. And I do think he’s going to find a way to hit himself into the big leagues.”
Hamilton offers a similar assessment.
“I think he’s got the attributes to play in the major leagues someday,” said Hamilton. “He’s a left-handed hitter with power who is 6-foot-3 with a good arm. He’s going to be able to play a big man’s game. There’s really good extension and loft in his swing . . . It’s a really good profile to work with.”
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