Nate Hallihan couldn’t ask for a better homegrown baseball icon to have in his corner.
The Fredericton, New Brunswick native arrived at Dawgs Academy in Okotoks just a couple of years ago to grow his game.
Among his coaches was another New Brunswick native in former Major League Baseball slugger Matt Stairs, who hails from Saint John.
Hallihan’s favourite piece of baseball advice comes from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer: “Baseball is like a goldfish because goldfish don’t have long memories so, if something bad happens, you have to forget about it and move on.”
It’s something Stairs lived during his 19-year Major League Baseball career, where he hit .262 with 265 home runs and drove in 899 runs in 1,895 games.
And now he’s trying to arm the next generation of Canadian baseball players with that same knowledge and expertise.
Hallihan says it’s fun having Stairs around, especially as he’s known him longer than most.
“My dad and him are really close, so he’s kind of been along my side ever since I started playing baseball,” the young utility player told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast. “He’s also a really good guy who has pushed me to get to where I am.”
Where he is now is on the cusp of heading to Vancouver for the Blue Jays Academy Canadian Futures Showcase after an eventful summer which included a pair of national tournaments.
MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF
To call Hallihan a late-bloomer in baseball might be a bit of an understatement.
He says he didn’t start playing the game until he was 12 and was actually cut from his first ‘AAA’ team that he tried out for.
Instead of giving up on it, Hallihan says he got mad.
“I really just wanted to prove everyone wrong and that I’m a guy who can change the Fredericton program,” he said. “I really turned up my game, made the team my second year, and then played ‘AAA’ through the rest of my years at home.”
In his second year of 15U baseball, Hallihan caught the attention of the Dawgs coaching staff, who invited him to move west to keep building up his game.
Despite some hesitancy to move so far away from home at such a young age, Hallihan packed his bags and leaned on new teammates like Josh Mills to make it feel like home.
He persevered through an early UCL injury and learned to deal with not having the creature comforts of New Brunswick. The 17-year-old says it has been completely worth it.
“They really give me the college experience, and the coaches treat me as one of their own,” Hallihan said. “They have just taken a lot of care of me, and I really appreciate the stuff they have done for me.”
A SUMMER TO REMEMBER
2026 has been a year of opportunity and growth for Hallihan.
It started with a phenomenal outing with the Dawgs 18U Red squad at the Best of the West, where he threw six innings of no-hit baseball, striking out eight in a 4-0 win over the Penticton Tigers.
Hallihan was then bumped up to the Dawgs Black team that captured the inaugural Morneau Cup in July.
“It was a lot of fun winning it with all my boys that I’ve met over the years,” he said. “It’s a dream come true to win that tournament.”
The whirlwind continued for the 6-foot-3, 222-pound righthander as he headed back east for the Baseball Canada Cup in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
Hallihan put on a show for the family and friends who made the trek, as he was a workhorse on the mound for New Brunswick, tossing 8.2 innings over two games to go along with 12 strikeouts while also hitting a home run at the plate.
Ultimately, the team fell 6-5 in a walkoff to Alberta in the bronze medal game.
“It was an experience of a lifetime for sure,” Hallihan said. “We haven’t won a medal in 20 years, so it was really heartbreaking to lose in the bronze game, but I’m really happy how we turned out.”
UP AGAINST THE BEST
Just after The Road to Okotoks came to a close, Blue Jays Academy came out with its initial list of 50 players heading to their annual Canadian Futures Showcase.
Several Dawgs, including Hallihan, were among those to punch their tickets to Vancouver.
For the uncommitted slinger, it was validation that all the work he had put in over the last few years was starting to pay off.
He’s going into the event hoping to “get the easy outs” by limiting his walks and pitching to contact against some of the best in the entire country.
“It’s really nice to get my name out there and to get to play in front of the best,” Hallihan said. “I really want to meet new people from other provinces and see what the competition is like.”
Then it will be time for the offseason and a chance to focus on what might be next in his baseball journey after high school is over.
He’s keeping all his options open while honing his skills for the next level.
“I have really good command of my fastball and all that, but the splitter and my slider seem to be off sometimes,” Hallihan admitted. “I just want to figure out what’s going on with that and obviously get stronger, bigger and more mobile.”
Hallihan will play for Team Red at the 2026 Blue Jays Academy Canadian Futures Showcase in Vancouver.
Main image provided by Scott Savard Photography.
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