Gabe Fink flew to Vancouver for the Blue Jays Academy Canadian Futures Showcase with one thing on his mind: retribution.
A year earlier, the highly touted Edmonton native struggled with his command in his one outing at the showcase.
Undeterred and buoyed by being among the first 50 players invited to this year’s event, he wanted to make amends and did so in a big way.
Earning two starts, including the championship final, Fink showed why he’s among the top high school hurlers in the country while helping Team New Blue claim the 2026 title with a 6-1 win over an offensively gifted Team Royal.
The Baseball Canada Junior National Team two-way couldn’t help but smile as his teammates celebrated with the showcase trophy.
“This means a lot,” Fink said. “They have all the names of everyone that’s ever won on there, so it’s going to be cool to have my name on there, too.”
His performance sets the stage for a busy offseason as he gets ready for graduation next spring and an eventual move to the University of Southern California.
MAPLE LEAF DEBUT
Lauded for his talent on the mound and at the plate, Fink went into the 2025 Canadian Futures Showcase hoping to show the hype was real.
Instead, he found himself in trouble more than he would have liked, finishing his lone outing allowing three runs on three hits and three walks with two strikeouts over three innings.
“Something would happen in the field and then I would just kind of let it get to me,” the AHP Academy product admitted. “A lot of people would advance on wild pitches … it just wasn’t my best and not much was working for me.”
Instead of getting into his head more, he decided to take matters into his own hands and show he could brush it off.
His first big opportunity came with the Langley Blaze Pro Tour in the spring, where he struck out four in two innings of work against prospects from the Athletics.
Fink then found himself getting an invite to the Junior National Team’s Extended Spring Training Camp trip, where he twirled two innings of no-hit, four-strikeout baseball in a 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His final outing of that trip didn’t go as smoothly, as he surrendered six earned runs on five hits and two walks over a little more than an inning of work in a loss to the New York Yankees.
He was invited back for the Dominican Republic Professional Academy Tour, where he once again tossed three innings of scoreless baseball against the San Diego Padres prospects, working himself out of jams caused by six walks.
The righthander got roughed up a bit in his final JNT outing, allowing three earned runs while striking out five in an inning-and-a-third against the Pirates’ prospects.
DRAFT LEAGUE EXPOSURE
Despite the up-and-down trips with the Junior National Team, Fink impressed the Baseball Canada brass enough to keep rolling with the squad to their first-ever MLB Draft League trip.
He made two appearances during that trek, with the first in mop-up duty against the Aberdeen IronBirds, where he allowed two unearned runs on five walks and two strikeouts in an inning-plus.
Fink’s last outing came against Mahoning Valley, where the Scrappers picked up four runs on three hits and three walks against the young hurler, who also struck out three over two relief innings.
While the numbers might not have been eye-popping, the Canadians had to be reminded that they were playing against professional ballplayers and that it’s much more about process than it is about results.
The busy summer continued with AHP, which included The Road to Okotoks and the Morneau Cup, where Fink made one appearance on the hill for the Renegades.
Knowing he was going to the showcase, Fink says it was time for a refresh.
“I give a lot of credit to (AHP head honcho) Taylor Burns,” said the 17-year-old. “I had a rough stretch over the summer and we took all of August to really work on my mentality going into stuff and to work on the pitching side, too.”
GETTING HIS PAYBACK
That time off paid dividends right away for the reinvigorated Fink.
He got the start against Royal in New Blue’s third game of the Canadian Futures Showcase, starting things off by striking out highly ranked 2028 prospect Mikey Batiste and 2027 grad Ira Rootman before getting another draft-ready slugger, Jalen Jacob, to ground out.
Fink retired the side in order again in the second, then allowed one run to score in his third-and-final inning of work, leading New Blue to the 7-2 victory.
“I feel really good,” he said after the contest. “I handled myself pretty well. I could have thrown more first-pitch strikes as I feel like I was getting behind in a lot of counts, but I was really happy that I was able to work back into those counts and win most of them.”
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Fink admits his 2025 performance was the fuel he needed to bounce back in a big way.
Not knowing if he was getting another opportunity to pitch, he grabbed a bat thinking he might get a chance to hit in the team’s final round-robin game or in the final.
FINE FINALE FINISH
After New Blue cruised to an unbeaten record and taking a boatload of bonus points for stolen bases, they earned top spot and a berth in the championship.
Fink didn’t get a chance to hit in the round-robin finale against Team Black, but got some good news on the morning of Championship Sunday: he was getting the start in the final.
It was a rematch against Royal and Fink stood up to the challenge, getting Rootman and Dayne Liske to ground out before walking Jacob and striking out Batiste for a second time during the tournament.
“I was mostly just trying to throw strikes,” Fink said after New Blue capped off its 6-1 win. “I was trying to work ahead more and it didn’t really work out, but I got a lot of ground balls and ended it with a K, so that was good.”
It was the perfect way to put the cap on a memorable 2026 campaign for Fink, who enters the offseason looking to keep working at AHP.
He wants to put on some weight, add some muscle and add to his mobility.
Fink would also like to fine-tune his arsenal, which features a top-three fastball velocity from the showcase (92.3 miles per hour) and top-two slider velocity (85.0 miles per hour).
“Maybe tune up my change-up,” he smiled. “I feel like that pitch wasn’t working for me a tonne recently, so if I can tune that up and have that be a good pitch for me going into next year, that would be really awesome.”
