A thrill of a lifetime for many aspiring baseball players in our province with the annual Blue Jays Academy Super Camp powered by Honda.
George Bell, J.P. Arencibia, Homer Bush and Ricky Romero showed players in St. Albert and Okotoks a few tricks of the trade over the last four days.
We were invited onto the field to snap a few photos of the festivities.
Read More Blue Jays Academy GalleryHe’s capable of starting games on the bump and going the distance. At Indiana University (IU) Southeast this season, Andrew Yates started five games and recorded two complete games, including a shutout.
The left-handed pitcher also put up solid numbers with the Grenadiers in his senior year. In 40.1 innings of work, Yates posted a perfect 5-0 record and a 3.35 earned run average (ERA), while racking up 36 strikeouts.
With the Okotoks Dawgs, however, the native of Harrodsburg, Kentucky has been a bullpen beast.
He’s also our latest 7th Inning Stretch selection.
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: Andrew YatesHe’s the nephew of a Hall of Fame baseball pioneer.
But Josh McIntyre is making a name for himself with his 2019 Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) season with the Brooks Bombers.
McIntyre is front and centre in our latest edition of 7th Inning Stretch.
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: Josh McIntyreCan you imagine one of your favourite athletes in a uniform other than the one they became famous in?
Over the years, many have been able to play with one team. But in the free agency era, they have become fewer and further between.
As we found out with author Larry Stone, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Edgar Martinez almost didn’t stick around Seattle after not seeing a clear path out from the Calgary Cannons.
Read More Edgar: Almost A Dodger or Yankee?Towering right-handed pitcher Will Langford has established himself as the ace of the Fort McMurray Giants rotation this season.
Through eight appearances – seven of them starts – Langford is the team leader in strikeouts (36), innings pitched (42.1) and ERA (1.91).
The 6-foot-5 hurler also sports a 3-1 record and is helping the Giants make a push for their first ever playoff appearance in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL).
Langford is the subject of our latest 7th Inning Stretch profile.
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: Will LangfordYou can’t spell “baseball” without “A … L … B … E …” … well, you get the picture.
Baseball Canada’s 2019 Women’s Invitational Championships – which pitted rivals from four provinces and a national prospects team against one another – have come and gone from Okotoks and Alberta turned in another impressive performance.
In addition to capturing their second straight bronze medal finish at the event, Alberta saw eight players chosen to participate in the national team’s three-day selection camp that followed the July 4-8 tournament at Tourmaline Field and Seaman Stadium. Of those eight players, five earned spots on this year’s Women’s National Team, including Spruce Grove sisters Carrie and Ellie Jespersen, Red Deer’s Kelsey Lalor, Edmontonian Madison Willan, and Kaitlyn Ross of Redcliff.
Read More Making An ImpactAfter a sluggish start to the 2019 season, the defending Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) champion Medicine Hat Mavericks needed a spark.
At the plate, that has come in the form of infielder Austin Sojka, who leads the Mavs in home runs (5), RBI (25), and batting average (.368) through his 30 games of play for the red and white.
With the Californian pacing the offence, the Mavericks are now in the thick of the playoff chase and looking to defend their championship crown. Sojka is the subject of our latest 7th Inning Stretch feature …
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: Austin SojkaHe was the guy you wanted at the plate with the game on the line in the late innings.
In the playoffs.
He was coming in cold and the ice in his veins helped him maintain a cool demeanor in pressure-packed situations.
Canadian Matt Stairs is the quintessential pinch hitter. He has a World Series ring that was earned, in part, from his postseason heroics for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. The Fredericton, New Brunswick product is also in the record books for his 23 regular season, pinch-hit home runs.
Read More Q&A with Matt StairsIf Russ Parker’s middle name isn’t “Persistent”, maybe he should look at changing it.
After having been in discussions about bringing an affiliated team to Calgary for half a decade, he finally succeeded in 1977 with the Cardinals.
In our final installment of “The Pioneers”, we look back at Calgary’s involvement with the league and what it took for Parker to bring future stars through Foothills Stadium.
Read More The Pioneers: Calgary CardinalsEric Sim may just be the hero that baseball deserves, even if the sport doesn’t need him any longer.
A self-professed “washed up” catcher and pitcher, Sim has found happiness as a bar manager and in baseball exile at his bat cave, where he still trains like a pro but professes a hate of the game he spent seven minor-league seasons playing.
Both outspoken and entertaining, Sim isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. If his unfiltered talk doesn’t send people to the exits, his unabashed opinions might.
Yet, the same in-your-face expression that turns off many baseball fans is also what makes the former Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) Canadian Rookie of the Year a cult favourite and a voice for the minor league experience.
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