One-Two Punch

If you see one, the other probably isn’t too far away.

BC’s Carlin Dick and New Brunswick’s Max Grant became fast friends at the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball.

Now hitting 1-2 in the batting order at Canisius College in New York, the pair is hoping to continue their winning ways together with the Golden Griffins.

Dream Wevers

If baseball doesn’t work out for Ty Wevers, motivational speaking might be a good backup plan.

In chatting with the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball product, you can’t help but feel inspired by how hard work paved the way in his baseball journey.

In this full Q&A from our conversation on Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast, Wevers talks about mindset, as well as his experience at Vauxhall and his decision to continue his education and baseball career at Cloud County Community College.

The Cardinal’s In

The baseball journey for Maddux Mateychuk has been a windy road thus far.

From his home in Dominion City, Manitoba to plying his trade with Vauxhall Academy of Baseball to signing his Letter of Intent with Mineral Area College in Missouri, the 17-year-old has one goal in mind: making it to the big leagues.

We chatted with the 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander for a recent episode of Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast and here is the full Q&A.

Abbott & Canisius

Every athlete has a number of questions they ask themselves before they decide on the route they want to take next in their journey.

For Lethbridge’s Levi Abbott, he had three key criteria on the school he wanted to go to.

In the end, the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball pitcher decided on Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.

2019 MLB Draft Review

The 2019 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft took place from June 3-5 and we have a summary of players with Alberta ties who were selected over the three-day event.

Some of the players chosen in the draft moved here to attend one of the province’s baseball academies, others were born and raised here, while others became familiar faces through the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL).

We also took note of players who are related to some well-known players who made their way to Alberta to play with one of our minor-league affiliates decades ago.

1 Thru 9: Vauxhall Academy

Vauxhall is known as the “Potato Capital of the West.”

But after more than a decade in operation, the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball is giving the town another reason to be put on the map.

This is our second installment of our “1 Thru 9” academy profiles.

Jet Setters

For Vauxhall Baseball Academy players Jaden Griffin, Damiano Palmegiani and Martin Vincelli-Simard, you just hope their suitcase-packing skills are as good as their baseball abilities.

The trio barely had a chance to return to Alberta from Florida – where they suited up for Baseball Canada’s Junior National Team (JNT) during a hectic 12-day stretch of spring training action against MLB prospects – before they were headed south again for tournament play in Las Vegas.

Vauxhall’s team name – Jets – was never more appropriate.

Keeping Score at Home

Box scores are full of loads of information, and while they never lie, they never tell the whole story either.

Take the recent box score from the Toronto Blue Jays spring training game against the Canadian Junior National Team (JNT), for example.

It will tell you that JNT shortstop Cesar Valero stepped to the plate in the top of the first inning against starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and struck out to end the inning.

What it won’t tell you is how smooth and clean Valero’s swing is or how nasty Stroman’s breaking ball can be. It also won’t tell you that Valero, an Okotoks Dawgs Academy product, is just 16 years old, while Stroman is a 26-year-old veteran of four MLB seasons.

Lucky Charms

You could call it the luck of the Irish that Adam Macko ended up in Alberta.

The left-handed pitching prospect did indeed play baseball in Ireland in 2012 and 2013, winning a Little League championship that first year and finishing second the next.

And if it’s true that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, than you can certainly call Adam lucky. But that seems rather dismissive of all the hard work that he put it in before arriving in Canada … and since he got here.

Baseball in Another World

When it comes to baseball, Bermuda will not be mistaken for the Dominican Republic anytime soon.

But with the help of the Baltimore Orioles’ 2017 second-round pick Adam Hall and some bat-and-glove loving Albertans, there is hope that the sport will grow on the island in the years ahead.

Ian Wilson explores some unlikely baseball ties between Alberta and Bermuda …