By IAN WILSON

They delivered performances that were over and above expectations.

As a result, the Australian Baseball League (ABL) took notice and rewarded a pair of former Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) stars accordingly.

Eric Rataczak and Landen Bourassa, teammates on the Sydney Blue Sox, led their squad to the ABL Championship Series and put together outstanding individual seasons along the way.

Despite falling to the Adelaide Giants in the finals, the duo picked up honours from their season in Australia, which ran from November of 2025 through January of 2026.

Rataczak was named the Helms Award Winner, which is given to the most outstanding overall performer in the ABL.

The first baseman and outfielder finished top three in every offensive category, while playing sound defence for the Blue Sox.

“Rataczak delivered a dominant season at the heart of Sydney’s lineup, combining power, consistency and run production as the Blue Sox surged to the top of the standings. He was a constant in the line-up of the top team in the regular season, despite key injuries across the line up,” said the ABL in announcing their award winners.

Through 38 games, the Miami Marlins prospect posted a .336 batting average, .411 on-base percentage, .571 slugging percentage, .982 OPS, 27 runs batted in (RBI), seven home runs and 47 hits.

“I was honestly surprised to beat out the other two guys,” said Rataczak of claiming the honour over Nick Ward and Robbie Perkins

“They had put together really, really good seasons … so to be in that conversation with them, let alone win it over them, means a lot.”

MARLIN MASHER

The 6-foot-3 lefty slugger – a 16th-round draft pick of the Marlins in the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft – was coming off a 2025 minor-league season that saw him split time between the High-A Beloit Sky Carp of the Midwest League and the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Southern League.

“The first month of the season last year, I was thrown into the fire and was striking out a lot at the beginning of the season and just had to fight to make mental and physical adjustments throughout the season,” said the St. Paul, Minnesota native.

“It kind of started to click down the stretch and I was able to get moved up … I’m so grateful for that opportunity and then to be able to get my feet wet in that next level. So, hopefully I can kind of hit the ground running with it this year. But yeah, it was just trying to get a little better each day.”

In 81 games between both levels in the Marlins sytem, Rataczak recorded 10 doubles, six long balls, 32 runs, 40 RBI and 10 stolen bases.

“I thought, and the organization kind of agreed, that it’d be good for me to get more at bats,” said the 25-year-old of the decision to play in Australia.

“Age and physicality for me is already fairly developed and so it’s just kind of refining the in-game stuff and the best way to do that is by being in games and playing games. And I am kind of the mindset that as long as, you know, I’m not getting any younger, as long as I’m healthy and not injured, I should get as many games in as possible. No reason to be wasting these years sitting on the couch.”

Rataczak – who is an advocate for athletes living with type 1 diabetes, following his own diagnosis of the condition as an adult – remains focused on charting a path to the major leagues.

“Expectations are no longer regarding development, they’re regarding performance. And so every year the expectation is be in the big leagues. And if you’re not in the big leagues, what are you going to do to get there?” he told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast host Joe McFarland in a recent interview.

“At the end of the day, it’s kind of just a daydream until it becomes reality. There are times when maybe you’re driving in the car and you start thinking about it for whatever reason, and it’s impossible not to, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to stay focused on what you’re doing now and not get too far ahead of yourself.”

Rataczak played 50 games for the Brooks Bombers in the summer of 2023. After putting up 43 runs, 48 RBI, 15 doubles, 11 homers, a .358 batting average and a .427 on-base percentage, he was named the WCBL Rookie of the Year.

Bourassa, another WCBL alum, had nothing but positive things to say about his Blue Sox teammate.

“He was just a beast in the middle of the order. Like, that guy hit the baseball extremely hard all the time,” said Bourassa.

“He just puts in the work. He figures out what works for him and how he needs to go about his business, the pitches he can handle, the pitches he needs to lay off, and he did such a good job of refining that this winter.”

Added Bourassa: “He’s earned everything that he’s gotten in the game of baseball. And just a wild story right with this getting the diabetes diagnosis and that really turned his career around because then he could get his nutrition and his body in a place that he needed to be and just turn into a beast when it comes to hitting baseballs, because I’ll tell you he hit a couple balls this winter that you just blink and they’re 40 feet over the batter’s eye in center field, and it’s like, okay, that’s some big power. It was pretty impressive to see at times.”

LANDEN ON HIS FEET

The 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher was also impressive.

After making nine starts and logging 62-plus innings in his second ABL season, Bourassa went 6-2 with a 2.31 earned run average (ERA), 59 strikeouts and a 1.14 WHIP (walks plus hits, per inning pitched).

The result was the Pitching Champion Award, which recognizes the league’s best starting pitcher.

“Bourassa anchored Sydney’s rotation all season, leading the league in innings pitched while maintaining elite run prevention. He tossed three complete games in the season, despite there not being a complete game in the ABL in the three years prior. Bourassa was a rock in leading Sydney to a minor premiership and their first ABLCS appearance,” wrote the league in an awards announcement.

It was a spellbinding season, according to Rataczak.

“We’re all pretty used to seeing if a starter goes six innings, that’s about as far as they ever go based on pitch counts and inning counts … and he would just roll out game after game and go at least seven, if not eight, and many times nine innings, and he’d do it in less than a hundred pitches and induce the most amount of ground balls I’ve ever seen,” said Rataczak.

Bourassa, a 29-year-old University of San Francisco grad who has spent the last five seasons taking the mound for the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association, credited his Sydney squad for the top pitching honours.

“It’s just kind of a nice feather in your cap for the hard work of the year, and the pitching coach and our manager and everybody who just worked so hard to give me the opportunities to make it happen. I mean, that was definitely a team award, even though it’s got my name on it,” said the Lethbridge product.

“Honestly, the big thing is I went down there with a couple of intentions of just trying to throw more sliders, more curveballs. I’ve been so heavy with sinkers and changeups my whole life and I just said, ‘Hey, I’ve got these pitches, too.’ And if I’m really going to be effective at a high level, I need to use more than just half the arsenal. So, that was kind of the big element.”

The ABL season also gave Bourassa another chance to soak up the sun in Australia and avoid a cold Canadian winter.

“I know how cold it gets here back home, and seeing my family struggle through the cold weather and living life that way. And I’m at the beach pretty much every day. But yeah, that’s just one of the benefits of being able to get an opportunity down there,” he said.

“It’s unique, but I always tell people that it’s more similar to Canada than the U.S. is. Australia and Canada have so many commonalities, I think, especially with the way that we look at sport.”

WCBL CONNECTION

One commonality that Bourassa and Rataczak shared was their time in the Western Canadian Baseball League.

Rataczak put together a Rookie of the Year campaign with the Bombers and represented Brooks in the All-Star Game & Home Run Derby, but Bourassa was no slouch when he suited up for his hometown Lethbridge Bulls in 2017. That year, he went 4-1 with a 2.13 ERA and 45 strikeouts over six starts and 38 innings.

“We talked extensively about the WCBL and how much of a good time he had in Brooks. He didn’t have anything bad to say about the league, for where he was at in his career. And I know for me, when I was in my first couple of years in junior college, coming back and playing in that league, it was just so beneficial to both of us and really helped us kind of get our footing in terms of that college baseball landscape and how to have success and how to handle that,” said Bourassa.

“It’s kind of an interesting one because I remember chatting with him the first time around and he made mention that he went to Brooks on a bit of a whim. Like, he was almost thinking about quitting baseball at the time. And it kind of lit a fire under his rear end to a certain extent and made him go, ‘Okay, well, this can be fun.'”

Rataczak confirmed that his time in Brooks served as a turning point in his baseball career.

“Yeah, before coming north to Alberta, I had, in my mind, I had essentially retired from college baseball and was thinking, this is just another chance for me to play one more summer of baseball. Let’s have fun and make it a good one. Might as well go out as long as I can. And I think it’s that exact mentality that allowed me to have the performance I had there, and every year it’s been the same for me,” recalled Rataczak.

“Once you get up to a certain age and you haven’t signed a big contract, you’re on the chopping block every year. But for me, I felt like I was on the chopping block from the start of college baseball, from the end of high school, and so just taking it one year at a time and doing everything I can with this opportunity that I have in my hands in front of me solidly right now and not getting too caught up in what may come down the pipe in the future, I think, allows you to really kind of be present and get your best performance.”

The Niagara University alum enjoyed reliving his Western Canadian experience with his Canuck teammate in Australia.

“Baseball is a small world. The more you play, the smaller it gets. Obviously, Landen played for Lethbridge and was familiar with the WCBL,” said Rataczak.

“It was good to have a laugh about some of those teams, some of those talents, and some of the traditions, the league traditions, like the Fort Mac trip … it was pretty cool to have that kind of connection 10,000 miles away or wherever it may be.”