The Reds scouted Canada heavily, 5 of the 30 Canada born draftees were picked by Cincinnati.
Though there are outliers (like Joey Votto) Canada has typically not been a haven for talent...since the beginning of the 1998 season only 57 Canadian born players have debuted in the majors (out of 3,607).
www.baseballamerica.com/draft/draft-proves-canadian-baseball-thriving/Draft Proves Canadian Baseball Is ThrivingJune 13, 2015 by Alexis Brudnicki
Baseball in Canada is thriving and the future looks even better.
With Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft in the books, Canada saw a historic selection process in 2015. In total 30 Canadians were chosen, with two in the first round, three on the first night, and 10 in the first two days—matching a record for the first 10 rounds.
Power-hitting first baseman Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ontario) led the charge when he was taken by the Marlins with the 12th overall pick, the best ever for a Canadian position player and the fourth-highest Canuck ever. He was followed by righthander Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alberta), chosen by the Braves at No. 28.
Both high school players are also members of the Canadian Junior National Team, a program headed up by future Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Greg Hamilton. Since Hamilton arrived on the scene in his full-time position 16 years ago, baseball in the Great White North has completely changed.
“The national program that he’s built is unique and better than any other program in the world,” MLB scouting bureau Canadian supervisor Walt Burrows said. “There’s no program that brings players together as often as Baseball Canada does and exposes them to the talent level they face. The schedule that these kids play is harder than any high school player in the world.
“They’re playing almost exclusively against professional teams … which is really stiff competition and it exposes the kids to how they have to play and how good the professional game is. It’s really helpful in their development. Greg came up with the idea in 1999 and on that first team that went to Disney were Jeff Francis (North Delta, British Columbia) and Justin Morneau (New Westminster, British Columbia), who are two pretty good guys.”
When all was said and done, of the 30 Canadian players chosen in the draft, 18 of have played for Hamilton, or are currently with the program. Some, such as Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ontario), Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, Ontario), Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Michael Foster (Pickering, Ontario), Philip Diedrick (Ajax, Ontario), Daniel Pinero (Toronto) and Joey Hawkins (Whitby, Ontario), have been drafted more than once, this time after pursuing the Division I college opportunities afforded to them at least in part because of Baseball Canada.
“The junior team did pretty much everything for me,” Kellogg said, before he was selected in the fifth round by the Cubs on Tuesday. “Without them I would not be (at Arizona State), I wouldn’t have had the chance to travel the world like I did, I wouldn’t have been able to represent my country—all of those things have made me into what I am today, on and off the field.”
Added Hawkins: “Greg set me up with a good opportunity with Team Canada to get drafted out of high school and that was a pretty cool moment. Going to college, it really allowed me to develop my skills both on and off the field as a player and it’s going to help me going into pro ball. College was a big stepping stone in my career so I’m really glad I got the chance to go to Missouri State for that reason.”
Hamilton’s exceptional eye for talent and his patience with players are what others cite as the biggest difference-makers for the Canadian program. Not only is he able to find the country’s best players, but he finds them at all different ages and levels and helps each of them elevate their games.
“I can think of numerous players who seemed like long-shot prospects or long-shot college players who ended up fulfilling their potential with the national team,” one American League scout said. “That’s what makes what Greg does so impressive. It hasn’t been just one player or one example.
“He has continually shown an ability to bring on a player who has potential but is physically overmatched, and then help them develop into marquee players. This elite draft class isn’t a coincidence, it’s the fruit of years of strong development and pushing those players with high potential into situations that promote growth.”
One particular player who stands out as having raised his stock immensely since he joined Team Canada is Demi Orimoloye (Orleans, Ontario), the 121st overall selection by the Brewers, who was thought to be a potential first-round pick heading into the draft.
Born in Nigeria and moving to Ontario when he was two years old, the toolsy outfielder joined the national team at 15 after his parents were coaxed by Hamilton because they didn’t completely understand the process. Baseball Canada’s director of national teams also showed up at Orimoloye’s house Tuesday morning to remind him how proud he was of the outfielder, likely trying to soften the disappointment of falling out of the rounds on the first night.
“He’s really good at developing players and he’s patient,” Burrows said. “He’s a coach and you need diplomacy and everything like that, but he brings players along slowly and lets them develop without the pressures of the performance that goes with it. Demi is probably one of the best examples of that.
“When he was first part of the national program he was a tremendous athlete without a lot of game skill. Greg has nurtured that and brought that along to a point where now he’s an entirely different player. He’s a good player. Most coaches wouldn’t do that—you’re looking for immediate results—and Greg is not like that at all.”
Adam Stern, a former big leaguer and member of Canada’s Senior National Team, now coaching with the Great Lake Canadians program and semi-regularly with the junior squad, never really knew how much went into Hamilton’s process behind the scenes before he became a part of it.
“Greg’s got a tremendous amount of patience and a lot of belief in guys,” Stern said. “When I first started coaching with the junior team—I never got to play on it so I didn’t know the whole process of it—I saw that he really has a vision for some guys. He seems them through thick and thin when it’s easy to give up on guys.
“When you get on the other side of it—coaching and not playing—you get to see that. Probably as a player, someone would have given up on your pretty easy if you had a bad game or week or month or whatever. He has a tremendous amount of patience and that’s the key in doing what he does at the junior team level because they’re kids and you never know what you’re going to get day in and day out.”
Miles Gordon (Oakville, Ontario), an outfielder with the Great Lake Canadians who was taken with the 115th pick in the draft by the Reds, is another player whose stock rose immensely after his time with Hamilton, Stern and the national team. He knows firsthand how much can change in even a short time.
“It just goes to show the programs we’ve got running here,” Gordon said. “With Team Canada and the program that Greg runs for us, we’re lucky. To be honest, myself and the other guys wouldn’t be in the position we are today without that program. It just goes to show how good of a job Greg is doing. He’s really the guy that I’ve got to look to and thank for all his hard work and belief in me.”
While some were surprised at Canada’s success throughout the three-day draft process, no one who has been around Hamilton or the Junior National Team program thought twice.
“There are many big names in Baseball Canada and we’re definitely gaining more respect as we go,” Soroka said. “Especially now. That was a really big eye-opener. The MLB teams realize we have something, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that, but there are a lot of services and media publications that have never followed us throughout the entire spring.
“As a few of our names are off the board they’re realizing there is something up here and I really believe that it’s just going to get better.”