OTTAWA-Baseball Canada held its 12th Annual National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel in Toronto on Saturday and once again, the evening did not disappoint as many of Baseball Canada’s distinguished alumni, corporate partners and friends assembled for an unforgettable evening.
Three-time Major League Baseball All-Star Jason Bay was honoured during the awards portion of the evening as he became the 6th member of Baseball Canada’s Wall of Excellence, sponsored by RBC Wealth Management, joining Larry Walker, Justin Morneau, Joey Votto, Ernie Whitt and Ryan Dempster.
The evening was emceed by Blue Jays Radio Play-By-Play Broadcaster and host of The Blue Jays Talk, Mike Wilner who delivered a tremendous ‘pinch-hit’ performance filling in for colleague Jerry Howarth who was on the DL for the night with laryngitis.
Other award winners included:
Chris Robinson who made his MLB debut in 2013 was the recipient of a Special Recognition Award presented by RBC Wealth Management. Robinson broke in as a member of the San Diego Padres after a nine year minor league career and clubbed his first big league home run on September 27th.
Brett Lawrie of the Toronto Blue Jays took home the Alumni Award presented by the LJ Pearson Foundation. Lawrie joined the Junior National Team program as a 15 year-old in 2005 and has since gone on to become the highest position player drafted out of Canada and one of the brightest young stars in the American League.
Andrew Albers realized his dream of playing Major League Baseball in August after the Minnesota Twins called-up the southpaw who was dominant at the Triple-A level. The North Battleford, Saskatchewan native was presented with a Special Achievement Award by the Major League Baseball Players Association after he began his big league career in tremendous fashion by tossing 8 1/3 shutout innings in his MLB debut to earn his first career win and follow six days later by fashion a complete-game shutout.
Milwaukee Brewers closer Jim Henderson was given the Stubby Clapp Award, presented by Mizuno Canada for his exceptional 2013 season where he participated in his first World Baseball Classic and later saved 28 games for the Brewers. Participating in his first full big league season after debuting in 2012, Henderson struck out 75 batters in 60 innings pitched to go along with a 2.70 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 2013.
Michael Saunders of the Seattle Mariners took home the Senior National Team MVP after a dominant performance at the World Baseball Classic in Phoenix. Saunders hit .727 in three WBC games and added 3 doubles, a home run and 7 RBI to be named MVP of ‘Pool D’ and later named as an outfielder on the ‘All World Baseball Classic’ team.
The Junior National Team MVP, presented by ESPN Wide World of Sports went to Seattle Mariners prospect Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill tormented pitching at the 18U World Cup to the tune of a .385 batting average with 4 doubles, 3 home runs and 14 RBI’s. He claimed the events home run crown and was named to the All-Tournament team as an outfielder.
Current Junior National Team outfielder Gareth Morgan was given the inaugural Canadian Futures Award Presented by the Toronto Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Morgan is one of only three players to play for the JNT as a 14 year-old and looks to be among the highest drafted Canadians taken in the 2014 MLB Draft next June.
The evening also included check presentations from the Toronto Blue Jays, RBC Wealth Management and MLB to Baseball Canada at values of $25,000, $10,000 and $70,000 respectively.
“I can’t say enough about the support we’ve received from our sponsors,” explained Baseball Canada President Ray Carter. “They continuously show a vested interest in promoting the sport in Canada, both at the grassroots level and at the elite level."
Baseball Canada would like to thank everybody who made the 12th Annual National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser a night to remember.
See you in January 2015!
