Baseball Canada announced the Junior National Team roster which will go to the Dominican Republic for the annual Dominican Summer League tour which starts on May 23rd. Among the 30 players named to the team is Philippe Aumont of Gatineau, Québec. The 18-year-old prospect is projected to be selected in the first round of the upcoming Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft this summer. The complete Junior team roster is a mix of Junior Team veterans and a new crop of talented young ballplayers. The junior team will play nine games on their tour against Major League Dominican Summer League teams. Included in their schedule are games against the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Seattle Mariners, which they will play a doubleheader. “Right now, we’re taking it one step at a time in terms of evaluating our team,” says Greg Hamilton, Manager of the Junior National Team. “We want to make sure that our players are ready to play at this level of international competition.” The DSL tour this year is in preparation for the World Junior Qualifier this August in Mexico and for the World Junior Baseball Championship in Edmonton next year. To view the roster and the 2007 Junior National Team schedule, go to the National Teams section of our website and click on the Junior National Team link.
The Atlanta Braves announced the signing of left-handed pitcher Rheal Cormier of Moncton, N.B. The signing of Cormier will increase the depth in their bullpen. Cormier has no record in six games (three innings pitched) with a 9.00 ERA with the Cincinnati Reds this season. He posted a 2-3 mark with a 2.44 ERA in 64 games (48 innings pitched) with the Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies in 2006. The 40-year-old reliever is known across the majors as a left-handed specialist. The 16-year Major League veteran now joins his sixth Major League club. He has also been a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds. Cormier has compiled a career record of 71-64 with a 4.03 ERA in 683 games (108 games started). He has seven complete games, one shutout and two saves in 1221.2 innings pitched with 760 strikeouts.
You know about the Winterball program through your school and you know how fun and exciting playing Winterball is. Now, with the help of Major League Baseball, Winterball wants to know who your favorite Major League team is. MLB.com is conducting a poll to find out which Major League team is the favorite in Canada. You can vote for your favorite team at www.mlb.com/winterball and check out all the other fun stuff you can learn.
His career is certainly exceptional. Seven Gold Gloves, Five All-Star Game appearances, three Silver Slugger Awards, three time National League Batting Champion and the first ever Canadian to be named MVP in 1997, and that is only the beginning. Larry Walker was named to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame for his career accomplishments during 17 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals. Walker has pieced together a career .313 average with 2,160 hits, 383 home runs, 1,311 runs batted in, 230 stolen bases and a .400 on-base percentage in 1,988 games. The former coach with Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic equated the honor of being named to the Hall with being named the National League MVP. “It’s a great moment,” says Walker in an interview with the Canadian Press. “I’m Canadian and I’ll always be Canadian.” In 1997, the year Walker won the NL MVP, he put together arguably the best statistical season in Major League history. The Maple Ridge, B.C. native hit .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBI that season. He also stole 33 bases and had an on-base percentage of .452 with a .720 slugging percentage. He was also in the top three in virtually every offensive category in the NL that season. “I’m proud of what I’ve done and hopefully I made a difference for some kids who may one day want to play baseball,” says Walker. Presently, Walker is a hitting instructor with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, but he hopes someday he will be a coach for Canadian Olympic and world championship teams. The gala induction dinner will take place at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto on Thursday, October 25, 2007. Walker is among six athletes and two builders to be inducted into the Hall this year.
The sport of baseball continues to grow across Canada. With the increase of kids registering to play this wonderful game, the demand for qualified coaches increases along with it. This is where the National Coaching Certification Program steps in. From January till April this year, 1286 coaches registered on-line with the NCCP, which is in line to surpass the 2006 mark of 2585. One of the coaches who registered this year is Sylvain Labatt of Varennes, Québec. He registered on January 7th and learned a lot from the on-line course. “The site is well thought of and is easy to navigate,” says Mr. Labatt of the website. “There are extensive materials available and it’s very progressive. It’s an indispensable tool to help create uniformity in the training of coaches and it will help retain players.” It is comments like that that André Lachance, Manager of Baseball Operations with Baseball Canada, takes to heart. “It’s nice, but it’s not only from coaches but from the other sports also,” adds Mr. Lachance. “The Coaches Association tells us that our on-line program is an excellent idea and other sports are starting to steal the idea.” Even with those words of encouragement from coaches who have participated in the on-line program, Mr. Lachance is always looking for ways to improve the product. “Right now we are developing the competition portion of the program and we are really investing our energy on that,” says Mr. Lachance. Baseball Canada organizes the program with the help of the provincial associations in order to cultivate the best possible coaches. The small fee the coaches’ pay is reinvested in to the program in order to improve the product and achieve its goal. The current program was developed as part of the transition from the traditional National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) to a Competency Based approach and represents a partnership with Baseball BC. Baseball BC had developed an online library for coaches that outlined skill areas and the progressions for various age groups plus video examples of drills in action. The Baseball Canada site now employs the information from Baseball BC and has implemented an online exam for coaches of athletes at the initiation stage so that they may receive coach education and ultimately trained status in a progressive and flexible manner. If you are interested in registering with the NCCP, click here.
Chris Begg of Uxbridge, Ontario was promoted to Fresno of the Pacific Coast League from Double-A Connecticut of the Eastern League. These teams are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants’ organization. The right-handed pitcher who was a member of the 2004 Canadian Olympic Team in Athens and a member of Team Canada at the 2006 World Baseball Classic was 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA in four games with 16 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched. Begg posted a 13-10 mark with a 3.40 ERA in 26 games and three complete games with Double-A Connecticut last season.
Baseball Canada has named the 21 players who will be invited to the 2007 National Women’s Team Selection Camp. The players invited are: Karine Gagné, Granby, QCMelanie Harwood, Newmarket, ONAutumn Mills, London, ONNicole Luchanski, Edmonton, ABKatherine Hannah, Toronto, ONSusan Douthwright, Riverview, NBTia Wishart, Comox, BCGeneviève Beauchamp, St-Jérôme, QCAshley Stephenson, Mississauga, ONSamantha Magalas, Burlington, ONKate Psota, Burlington, ONMarie-Josée Tremblay, St-Honoré, QCPatricia Landry, St-Étienne-des-Grès, QCAmanda Asay, Prince-George, BC Martine Nadeau, Québec City, QCMeghan Bremner, Moncton, NBMelissa Armstrong, Saskatoon, SKAshleigh Leon, Toronto, ONStéphanie Savoie, La Pocatière, QCLindsey McLaughlin, Ottawa, ONCindy Saavedra, Toronto, ON Additional players will be added to the camp following the National Championships in Québec City. The camp will start on August 26 in Windsor, Ontario before making their way to Cary, North Carolina for the 3 Nations Cup with Team USA and Team Japan. This grouping consists of the three best teams in the world at this time. At the reigns will be André Lachance who is managing this team for his fourth season. Joining him will be assistant coaches Jean-François Lacroix, who is also the Pitching Coach, Wayne Parro and Eric Laforest. Isabelle Higgins is also among the coaching staff as a Guest Coach. Baseball Canada would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Erin Forman, who recently announced her retirement. Erin was a member of the National Women’s Teams in 2004 and 2006 who went on to capture bronze medals at the World Women’s Baseball Championships. Erin will now devote her time to her two year old daughter, Logan.
