Wednesday, December 5, 2012

HarbourCats roster likely to have Canadian flavour

Here's a trivia question for you: True or False? There are more Canadians playing college baseball in the United States than there are playing college hockey.

If you said "False" you are... wrong! According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, there were over 700 Canadians playing American college baseball in the 2011-12 season, but fewer than 500 Canucks were lacing up their skates south of the 49th to play college hockey. Those 700 Canadian ballplayers are spread across schools that are part of the NCAA, NAIA or NJCAA and all of these institutions are potentially a supplier of talent for our HarbourCats. Given those numbers, we can expect a number of Canadians on the HarbourCats roster and likely a few local boys.

Kelly Norris-Jones
The HarbourCats have not announced any player signings so far, but I'm guessing that the roster is pretty close to being finalized. Rumour has it that we'll be learning of at least some of the player signings before the end of the month, but it's not too early to speculate on who we might see donning a HarbourCats jersey in June.

So who are some of the Canadians that might appear on our roster? A quick scan of Bob Elliot's list of Canadians playing U.S. college baseball yields a slew of possibilities. Much to my amazement, there are 24 ballplayers from Victoria on the list. The Garden City has been considered a Canadian baseball mecca for some time now, but that number puts it all in perspective.

One name that that immediately jumps out at you is Kelly Norris-Jones, a Victoria native who is the starting catcher for the University of Illinois. He was selected by the Blue Jays in the 50th round of the 2010 draft, but opted to go the NCAA route and did not sign with Toronto. Norris-Jones is a Victoria Mariners alumnus who suited up for the WCL's Kelowna Falcons in 2011 in preparation for his debut with the Fighting Illini. He hit .266 with no homers and 14 RBI in 46 games last season and was solid defensively. Incidentally, his father Brad is the owner of M.V.P. Sports Collectibles on Douglas Street.

Chase Cuckovich
Another possible local boy for the HarbourCats is Chase Cuckovich, an outfielder who used to play for the Victoria Eagles. He now attends Riverside City College (RCC) and is coached by -- you guessed it -- HarbourCats head coach Dennis Rogers. As a freshman at RCC last year, Cuckovich saw minimal playing time and went 3-for-12 with 4 RBI. Chase's older brother Nic also played at RCC and he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 17th round of the 2011 draft.

Cuckovich won't be the only Canadian under the tutelage of Dennis Rogers this season. Toronto-native Bryan Saucedo is a redshirt freshman who is also attending Riverside City College. He was taken by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 29th round of the 2012 draft, but chose to play for Rogers instead of signing with the Brew Crew. The first baseman / outfielder has impressive power and a very high ceiling.

Below is a list of the 24 Victorians playing college baseball in the United States. I'm sure there are a few errors and omissions, but it's a pretty impressive list nonetheless -- and I didn't even attempt to compile a list of other Vancouver Islanders playing down south.

Level
Position
Name
School
NCAA Division I
C
Kelly Norris-Jones
University of Illinois (IL)

LHP
Jason Gibson
McNeese State University (LA)

INF
Jagit Gordaya
Texas Southern University (TX)
NCAA Division II
C
Connor Moughtin
Minot State University (ND)

RHP
Dustin Robirtis
Colorado Mesa State University (CO)

C
Connor McDougall
Concordia University-St. Paul (MN)

3B-SS
Duncan Blades
Abilene Christian University (TX)
NCAA Division III
RHP-1B
Dallen Russell
Principia College (IL)

CF
Mike Turcotte
Minot State University (ND)

INF
Ryan Adkins
Jamestown College ND
NAIA
RHP
Nick Kearley
Dickinson State College (ND)

OF
Brendan Magee
Jamestown College (ND)

INF
Dustin Sandberg
Clarke University (IA)

RHP
Adam Wilson
University of Science and Art of Oklahoma (OK)

1B
Ricky Alvernaz
Mayville State University (ND)

1B
Sam Lawless
Jamestown College (ND)
Junior/CC Division I
OF
Chase Cuckovich
Riverside City Community College (CA)

RHP
Cole Holt
Colby Comunity College (KS)

RHP
Colton Lindsay
Volunteer State Community College (TN)

C
Daniel Peakman
Trinidad State Junior College (CO)

RHP
Nick Pivetta
New Mexico Jr. College (NM)

RHP-INF
Cooper Skjeie
Cloud County Community College (KS)

C-INF
Scott Jones
Colby Community College (KS)

INF
Austin Russell
Colby Community College (KS)

With that big of a pipeline, I doubt we'll be lacking local talent on the HarbourCats anytime soon.

6 comments:

  1. Don't forget too there are plenty of talented Victorian's playing at CANADIAN schools who are also eligible to play for the HarbourCats. It is not just limited to those at U.S. schools.

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  2. Good point, Christian. This blog post neglected to mention the high-calibre baseball being played by the UBC Thunderbirds (NAIA), the teams playing in the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) and those in the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association (CIBA).

    Last season, UBC did not have any Victorians on their roster. However, Andrew Firth from London (Ontario) did play in the WCL for the Kelowna Falcons in 2011 and 2012. Three other UBC players played for the Falcons in 2011: Blake Carruthers, Keaton Briscoe and David Otterman.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see a player or two from UBC on the HarbourCats roster this year!

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  3. The coach has no idea how good this team will be if he stuck to the above. Wow - all played on championships.

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  4. I don't know if people really understand how good the ball is in the WCL, they're averaging around 50 players drafted/year. That's almost two full teams. I can't imagine that there won't be at least a couple of your local Victoria boys selected... but guaranteed if they are, that the coaches have done there homework and those selections will be based on draft calibre players. I mean you've got the MLB Director of Scouting living down the road. The coaches are there to win, they don't give up there summers to lose and you know they wont be wasting any space on the bench.

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  5. There will be AT LEAST three Victoria area players on the HarbourCats in 2013. These players will be introduced at a press conference on Tuesday December 18th at 11 AM at Lambrick Park Secondary School.

    For details, see http://harbourcats.com/uncategorized/harbourcats-to-unveil-first-three-players/

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  6. Canadian's love baseball. End of story.

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