TORONTO — Sam Shaw, a ninth-round pick in this summer’s MLB draft, was on the Toronto Blue Jays’ radar long before he took the field at the Canadian Futures Showcase last year, but the looks he received there helped cement the club’s interest.
“We see these players all over in the summer, playing for their teams and on the showcase circuit as well, but when they're (at the tournament), it allows us to get to know them more,” says Pat Griffin, who scouts Canada for the Blue Jays and led the drafting and signing of the infielder from Victoria. “That's what helped us with Sam Shaw, getting to see how the players react, have them 1-on-1 and have Blue Jays staff members in the scouting department and baseball operations be around these guys and see what they're all about.”
The Blue Jays will be on the lookout for the next Shaw this week when the Canadian Futures Showcase, a pivotal evaluative exhibition for aspiring professional and collegiate players, returns to the Rogers Centre for the first time since 2019. Last year, a scheduling conflict forced a hasty relocation to Ottawa in the event’s return after two years lost to COVID-19.
A roster of 167 players will be split into six teams that will play a tournament Tuesday-Saturday, capped by a home run derby and prospect game. Blue Jays alumni Denis Boucher, a Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee this summer, along with Scott Richmond, Rob Butler, Jeff Francis and Andrew Albers will be among the coaches, with more than 50 scouts from big-league clubs and college recruiters on hand hunting for talent.
In the tournament’s absence, top Canadian amateurs began travelling to the United States and playing on the showcase circuit there, a trend that isn’t healthy for elite competition on this side of the border. Getting so many players together here, after months of work identifying the roster, helps ease the pressure to head south for exposure, while creating a national measuring stick.
Hosting the event certainly gives the Blue Jays an opportunity to dig in a little further on the upcoming draft class — including infielder Brendan Lawson, the top prospect on Canadian Baseball Network’s 2024 eligible list — even if it’s open to the other 29 clubs at the same time.
While that surrenders some competitive advantage, “the main goal of this is to give all these players a platform,” says Griffin. “Some of these kids might go and play pro ball. You've had a lot of alumni that are in the big leagues right now, or building up to the big leagues, but a lot of these players are going to go play college baseball and be working jobs and they'll be able to say to their kids that when they were in high school, they got to play at the Rogers Centre in front of major-league scouts and college recruiters. I mean, I wish this was here when I was around. I don't know if I would have made it, but the main goal is to give players a platform.”
Griffin, a native of Oakville, Ont., caught for four seasons with the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., joining the Blue Jays after he graduated, first as the video co-ordinator for the Vancouver Canadians in 2017 before moving into scouting.
He’d just started as a Canadian assistant in 2020 when before COVID the Blue Jays worked out Shaw, a Grade 10 student at the time who “was the best hitter there.” Griffin remained on the trail afterwards, building a relationship with Shaw and his family, helped by the fact “that they're lifelong family Jays fans.”
“The one thing that drew me to him is that he loves baseball. He's a gamer. He just lives it,” says Griffin. “I haven't been doing this long, obviously, but that's one of the things I'm looking for, love, passion for the game. He has that. And I could tell this guy was driven.”
Griffin sees those elements as potential difference-makers that help players “to maximize the tools that they have.”
“A lot of these high-school kids aren't five-tool players,” he continues. “Sam's got feel-to-hit already and I think he would tell you that he’s got to work on his defence. But what gave me comfort is that Sam is going to be able to go to Dunedin and deal with the struggles and deal with the everyday life of a minor-leaguer at the lower levels. I think with his passion for the game, the tools are definitely going to play up.”
The chance for the next wave of players to make a similar impression begins Tuesday, although Richmond — who made it to the big leagues despite never playing travel ball, in showcase events or on the junior national team — plans to remind players that there are multiple pathways to the majors and that not all rests on what happens this week.
Griffin agrees, pointing out that the showcase on the Rogers Centre field “helps the scouts from every team have a good gauge about where these players are at going into the spring,” while adding that “summer events like this, the best thing to do is to treat them as identifiers and come out of here being able to flag some players that might have your interest or that you think have high upside or are projectable, whatever the case may be.
“This is a great opportunity for that.”
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.