June 4, 2019

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

OTTAWA- The Toronto Blue Jays made Junior National Team outfielder Dasan Brown the top Canadian selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft when they chose the Oakville, Ontario native with their third round pick, 88th overall.

Brown, 17, joined the Junior National Team program in October 2017 for the Fall Instructional League Camp and recently competed in the Dominican Summer League tour in the Dominican Republic in May. Last fall he helped Canada win a bronze medal at the COPABE U-18 Pan Am Championships in Chitré, Panama.

Brown joins a long list of Junior National Team alumni to have the honour of being the first Canadian selected in the MLB Draft including current and former big leaguers Justin Morneau (1999), Adam Loewen (2002), Phillippe Aumont (2007), Brett Lawrie (2008), James Paxton (2009) and Josh Naylor (2015).

In addition to Brown, four other Canadians were selected on day two of the MLB Draft including outfielder Jake Sanford (Cole Harbour, NS) along with right-handed pitchers Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) and Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC), and left-handed pitcher Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.).

Sanford, 21, enjoyed a tremendous junior campaign at Western Kentucky University where he was the Conference USA Player of the Year following a season where he slashed .398/.483/.805 with 88 hits, 178 total bases, 22 homeruns, 20 doubles, 66 runs batted in and 65 runs scored.

Brash, 21, led the Niagara University Purple Eagles in most pitching categories in 2019 including wins (4), innings pitched (85.1) and strikeouts (121) while sporting a 2.43 ERA. Brash was named MAAC Pitcher of the Year.

Burgmann, 21, is a Junior National Team alum (2014-2016) who represented Canada at the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Osaka, Japan where he recorded wins over Chinese Taipei and Australia before enrolling at the University of Washington. Named to the 2019 Golden Spikes Award Midseason watch list, Burgmann went 4-6 with a 3.99 ERA in 14 starts (79 innings) with 101 strikeouts.

Macko, 18, was born in Slovakia before moving to Canada in 2013 where he would later join the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball in Vauxhall, Alberta. He is committed to Purdue University.

Canadians selected in 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft:

1. OF Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.) – Toronto Blue Jays – 3rd Round (88th overall) Junior National Team/Ontario Blue Jays

2. OF Jake Sanford (Cole Harbour, NS) – New York Yankees – 3rd Round (105th overall) Western Kentucky University

3. RHP Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) – San Diego Padres – 4th Round (113th overall) Niagara University

4. RHP Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC) – Chicago Cubs – 5th Round (162nd overall) University of Washington

5. LHP Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.) – Seattle Mariners – 7th Round (216th overall) Vauxhall (AB) High School

*Bold indicates current or former member of Junior National Team program