July 19, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

This page is dedicated to the memory of the late Warren Bechard, whose son Jess played INF at Kent State and held many career hitting records when he graduated.

Day I Blog

Day II Blog … Canadian and Blue Jays draft picks.

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The biggest talking point of Day 1 was how much RHP Jacob Zibin (Langley, BC) had fallen. He went from the highest rated Canadian selected to a 10th rounder by the Cleveland Guardians.

Later Monday night, Zibin was again the main topic — how the Guardians were about to give him a signing bonus of over $1 million. No official word yet.

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Blue Jays 11th round pick (338th overall) … RHP Pat Gallagher from the UCONN Huskies. Gallagher was 11-3 in 17 starts for the Huskies with a 3.41 ERA ... In 103 innings, he walked 39 and fanned 110.

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Blue Jays 12th round selection (368th) ... 3B Nolan Carl Perry, a high schooler from Carlsbad, N.M.

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10th Canadian pick of the draft in the 13th round (378th) ... the Arizona Diamondbacks chose RHP Eli Saul (Vancouver, BC) of the Sacramento State Hornets. Saul was 6-1 in 15 starts with a 3.71 ERA, striking out 66 in 87 1/3 innings to lead the Hornets.

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Blue Jays 13th round pick (398th) ... RHP Bo Bonds of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Rajun Cajuns. Bonds was 5-3 with a 3.11 ERA in 23 games, making one start. He walked 29 and whiffed 83 in 55 innings.

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11th Canadian selected in the 13th round (395th) ... RHP Cedric De Grandpre (St-Simon, Que.) of the Chipola Indians by the Atlanta Braves. De Grandpre went 8-4, with a 2.80 ERA in 18 games -- 12 starts. The ABC grad walked 20 and struck out 89 in 70 2/3 innings.

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Blue Jays 14th round selection (428th) ... C Sammy Hernandez, Lakeland (Fla.) High School.

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To the Phones … Just had a call from a young friend that the draft is too long (we were in the 15th … I asked if he would prefer 20 rounds compared to the old days when everyone could draft until they were out of breath (or passed) … One year the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers went all the way to 75 rounds if I recall. Then the brain matter changed it to 50 rounds.

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12th Canadian pick in the 15th round (451st) ... Toronto-born LHP Adam Tulloch who went to the Cleveland Guardians. At Arizona State he was 2-4 with a 8.42 ERA in 18 appearances -- all but one a start. He walked 38 and struck out 85 in 67 1/3 innings Had double-figure strikeouts against San Francisco (13) and Utah (10).

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The 13th Canadian pick of the draft is 15th rounder (459th) ... LHP Nathan Landry (Victoriaville, Que.) of the University of Missouri. He was 4-2 with a 3.67 ERA in 15 games -- with four starts. He only walked seven and struck out 54 in 41 2/3 innings, holding opponents to a .200 batting average.

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Blue Jays 15th round selection (458th) ... SS Michael Turconi of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. At 5-foot-11 and 185 lbs. he hit .314 with 11 doubles, five triples, 15 homers, 68 RBIs and a 1.006 OPS in 61 games.

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Blue Jays 16th round selection (488th) ... RHP Kale Davis of Oklahoma State. The 6-foot-4, 225 pounder went 1-1 with a 4.25 ERA in 26 games, including two starts. Davis walked 20 and whiffed 56 in 42 1/3 innings.

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The 14th Canadian pick of the draft is 17th rounder (510th) ... C Hugh Pinkney (Etobicoke, Ont.). Of all the players who headed south when the diamonds were closed last year, he made the most improvements. The Ontario Terrier -- who went there after seeing Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) pitch -- made the Junior National Team as Abram did. He has a scholarship to Rutgers and won’t be an easy sign.

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Blue Jays 17th round selection (518th) ... LHP Ryan Chasse of the Campbell Flying Camels. At 6-foot-3 and a 250-pounder pitched mostly out of the bullpen going 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA. He walked 26 and fanned 60 in 41 2/3 innings.

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The 15th Canadian pick of the draft and is the Blue Jays 18th rounder (548th) — as Canada’s team finally looked inward — was LHP Jeremy Pilon (Salaberry-De-Valleyfield Que.) of the Academy Baseball Canada and the Junior National Team.

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The Blue Jays 19th round pick (578th) ... is RHP Gage Stanifer, from Westfield HS in Indiana. He stands 6-foot-3 and is a 201 pounder.

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The Blue Jays 20th round pick (608th) ... is OF Gregory Pace, Jr of Detroit Edison Academy.

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Canadian Players selected …

By major league organizations: Atlanta Braves 3, Arizona Diamondbacks 2, Cleveland Guardians 2, San Diego Padres 2, Boston Red Sox 1, Los Angeles Angels 1, Milwaukee Brewers 1, New York Mets 1, Toronto Blue Jays 1., Washington Nationals 1,

By Province: Ontario 7, British Columbia 3, Quebec 3, Alberta 2.

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Wrap-up: A total of 15 players is down from last year’s total of 19 and the lowest since 1990 when one player was selected. excluding the five-round draft in the COVID-19 2020 season.

Yet, we always find it is best to wait until Aug. 1 (the deadline for signing drafted players) before making a decision. Langley Blaze RHP Jacob Zibin (Langley, BC) was supposed to go in the top 100 picks and he went in the 10th round to the Cleveland Guardians. Big let down … but then Monday night we heard the Guardians had enough cash left over to pay Zibin a large sum … as in over a million. That could be close to slot money for a second-round selection.

Let’s see who signs and for how much. There were nine players selected in the first 10 rounds, the same as last year and more than double of some recent years. And let’s wait to see how many free agents sign. Last year seven signed for $20,000, but that cap has been lifted to $125,000.

As for those who were ranked high and were not drafted, scouts say some asked for more money than the scouts/teams were willing to pay. No one is to blame. If a player is happy leaving $750,000 US on the table for school and expecting it to be there in three years … well, good luck. We hope you double that amount.