RHP Calvin Ziegler (Heidelberg, Ont.) a Great Lake Canadians product, opened eyes this spring pitching for the TNXL Academy in Florirda.

May 3, 2021

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

What is a teenager to do when the gates to the sandlot diamonds are padlocked?

And amateur scouts can’t show due to the pandemic.

No games. No scouts. No problems for some of Canada’s best draft eligible high schoolers.

When snowbirds flew home from the south early this year, a different group of Canadian showbirds -- younger, more ambitious than retired seniors -- were flocking south.

Usually Canada’s most-talented players are evaluated on tour with Greg Hamilton’s Junior National Team. It was part-way through the St. Petersburg trip on March 12, 2020 when COVID-19 changed our worlds.

The virus subsequently cancelled two April trips to West Palm Beach (last year and this), two summer trips to the Dominican Republic (last summer and this), October instructional play in West Palm Beach and a March trip to St. Pete’s. Meanwhile the World qualifier in Mexico scheduled for June remains up in the air.

Operating on “If you can’t come to our pitching mound, we’ll come to a mound near you,” theory some Canadians are playing for travel ball teams in Florida and Georgia.

Right-hander Calvin Ziegler is one of them. He grew up in Kitchener, but now lives in the one stop-light town of Heidelberg, Ont. He is with the TNXL Academy Ducks, founded in 2014 by coach Brian Martinez near Orlando. He is expected to be the top Canadian high school arm drafted in July.

“Ziegler is not a high school arm, he’s more than that, his class graduated in 2020,” said one scout.

After pitching for the Great Lakes Canadians in Dorchester, Ont. and the Tri-City Giants in Kitchener, the right-hander and his father, JJ Ziegler, rented a condo in nearby Kissimmee in March. JJ owns the construction firm, ZRW Inc.

“We were thinking about coming in December, then we had a Zoom call in January and a lot of questions were answered,” said Ziegler, from Ocoee, Fla. “This is the only way to be seen.”

Since arriving in March, he has been seen by 27 cross checkers, six scouting directors and four assistant general managers. The Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks have shown the most interest.

The 6-foot, 195 pounder developed and improved thanks to Great Lakes pitching coach Jon Fitzsimmons (London, Ont.) and Dr. Andrew Robb (Kitchener, Ont.).

“The command has come along, I definitely have more velocity,” Ziegler said. “I couldn’t sustain it for as long before. I have a better idea now on how to maintain it and I’ve refined my off speed.”

Ziegler is one of eight Canadians with TNXL (an acronym for The Next Level). Catcher Nicolas Deschamps (Quebec City, Que.), who earned a scholarship to attend Stetson next fall, is also with TNXL.

On April 16, the Florida-based Ducs played the Georgia Premier Academy Red Sox of Statesboro, Ga. Starting for the Red Sox was lefty Mitch Bratt (Newmarket, Ont.) against Ziegler. Bratt said there was teasing in his dugout: “Canada vs. Canada ... the two top arms going against each other.”

“It was good to face him again, I went five, Calvin went three or four, we won in 11,” said Bratt, who said he struck out seven. “It was good to face real hitters.”

Bratt and Ziegler faced each other in the Canadian Premier League all-star game in the fall 2020 and the two were teammates with the Junior Team. Bratt pitched for the Toronto Mets under the guidance of pitching coaches Jordan Prosper, Chris Kemlo and Paul Spoljaric.

The Bratts called Gary Cates who runs the Georgia Premier Academy.

“We were shooting questions at him,” Bratt said. “It was a great decision for them to welcome me in.”

Hitting third in the Georgia Premier lineup is switch-hitting shortstop Elijha Hammill (Oakville, Ont.) of the Ontario Terriers.

“At home I would have been hitting -- but it would have been off a tee,” Hammill said. Now he can see how far the ball travels, as opposed to watching the ball nestle into the green netting. “Here it is game situations. I run on the warning track all the time to try and improve my speed.”

Hammill said he was talking to a travel team in New York when he heard about the Georgia team “and reached out,” to them. Both Hammill and Bratt will play this summer in the Draft League, along with Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC) who attends the College of Southern Nevada. The newly formed league will give evaluators an extra look at high schoolers and collegians.

Ziegler is rated 125th on MLB Pipeline as the top Canadian, while infielder Tyler Black (Toronto, Ont.) of the Wright State University Raiders is listed 131st.

Bolstered by their decisions to head south during the pandemic, they are looking forward to the draft July 11-13.

It’s showtime for the showbirds.

Draft snowbirds

2021 Eligible

Name Position Hometown Team Committed to

RHP Gabriel Archambaldt Montreal, Que. TNXL Academy (FL) College of Central Florida

LHP Mitchell Bratt Newmarket, Ont. Georgia Premier Academy (GA) Florida State

INF-OF Elijha Hammill Oakville, Ont. Georgia Premier Academy (GA) Utah

C Nicolas Deschamps Quebec City, Que. TNXL Academy (FL) Stetson

3B Yohann Dessureault Trois-Rivières, Que. TNXL Academy (FL) Northwest Florida State

CF Nathan Laliberte Montreal, Que. TNXL Academy (FL)

RHP Dominic Teoli Montreal, Que. TNXL Academy (FL) Eastern Florida State College

LHP Jordan Woods, Oakville, Ont. The Baseball Ranch (FL) East Tennessee

RHP Calvin Ziegler Heidelberg, Ont. TNXL Academy (FL) Auburn University

2022 draft eligible

RHP Kurt Barr, St. Joachim, Ont., University Liggett, Grosse Point, Mich., Sanford (FL)

RHP Matis Brochu Montreal, Que. TNXL Academy (FL)

RHP Jessy Camiré Montreal, Que. TNXL Academy (FL)

C Cole Carroll, Halifax, NS, ELEV8 Baseball Academy (FL)

C Colin Cymbalista, Pickering, Ont. Northeast Hurricanes/Palm Beach Selects (FL)

OF-LHP Ty Hamilton, Ottawa, Ont., PRO5 Baseball Academy (NC)

INF Corey Morro Brampton, Ont. McPherson College (KS)

(Where his brother Kyle McKinnon coaches)

RHP Dylan OBorne, Richmond Hill, Ont., Northeast Hurricanes/Palm Beach Selects (FL)

2023 Eligible

C Iyad Ansari Toronto, Ont. Georgia Premier Academy (GA)

C Andrew Johnston. Etobicoke, Ont,, Ace of Spades (FL)

OF Asafa Jones Toronto, Ont. Bullet Proof Prospects (FL)

INF Myles Naylor Mississauga, Ont. Training in Arizona (AZ) Evoshield Canes

INF Keshav Tebeck Brampton, Ont. Georgia Premier Academy (GA)

OF Chase Williams Brampton, Ont. training in Arizona