May 13, 2021

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

The Draft League -- an idea created on Ninth Ave. in Manhattan -- is getting ready for action.

The six-team league is expected to feature at least six Canadians as both high scoolers and collegians gather to impress evaluators heading into the 20-round July 11-to-13 draft.

The Draft League teams are the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, West Virginia Black Bears, Trenton Thunder, Frederick Keys, State College Spikes and the Williamsport Crosscutters. They plan on playing a 68-game schedule.

The Sensational Canuck Six:

LHP Mitch Bratt (Newmarket, Ont.) Georgia Premier Academy Red Sox/Toronto Mets.

Bratt is 3-0 in seven outings -- six starts -- with a 1.14 ERA. has committed to Florida State. He has walked 13 and struck out 50 in 24 innings.

Brampton Royals’ C Zachary Fascia (Brampton, Ont.) of the Purdue University Boilermakers.

C Zachary Fascia (Brampton, Ont.) Purdue University Boilermakers.

The former Brampton Royal is hitting .320 in the first 29 games with six doubles, two homers and 17 RBIs. He has an .810 OPS in 25 starts.

In the shortened 2020 season, he batted .255 in 14 games with three doubles, a triple, a homer, nine RBIs and an .813 OPS.

In 2019 he hit .277 in 54 games with 10 doubles, a triple, four homers and 37 RBIs with a .747 OPS.

SS Elijha Hammil (Oakville, Ont.) Georgia Premier Academy Red Sox/Ontario Terriers.

In Statesboro, Ga., Hammill is hitting .250 with a double, three triples, a home run with 12 RBIs. He owns a .965 OPS and is 6-for-6 stealing bases. He has committed to Utah.

RHP Garrett Hawkins (Biggar, Sask.) University of British Columbia.

The Vauxhall Academy Jet alum committed to UBC and in the spring on 2019, Hawkins was 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA. He struck out 46 and walked six in 32 innings.

In the summer of 2019, Hawkins went 3-2 with one save for the Swift Current ‘57s with a 1.59 ERA as he struck out 28 in 34 innings.

3B Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC) College of Southern Nevada Coyotes.

The Vauxhall Academy Jet grad finished the regular season leading the team with a .401 batting average with 13 doubles, three triples, 21 homers and 68 RBIs. He posted a 1.411 OPS in 55 games. He has committed to play for the Arizona Coyotes.

He spent the spring of 2019 with the Cal State University Northridge Matadors where he hit .157 with three doubles and two RBIs in 31 games as well as a .470 OPS. And for the summer he was with the Port Angeles Lefties in the West Coast loop hitting .190 with six doubles, five homers and 20 RBIs, compiling a .565 OPS.

He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays and scout Ross Bove in the 35th round in 2018.

Great Lakes Canadians grad C Max Wright (Toronto, Ont.) of the Indiana State Sycamores.

C Max Wright (Toronto, Ont.) Indiana State Sycamores.

The former Great Lake Canadian leads his club with a .307 average with seven doubles, 10 homers and 26 RBIs. He has a 1.055 OPS in 36 games.

In the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season Wright batted .231 with a .675 OPS in four games. Last summer with the Mankato MoonDogs he hit .192 with four doubles, a triple, a homer and 14 RBIs. He had a .585 OPS in 24 games.

In 2019 at Indiana State, he hit .296 including eight doubles, four homers and 36 RBIs. He owned a .774 OPS in 59 games.

With the Sycamores in the spring of 2018, he hit .258 hitting three doubles, a pair of homers and knocking in 22 runs. He owned a .659 OPS in 45 games. That summer he went to Mankato where he hit .299 with nine doubles and 14 RBIs for a .793 OPS in 34 games.

And in 2017 as a freshmen he hit .176 and in the summer he was with the Terre Haute Rex where he hit .238 with three doubles, four homers and 33 RBIs. He had a .691 OPS in 44 games.