September 19, 2024

By Trevor Fitzpatrick

Canadian Baseball Network

In 2022, the 15U AAA Chilliwack Cougars faced the West Coast Wolves in the finals of the British Columbia Minor Provincial Championships.

The Wolves had won the last game the two teams played, but they couldn’t do so this time as the Cougars edged them 1-0 for their first provincial title win.

Among the celebrating players was Carter Bestebroer (Chilliwack, B.C.). His main contribution was a big one – a two-out game-tying knock in the semi-final game to help his squad advance.

This year, the class of 2026 member Bestebroer finds himself at the Canadian Futures Showcase with Team Navy. That’s following a 2023 in which he won a national championship with Team BC.

Currently a two-way player for the Cougars, he’ll only be playing as an outfielder throughout the Showcase.

“I like hitting more, it’s always been my favourite part of the game,” said Bestebroer, “The loading and weight transfer skills carry over a bit between the two though.”

Early on, he made his presence felt for Team Navy. In their first game of the Showcase against Team Red, they were held hitless through 5 1/3 innings (Showcase games are seven innings) until the outfielder finally broke through.

Bestebroer’s hit down the left-field line salvaged something from the 8-0 loss and his Team Navy teammates got loud in support.

“I was looking for one pitch, fastball, and got it,” explained Bestebroer, “I almost always look for a fastball when I’m hitting and was hoping I’d get one there.”

As a part of the class of 2026, the talented left-handed hitter still has lots of time before he has to decide on the next steps for his career.

“I haven’t been talking [with colleges] much right now, but I’m hoping that will start sooner rather than later,” he said, “I’m hoping to go somewhere warm down in the states.”

With scouts from all over sitting in at the Rogers Centre this week, Bestebroer may just have his hopes come true.

There’s more than one way to catch their attention, too. Scouts aren’t just watching for a player’s physicals and stats (Being 6-foot-1, 175 pounds at 16 years old certainly helps though).

The other way is through how a player acts around teammates and off the field, an area Bestebroer is hoping to impress in.

“I’m a morale guy. I like to keep everyone up and I like to lead by example,” he said.

Team Navy won their last contest on Thursday against Team Grey 3-1 to improve to a 1-1 record. They’ll play another Thursday game at 4:00 p.m. against Team Royal.