Albertans in the MLB... and minors

A post on Albertans in the MLB would be pretty short.    There are currently many Canadian stars in the MLB including Joey Votto,  Justin Morneau and Brett Lawrie, but there isn't a single player who hails from the Texas of Canada. In fact there haven't been too many Albertans who have played in the majors.  Chris Reitsma was the last man to appear in the show who came from Wild Rose country.

But below are a few local prospects to keep your eyes on:



Jim Henderson who is a Calgary native and was originally drafted by the Montreal Expos is pitching at AAA for the Nashville Sounds.  This is his second stint at AAA, having had prior experience there with the Iowa Cubs in 2008, before the Brewers organization promoted him to their AAA affiliate last year. Although a bit old to be considered a 'prospect' at age 29, he could be called up during the season and help out in Milwaukee's bullpen.

Also at AAA is 28 year old middle infielder Skyler Stromsmoe from Bow Island.  He is playing for the Giants' affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies.  He is a very versatile player, spending a lot of time at 2nd, short and 3rd as well as the outfield and has even pitched on a few occasions.  He led Canada to gold in the Pan Am Games last year, and was just promoted to AAA for the first time this season.


A litte further away at AA is catcher Lars Davis from Grande Prairie.  He is in the Rockies organization playing for the Tulsa Drillers.

Sheldon McDonald, a left-handed pitcher from Spruce Grove was drafted by the Cubs last year where he pitched for their rookie and low A affiliates.  He has started this season with a  promotion to Single A Peoria Chiefs.

There are also several players who will be playing in lower levels that haven't started their season yet.  I will update this post once those leagues get underway.

It's just a matter of time before the next player from Alberta is playing in the show.

Canada Cup and Talent ID camps scheduled

The 2012 Canada Cup Team Alberta ID Camp dates have been announced. This is for 16 and 17 year old players (born in 1995/96) and those selected from the ID Camps will have the opportunity to compete as Team Alberta at the Canada Cup in London, Ontario in August. Please look here for registration and other information.

Date	City	Time*	Location	Contact
22-Apr	Medicine Hat	11:00am	Athletic Park	Lovell McDonell
23-Apr	Lethbridge	5:30pm	Spitz Stadium	Aaron Lavorato
4-May	Calgary	6:00pm	Optimist Park	Miki Kawahara
7-May	Okotoks	5:30pm	Seaman Stadium	Brett Thomas
8-May	Calgary	5:30pm	Inland Park	Dennis Odding
14-May	Sherwood Park	5:30pm	SAP #4	Curtis Denney
15-May	Red Deer	5:30pm	Edgar Park	Terry Letkeman
22-May	Edmonton	5:30pm	Callingwood Park	Dan Rude
29-May	St. Albert	5:30pm	Legion Memorial Park	CJ Jayasekera
31-May	Grande Prairie	5:30pm	Evergreen Park	Mona Turner
4-Jun	Ft. McMurray	5:30pm	Ron Morgan Park	Lou Pote
7-Jun	Elk Point	6:30pm	Bassett Field	Doug Bassett

* The registration process will begin 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and run for up to 3.5 hours.


As well, below are the locations and times for the Talent ID camps for13-15 year olds interested in trying out for the Alberta Summer Games. Please look here for registration and other information.

Date	City	Time	Location
April 22nd	Medicine Hat	11:00am	Athletic Park
April 23rd	Lethbridge	5:30pm	Spitz Stadium
May 4th	Calgary	6:00pm	Optimist Park
May 7th	Okotoks	5:30pm	Seaman Stadium
May 8th	Calgary	5:30pm	Inland Park
May 14th	Sherwood Park	5:30pm	Strathcona Athletic Park #1
May 15th	Red Deer	5:30pm	Edgar Park
May 22nd	Edmonton	5:30pm	Callingwood Park
May 29th	St. Albert	5:30pm	Legion Memorial
May 31st	Grande Prairie	5:30pm	Evergreen Park
June 4th	Ft. McMurray	5:30pm	Ron Morgan Park
June 5th	Elk Point	6:00pm	Basset Field

Strong showing for Alberta in Best of the West

Alberta sent four teams to the Best of the West 18U Invitational Tournament held in Kamloops, and had a very strong showing.   This is an annual invitational tournament that features the best teams in Western Canada.

In round-robin play, the Prairie Baseball Academy (PBA) from Lethbridge, went 3-0 to get the overall first seed in the playoffs, while the Okotoks Dawgs also went undefeated to secure the 2nd playoff spot.  Meanwhile Calgary's PBF Redbirds and the Vauxhall Jets went 2-1.  Vauxhall secured the 3rd playoff spot by winning their pod, while Calgary waited for the results of a Langley Blaze - White Rock Tritons match to see if all four teams in the playoffs would be from Alberta.  However, the Blaze won to finish with an identical 2-1 record and got the wildcard berth edging out the Redbirds on tiebreaker rules.

This left 3 out of 4 Alberta teams, and 1 of 8 BC teams playing for medals.  In total Alberta teams went 10-1 against teams from BC in round-robin play, as Calgary's lone loss was to Vauxhall.