CARNDUFF - Carter Beck, Saskatchewan’s U18 AAA MVP, was in Saskatoon recently, where he was able to show the Toronto Blue Jays his baseball abilities.
Blue Jays scouting camps take place across Canada. Scouts are specific in what they look for. For non-pitchers, they’re interested in throwing speed and accuracy, running speed and hitting skills.
An outfielder, Beck was given two opportunities to field balls and throw them to third base, and two more opportunities to make throws to home plate. All four throws were on the money.
He ran good times in two 60-yard dashes. One further test allowed Beck to showcase his hitting skills. He faced 20 pitches over two rounds and homered three times. The other 40 players combined for only one home run.
Along with what the scouts observed, they received player information from Baseball Sask’s high performance coach Greg Brons. Across Canada, 120 players are being chosen to take the next step, going to Toronto from Sept. 20-24 to be looked at more closely. When the first list of 75 players was released, Beck’s name was on it.
In the meantime, he and two other local ball players, Callum Hollinger of Carnduff (baseball) and Raivyn Millions of Oxbow (softball) are in Niagara, representing Saskatchewan in the Canada Summer Games. Make sure to pick up future copies of the Observer to find out how they fared.