Canadian Futures Showcase celebrates 10 years of history

Country’s top baseball prospects share five-day MLB experience

While the major-league Blue Jays were busy completing the final road trip of a disappointing 2024 season, Rogers Centre was filled with hope, awash in feelings of optimism for the future of baseball in Canada.

It was the 10th annual Canadian Futures Showcase and the importance of the event, that concluded Saturday, on the Jays’ big-league diamond, was emphasized by the presence in opposite dugouts of managers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.

The participation of Joey Bats and EE created a big-game feel punctuated by wide-eyed handshakes and dozens of selfies that will remain lifelong memories for the 50 or so 15 to 18-year-old young Canadian stars who were set to play their all-star game on the same major-league diamond where Jays playoff history had been made.

Bautista’s playoff bat-flip home run vs. the Rangers and Edwin’s game-winning blast against the O’s in a wild-card game, are legendary moments in recent Jays and stadium history, even if the fact is that every one of those young players who waited patiently on the field to meet their heroes, were all aged between six and 10-years-old when those events unfolded back in 2015-16.

The final score of Saturday’s Showcase all-star game does not matter. What was important for 150 young players were the five-days of memories and new friendships that will stay with them forever.

Digging deeper in an effort to discover the goals and history of the Showcase, it made sense to speak to someone who has been involved in all 10 iterations of the event. This year’s Tournament Director, T.J. Burton was entering the scene as a coordinator in Year 1 back in 2015. He has remained involved and wisely guided by the team’s Canadian Scouting gurus from coast-to-coast, they were able to put together six teams that played a series of games culminating in Saturday’s extravaganza. When this event started, did anyone think it would reach this level of significance?

“I think that was the goal,” Burton said. “You never know. Year 1 was pretty successful. There was a lot of bumps in the road getting it going, tweaking things to try and make it better every year. But it was definitely the goal of the organization to create something that was unique to us, unique to Canada and, really, unique to the baseball landscape. There was no other major league team that goes out and puts the resources into something like this. The genuine goal is for the benefit of the kids and for the growth of baseball in this country.”

Originally there were 1,700 players at tryouts across the country. That total was whittled down to 150, all born between 2006-09. Many of the Showcase group will become draft eligible in 2025, while those from the younger groups will likely be invited back for a second opportunity in Sept. ’25. There were 26 players already committed to American colleges or universities, while coaches from NCAA programs had all received invites, with several in attendance, including from SEC powerhouse LSU. Canadian numbers in U.S. colleges have been on the rise for many years.

There are 11 players that have used the tournament as part of the process, going on to play in the majors. The group includes: 1B Josh and C Bo Naylor; 2B Edouard Julien; IF Tyler Black, RHP Zach Pop, RHP Mike Soroka, RHP Cade Smith; RHP Matt Brash; IF Abraham Toro; RHP Jordan Balazovic and IF Charles Leblanc.

“There’s always some guys you can identify, like when we saw Josh Naylor here,” Burton responded to questions about identifying MLB talent. “I think everyone knew this guy is going to find his way to the big leagues. Mike Soroka was a standout.

“Then there’s Abraham Toro, who came out of here, went to a junior college, he was pretty unknown. He becomes a fifth-round pick and now he’s got (more than four) years in the big leagues. There are always the big guys that you kind of see like we’ve had Owen Caissie and Denzel Clarke. They’re the next wave of probable major-leaguers. There’s been a couple of special ones along the way.  Bo and Josh, but Edouard Julien. Definitely good, definitely stood out, but I don’t think you were picking him as a top prospect major-leaguer at the time.”

An Ottawa native and an Expos fan growing up, Burton was himself a prospect and would likely have been part of such a showcase, had it existed in 2000.

“These kids have access to things now that we couldn’t even have dreamed of in ’99-’00,” Burton smiled. “But I did have an opportunity to pitch here. That was at a closed event by the Blue Jays (at SkyDome). It was for a selected 30 or 40 players, more kind of a national team workout than anything. To have this now, which is five days of games and events and all sorts of things. It’s really evolved. But the programs now and the year-long training, the tournaments they go down to in the States and the big tournaments within the country. There are so many resources and really good events that just didn’t exist, even 10 years ago.”

A constant presence at Rogers Centre, each and every day, for every game, for five consecutive days, is Baseball Canada chief executive Greg Hamilton, who is also head coach of the important Canadian Junior National Team. This is a great opportunity for Hamilton to evaluate potential Team Canada players, all in one place without the Air Miles. It’s a good case of the Jays and Baseball Canada working together.

“This a tremendous opportunity for Greg to sit here for five days after the Blue Jays baseball ops, scouting department has gone across the country and narrowed the 1,700 kids into 150,” Burton agreed. “Then he can sit down and now have his pick at the junior team from here. It’s a tremendous resource for him. There’s always dialogue among players, between us and Greg and with other teams. It’s a lot of work what he does. For us to be able to do this and lighten the load for him having to travel all around the country to see everybody, to be able to bring everybody here and give him a front row seat to it, it’s great for us and helpful for him.”

Burton has his own memories of representing Canada. He was drafted by the Indians in 2001 and spent nine pro seasons with Cleveland and Houston. But the highlight was an appearance on Canada’s OIympic roster for the 2008 summer games in Beijing.

“Definitely a highlight for me,” Burton admitted. “First time in the senior national team was the ’05 World Cup, but then right after that, late ’05 we had to play our first qualifier for the Olympics. In ’07 we had a final qualifier in Taipei. It was a three-year process and guys were in and out because over three years you’re not going to be able to keep one team together for that long. I was lucky enough to be a part of the whole process and the whole Olympic experience was incredible. Putting Canada across your chest and playing for your country is special. Being able to do it on that stage was definitely a highlight of my career.”

This showcase is a solid initiative for the Jays and for baseball in Canada. Players that even make the cut and are able to experience major-league conditions and exposure for five days, no matter the number of at-bats or innings pitched, will remember it for a long time. As a former coach of 15-21-year-old players, myself, a reminder that parents need to remember this and appreciate the big picture. Scouts will find talent.