OTTAWA- Baseball Canada announced today the names of 31 players invited to the Junior National Team’s Extended Spring Training camp in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at ESPN Wide World of Sports from April 17-25.
The team will play an eight-game exhibition schedule against extended spring training clubs from the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals and Houston Astros. On April 22nd, the team will travel to Dunedin to take-on the Toronto Blue Jays extended spring club at the Bobby Mattick Complex.
The coaching staff consists of Head Coach and Director of National Teams, Greg Hamilton (Ottawa, ON), while Coaches Shawn Bowman (Port Moody, BC) and Mike Johnson (Sherwood Park, AB) return to the staff. Former National Team player Adam Stern (Port Stanley, ON) will join the staff as a guest coach.
The Extended Spring Training camp is an important event for the Junior National Team program as the team prepares for the WBSC U18 World Cup that will be held in Osaka, Japan from August 28-September 6, 2015.
Following extended spring training, the team will reconvene in late May for the annual tour through the Dominican Summer League. In August, prior to the WBSC U18 World Cup, the final selection camp will take place on Australia’s Gold Coast that will determine the 20 athletes that will represent Canada in Japan.
Extended Spring Training Roster Highlights:
-Five players named to the roster (OF JF Garon, 1B Josh Naylor, OF Demi Orimoloye, C Darren Shred and RHP Mike Soroka) were part of the 2014 Junior National Team that won a bronze medal at the COPABE 18U Pan American Championship in La Paz, Mexico.
-24 of the 31 players named to the roster participated in the Spring Training/Alumni Week camp last month in St. Petersburg, Florida.
-LHP Isaac Anesty (Guelph, ON) and OF Jonathan Martin (l'Assomption, QC) will rejoin the Junior National Team program for extended spring training after attending JNT camps in the past.
-LHP Kyle Ross (Vancouver, BC) and INF Adam Hall (London, ON) were both named to the roster, but are unable to attend.
-Three players named to the roster will be participating with the Junior National Team program for the first time – 3B Brad Aldred (Oshawa, ON), LHP Nick Vickers (Calgary, AB) and RHP Sam Turcotte (Toronto, ON).
