Scholarships for former drafted junior pucksters

By BOB ELLIOTT

2009 Canadians In College list

!It was a strange place for the two ex-hockey players to meet:
The 10th annual Perfect Game World Wood Bat World Championships in Jupiter, Fla.
Matt Thornton and Rory Young told their new roomie Brett Van Pelt about this other pitcher on the team with the hockey background.
And right-hander Zak Miller, former defenceman, introduced himself to left-hander Van Pelt, former a goalie.
Brett meet Zak.
Zak meet Brett.
Both drafted juniors.
Miller (Surrey, BC) and Van Pelt (Whitby, Ont.) were together with Team British Columbia in the 80-team, 1,600-player tourney at the Roger Dean Sports Complex.
And both were dominant as BC won its pool.
A defenceman, Miller was selected by the Chilliwack Bruins of the Western Hockey League bantam draft in 2006 with the first pick of the third round -- the 43rd player selected over-all. Miller attended two training camps.  
Van Pelt, a netminder, was chosen in the seventh round by the Belleville Bulls went 134th over-all in the 2007 Ontario Hockey League draft.
“Brett played and decided baseball was the way we wanted to go,” said Miller, “We both miss it, it’s been a year and two months for me, It’s a sacrifice we both made.”
Van Pelt pitched Team BC to a 1-0 win over Georgia PG Team Orange to wrap it pool with a 3-1 record. Van Pelt went the distance, tossing a two-hitter and was clocked at 86 MPH. 1B Brooklyn Foster (Langley, BC) tripled and scored on a single by Keaton Briscoe (North Vancouver, BC).
“We talked about hockey in general, why we picked baseball over hockey,” Van Pelt said. “I had more passion for baseball than hockey.”
Miller opened the tournament pitching a complete-game, three hitter as Team BC beat the Akadema Indiana Yankees Scout Team 2-1. His fastball was at 87 MPH as he walked one and struck out nine.
“He always competes, but in this game Zak seemed to rise above it,” said coach Doug Mathieson. “The Yankees scout team had a lot of hitters and drew a lot of scouts. He threw all three pitches for strikes.”
Miller also pitched against the Texas Scout Team and registered 83 MPH.
Working in relief of Paul Barton (Qualicum Beach, BC), Miller struck out a pair and recorded a pop up.
From chilly arenas and early morning practice times to hot days in the Florida sun and early start times ...
“In 2006, Chilliwack offered a player contract but said I wouldn’t get much ice time, so I played major midget Valley West Hawks in Vancouver,” Miller said. “I’m pretty close to my family and didn’t want to have to move to say Swift Current. Chilliwack had a brand new arena, a new franchise and was trying to build for the future.”
The next fall he was back in Bruins camp.
“In 2007, they offered me a contract and said I’d probably be on the second line and told me that as a 19-uear-old they had high expectations from me and saw me playing a dominant role.”
Miller returned to major midget and quit around Christmas time because combining both baseball and hockey was too demanding.
The right-hander is a chip off the old block -- his father, catcher Nick Miller was invited to go south with the New York Yankees and was later sent home -- began playing at age four or five. He took up hockey at age “eight or nine.”
“I started to get better at hockey my second year of peewee and passed people by, it wasn’t a surprise but it wasn’t expected since so many people knew that baseball was my No. 1 priority.”
He played Junior Little League for White Rock-South Surrey as a 14-15-year-old.
Miller’s awakening moment came at the tryout for the B.C. Summer Games team in Oliver, B.C. in 2006. He threw a bullpen for coach Mathieson. Then, he and Mathieson stood and talked for the remainder of the practice.
“Doug asked me where did I see myself playing in the future, he told me about the Blaze and the past draftees and how long he has been dealing with players,” Miller said. “Living in White Rock, I knew about the success that the Blaze have had.
“I had the opportunity to talk to Scott Mathieson, Ryan Lennerton, Kyle Lotzkar and Brett Lawrie.”
Scott Mathieson is coming off injury in the Philadelphia Phillies system and will pitch this spring when games begin at Clearwater but the Phillies have not given him permission to pitch in the World Baseball Classic.
Lennerton is in the Detroit Tigers system, Lotzkar was a first-round pick by the Cincinnati Reds and went to instructional league in September, while Lawrie was a first-round pick in June of 2008 by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Miller watched the Blaze playoffs in 2006.
“I practiced with the guys, got to know about Doug, finally he said you have a good work ethic I can see that you are motivated I can see that,” said Miller and in 2007 he joined the Blaze, a 15-year-old playing with against 17-18-year-olds.
His first game with the Blaze was memorable, take a look at this line:
Zero runs allowed, seven hit batters, seven strikeouts. “He worked inside a lot that day,” said Mathieson, who has had a lot to do with Miller’s mound success.
“Originally, I was really quick and rushed my delivery,” Miller said. “Doug broke me down, gave me 4-by-4 on this circular thing to stand on and spin. You had to keep your balance on point or you fell off. I did it about 50 times a day, until I was able to stay smooth and not rush to the plate.”
The change took roughly a week and a half with Miller multi-tasking all the way. He’d stand on it and drink a pop or watch TV.
Miller accompanied the Blaze to Arizona in the spring of 2008. With GMs, assistant GMs, cross checkers and area scouts watching, Lawrie settled in against Luke Hochevar of the Kansas City Royals. A former No. 1 pick in 2006 -- first over-all in North America -- he was coming off a season in which he combined to strike out 138 men in 152 innings at Double-A Wichita and Tripla-A Omaha.
And now he stared in from 60 feet, six inches at Lawrie.
“I saw Brett hit an inside fastball off the left-field fence for a double against Hochevar,” Miller remember. “There were not any words to describe our dugout. Everyone was so drawn aback by the hit. You tend to expect to see amazing things from Brett, but that was a special one.”
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Miller is one of a number of players drawing scouts to see the Langley Blaze play this spring: RHP Mike Monster (Kelowna, BC), RHP Rory Young (Chase, BC), SS Wes Darvill (Langley, BC), 1B Preston Carlile (Langley, BC), C Brooklyn Foster (Langley, BC), RHP Colin Kleven (Langley, BC), Mike Ellis (Newton, BC) and OF Kyle Turner (Winnipeg, Man.) and LHP Curtis Sawchuk (Langley, BC), .
“The Chilliwack Bruins are a classy operation, they said I had the potential to be drafted by the NHL this June,” Miller recalled.
Instead, he will be listening by the internet this June to see if a major league team selects him in the annual draft of high schoolers and collegians. And worse-case scenario if he does not get drafted?
Well, mom Susan and step-dad, Terry Langley, will send him off to pitch at Western Iowa College, a hotbed when it comes to recruiting Canadians who have played for the Reivers over the years ... players like:
Dustin Bolton (Edmonton, Alta.) in 2002; Jordan Deglan (North Langley BC) in 2004; Brad Leeming (Oakville, Ont.), Diego Morales (Vancouver, BC) and Matt Tyo (St. Albert’s, Alta.) in 2006; Tyson Gillies (Kamloops, BC), Cory Hill (Abbotsford, BC) and Steve Kletke (Altona, Man.) in 2007; Joel Cardinal (Saskatoon, Sask.), Andy St. Gelais (Pintendre, Que.) and Alex Tufts (Kentville, NS) in 2008.
The best of the bunch were:
Dillon O’Krane (Langley BC) was All-Canadian College Team Third Team honors in 2004 and earned All-Canadian College Honourable Mention in 2005.
Shayne Wilson (White Rock, BC) was named to the All-Canadian College Third Team in 2008.
Shane Gimas (Weekes, Sask.) earned All-Canadian College Team Honourable Mention in 2007
Ryan Fleming (Whitby, Ont.), Ivan Hartle ( North Vancouver, BC), Max Milot (Lavaltrie, Que.), Mike Nitsos (Whitby, Ont.) will play this spring, according to coach Rob Allison and joining Miller the fall of 2009 is Foster.
Or, like any wise student in his graduating year, he adds he still “has some Division I options open.”
To settle on Western Iowa over other junior colleges, Miller wrote down the pros and cons on a piece off papers and ... Iowa Western won.
“I looked at where their players go after two years, how they’ve been to the Junior College World Series four of the last five years and how they had a history with Canadian players.”
Miller is a straight A student, he’s student council president at Elgin Park Secondary, helps organize a charity golf tournament and charity rally when the Vancouver Canucks come home.
“It was always hard switching from hockey to baseball, or picking one over the other because once you get into the season, I was pretty dedicated to the sport, whether it was hockey in the winter or baseball in the summer,” Miller said.
Miller points out that the decision making process happens at different stages.
“In hockey the decision is at age 14 and in baseball 17, but you still don’t know for sure what will happen,” Miller said. “When I switched a couple of guys teased me, people said ‘you’re giving away a good opportunity’ and others, because it’s Canada’s game, asked ‘are you nuts?’
“There is such a different mentally between hockey and baseball. I don’t miss the hockey aggression ego, some guys were through the roof, people make it apparent to people around how good they think they are. In baseball it is more reserved. Teammates are harder on themselves in hockey.”
Miller skated with Colten Teubert, a first-round selection of the Los Angeles Kings -- 13th over-all -- in the 2008 NHL draft.
“He was very self-expressive, he was a Brett Lawrie, always very good and he always will be, he was in Ottawa with Team Canada for the World Junior tournament,” Miller said.
Miller barely has time to watch the world juniors with his winter schedule:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday he works out with a personal trainer.
He works on his core strength and Palates “as girly as that may sound”
His baseball winter workouts consist of timed runs and controlled throwing on Sundays, mechanical work such as concentrating on balance and hip explosion, and follow through on Monday.
He throws from 40 feet working on fastballs and changeups.
Miller’s body fat is down to 3.8%.
He’s made the adjustment from one sport to the other.
“I haven’t noticed him pulling anyone’s shirt over his head or causing any bench clearing brawls,” joked Mathieson. 
Meanwhile, inside Ontario arenas, Van Pelt shared net minding duties with Brandon Foote -- now of the OHL’s Brampton Batallion -- for the Whitby Wildcats under coach Nick Nowak. It was a powerhouse team that had 10 players drafted. Whitby won OMHA and the Toronto Marlies tourney with Foote and Van Pelt splitting the netminding duties.  
In the summer and spring Van Pelt pitched and played first for Whitby coaches Kevin Rogers and Kevin Moore in bantam after learning under Tony Morra as a minor bantam. Andrew Ruck, Jake Olynk, Mackenzie Clugston, Tyler Mitchell and Van Pelt all moved from Whitby to Team Ontario. 
“When I was drafted as a minor midget in 2007 I wasn’t ready to make a decision,” Van Pelt said. “I figured I’d go Junior A, Tier II or midget. I stayed in Whitby and played midget. I wish I could have done both but it wasn’t going to be possible, considering the summer I had (2008).”
Called up to the Bulls during their OHL championship run and trip to the Memorial Cup by coach George Burnett, Van Pelt got an up close look at hockey, saying: “I got the chance to have a feel for it.”
“(Belleville) was fine with me playing baseball, I didn’t want to be forced into playing either sport,” Van Pelt said. “At the end of the season this past summer, I knew come by the third week of August I had to make a decision.”
Some highlights from Van Pelt’s season for Murray Marshall’s Team Ontario 18s (unless otherwise noted) as he pitched:
_ Six innings for Marc Picard’s Team Ontario 17s to beat Georgia in the Junior Sunbelt tournament in McAlester, Ok. It was one of his two wins in Oklahoma.
_ 5 1/3 hitless innings at the Team Toronto Tournament.
_ Six innings with seven strikeouts to beat the Fort Wayne, Ind. Express at the annual Ohio Buckeye tourney in Columbus, Ohio.
_ Struggled against the Dulin Dodgers from Memphis in the 38-team Premier championship in Cincinnati. “That one wasn’t so good,” he said.
_ A seven-inning, complete-game five hitter over the Fort Wayne Comets in the NABF qualifier in Altoona, Pa. Team Ontario won the championship and advanced to the World Series.
_ Five inning to beat Texas at the NABF World Series in Jackson, Miss,
_ 7 2/3 innings allowing two earned runs and striking out 10 for coach Jason Chee-Aloy as Ontario edged Saskatchewan 4-3 in eight innings at the Canada Cup in Medicine Hat, Alta. The win evened Ontario’s record at 1-1. 
_ Four scoreless as Ontario edged British Columbia 4-3 in 11 innings. He struck out three as Ontario moved to 3-1.
_ 1 1/3 hitless innings for the win as Ontario rallied for three runs in the their final at-bat for an 8-6 win in the gold medal game. He struck out three. 
_ Two scoreless innings in an exhibition game against the University of Vermont Catamounts.
_ Three scoreless innings pitching for the South East at the Perfect Game showcase in Atlanta, Ga. He allowed one runs and struck out five.
_ Seven scoreless for Team BC and coach Mathieson at the Perfect Game in Jupiter, striking out seven.
With a 1460 SAT score, Van Pelt signed a letter of intent to attend Vermont next fall enrolling in a business program. Vermont, in all its wisdom decided to drop its baseball program, but no problem for Van Pelt.
Van Pelt signed a letter of intent to attend Saint Mary's College in California.
Van Pelt credited his former Team Ontario and Sinclair Secondary School coach Jeff Whent with being the most influential person in his baseball career.
“Jeff taught me lot and helped me to learn a lot about baseball,” Van Pelt said. “The person who helped the most with pitching was Marc Picard. He allowed me develop better fundamentals and increase my velocity. Marc knows a lot about pitching.”
Being alone on the mound is a lot like being alone between the pipes when it comes to composure.
“Playing goal helped me for baseball,” Van Pelt said. “Being a goalie and pitching are similar. If you don’t have a good goalie you’re not going to go far, same with if your pitcher doesn’t pitch well.
“If you let in a bad goal, the team is going to come down and try to score again. If you let a guy hit one out of the park, you have to come back and get the next guy.”
After securing a scholarship many grade 11s play for a team that doesn’t travel as much as a grade 12. Van Pelt said he will be staying with Team Ontario for the ability to pitch against top-flight competition.
“Brett is he’s a tremendous competitor as displayed by his ability to win when he doesn’t have his best stuff,” Picard said. “Even though his velocity was down 4-5 MPH at the Canada Cup he still won critical games. He can throw three pitches for strikes (fastball, curve, change), so he doesn’t need to be overpowering to succeed.
“He has a terrific work ethic and a desire to get better, plus he’s an excellent fielder and last but perhaps most important he understands what it takes to win.”
Picard said he had seen Van Pelt throw as high as 86 MPH and would not be the least bit surprised if he gets an invite to the National Junior team this summer.
From the rinks to the sandlots and now south of the border.
Failed hockey careers worked fine for Larry Walker, Justin Morneau and Corey Koskie too.
Pre-season All-American honours I: RHP Thain Simon (sophomore, Toronto, Ont.) earned Louisville Slugger pre-season All-American Second Team honours from the Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
Simon is 9-2 with a 2,59 earned run average in 20 games with the Santa Clara Broncos. He walked 24 and struck out 71 in 62 2/3 innings.
The right-hander was an All-Canadian College Second Team member in 2008.
Check out a Santa Clara High And Inside With ... Simon, where he explains how he was named his great uncle who was named after a World War II Victoria Cross winner, Thain Wendell MacDowell (Lachute, Que.).
Best Ever: Blue Jays hitting coach Gene Tenace headlines the 22nd annual Best Ever Coaching Clinic Jan. 16-18 at the Renaissance Airport Hotel.
Also speaking are Jason Dickson, former Anahiem Angels right-hander from Chatham, N.B. and a coach with the Team Canada National Youth Team, Chris Chernisky, coach of the Niagara University Purple Eagles and Ken Joyce, triple-A hitting coach.
Tim Lindecamp, coach at Aberdeen (MD) High School, Rick Johnston, former Team Canada coach, who operates The Baseball Zone, Dr. Mike Chivers of the Sports Performance Centers will also speak and some other guy with his picture on this page will speak.
Coaches, players, parents, club executives are encouraged to come out and learn from the best on how to coach youth baseball.
The cost is $80 if you register by Janu. 9th or $105 at the door. A pecial player rate $45 is available for midget-aged players and below if they register by Friday they can pay full price at the door.!
Tenace will be speaking on hitting fundamentals, pitch recognition, working off the tee and The 10 absolutes to hitting.
Joyce will discuss refining the proper swing path; weight transfer using the lower half and building a solid foundation
Chernisky will discuss catching with the keys to being a quality receiver, blocker and thrower, intangibles-- motivation, leadership, being a thinker on the field and must have drills to develop the complete catcher
Lindecamp will speak on infield fundamentals and drills, defensive strategies: taking away the short game and cutoffs: where and how to do it.
Dickson will speak on pitching such as bullpen sessions: pre and post game, the coach, pitcher & catcher relationship and the mechanics of throwing an effective Fastball
Johnston will discuss outfield fundamentals & drills, as well as baserunning: he most valuable offensive weapon.
Dr. Chivers will speak about injury prevention for arms.
And the other guy will speak on Canadian baseball and the college process.
Letters of Intent: For both the fall of 2010, with some 2009 stragglers, as our 2009 In College list is posted.
WBC-seeing u soon: Once again the World Baseball Classic dates at the Rogers Centre
Game 1, Saturday, March 7 -- Team Canada vs. Team USA, 2 p.m.
Game 2, Saturday, March 7 -- Italy vs. Venezuela, 8 p.m.
Game 3, Sunday, March 8 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m.
Game 4, Monday, March 9 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 6:30 p.m.
Game 5, Tuesday, March 10 -- Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 5 p.m.
Game 6, Wednesday, March 11 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 6:30 p.m.
(Losers of Game 4 and Game 5 are eliminated.)
(Game 6 will decide first and second-place placings for the second round.)
No. 400: Mike Nitsos (Toronto, Ont.), of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, is the 400th to join the Canadian Baseball Network ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53324311907) facebook page.
Post away: Ever face Zak Miller or Brett Van Pelt, how good are they. Email at bobelliott49@gmail.com, or post your thoughts.