UPPER DECK I -- Tosoni Futures MVP, best of four Canucks

July 14, 2009

UPPER DECK I -- Rene Tosoni, Futures Games MVP, Best of the four Canucks in St. Louis, plus MLB Scouting Bureau reports ... Looking for Chatham Diamonds ... Final roster for Ontario camp ... R.I.P. Ron Steele

By Bob Elliott

St. LOUIS -- The name of the game was the Futures Game.
And Rene Tosoni didn’t figure he had much of one.
He had arrived at Busch Stadium early in the morning, taken batting practice and thrown to the bases during pre-game infield and outfield workout.
He saw the lineup and noticed he was only Canadian of the three outfielder on the World team not to be in the starting lineup.
And then he sat ... for four hours and nine-minute rain delay watching TV and eating fruit.
For six innings.
As the clock nudged to the witching hour -- a celebrity softball game was on deck the game had been shortened from nine to seven innings and the curfew was approaching -- Tosoni went to being rusty and wet, to being told to pinch hit, to driving in the winning run and being name the MVP as the World edged Team USA by a 7-5 score in the 11th annual XM Futures Games before 36,311 fans.
How ‘bout that?
A bench warmer for six innings and now an MVP ... just like big leaguers Alfonso Soriano (1999), Jose Reyes (2002) and Grady Sizemore (2003).
“I got ready, I was standing in the dugout with my bat and my batting gloves on ready to hit, it’s awesome,” Tosoni said. “I don’t even have words to explain it. My hopes were kind of down. I didn’t think this would happen just with one swing of the bat.”
Tosoni was on deck to hit for DH Brett Lawrie when the sixth inning ended. When Team USA brought in a lefthander to start the seventh, World Team manager Jose Oquendo let Lawrie hit instead of Tosoni. Five batters later, Team USA inserted righthander Brad Lincoln and Tosoni got his chance, doubling down the first-base line on Lincoln’s second pitch, a 94-mph fastball, off the glove of the first baseman for the go-ahead run. He then scored his team’s seventh run.
It was but another step for Tosoni, 22 (Cotquilam, BC), who signed with the Twins in 2005 as a 36th-round draft pick and is batting .278 with 10 home runs and 51 RBIs at double-A New Britain.
“I didn’t expect to be in the Futures Game,” he said. “I don’t know. It’s crazy.”
His friends and parents, Cindy and Maurizio, were at a bar named Roos in Coquitlam. They’d gathered at 11 a.m. to watch on the dish. His brother Dana, who played first and outfield for the New Orleans Privateers came to St. Louis.
“They probably don’t even remember what happened,” Tosoni said laughing, as he removed what was left of a celebratory whipped-cream pie from his hat and new Oakley sunglasses.
Scouts have compared his lefthanded swing to Jason Kubel at a similar age. Kubel was a 12th-round pick in 2000.
Tosoni’s stock rose when he batted .301 at rookie-class Elizabethton in 2007. After a broken foot limited him to 42 games, Baseball America ranked him as the Twins’ No. 18 prospect. He found himself on the New Britain bench after batting .180 in April but now boasts a .387 on-base percentage and .480 slugging percentage.
“The Twins even with the low-draft guys, they give them chances,” Tosoni said. “They like guys who play hard. They like guys who can play the right way.”
Tosoni was signed by the late Jim Ridley (Burlington, Ont.) after being drafted in the 36th round in 2005.
“Jim is the guy who convinced me to sign,” Tosoni said. “He asked ‘why quibble over a few thousand dollars? Get into the system, get going, then, the sky is the limit.’
“When I broke my foot a year ago May I phoned Jim to tell him and he told me he was ill.”
Tosoni was born in Toronto, lived in Aurora until he was six years old.
“We were hoping for an all-Canadian outfield, our pitching coach Bobby Cuellar is with the Twins,” Tosoni, the Twins prospect, who added jokingly, “I was going to speak with him about it.”

Rene Tosoni, Coquitlam Reds, Canadian National Junior Team, signed by Jim Ridley.
Major League Scouting Bureau report: “Compact body. Balanced hitting approach. Wraps bat. Patients, waits for strikes. Hits with hands. Head puller. Makes only fair contact, swings thru many pitches. Hooks pall on outer half. Occ HR power. Proper jumps in outfield. LF arm. Charges ball well.”

Brett Lawrie, the highest-drafted Canadian position player taken 16th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008, was 1-for-3 with a double and a run that started the World’s rally in the seventh.
Like Gillies, Lawrie at class-A Wisconsin is an alumnus of the Langley Blaze, playing and learning under coach Doug Mathieson.
Lawrie is hitting .268 with nine homers and 44 RBIs in 72 games, one of seven Canadians on the Wisconsin roster.
Lawrie, a second baseman is expected to become another thumper for the Brewers in the coming years, as baseball officials praise his makeup and fearlessness as much as his ability. Only 19, he’s batting .268 with nine homers and 44 RBIs in 72 games with single-A Wisconsin.
“It’s all about moving forward, I thought I did what I needed to do to maybe turn some heads and show I can play a little bit,” said Lawrie. “I’m just going to keep playing and hopefully I get moved up sooner rather than later.”

Brett Lawrie, Langley Blaze, Canadian National Junior Team, signed by Milwaukee Brewers, signed by Marty Lehn.
MLB Scouting Bureau report: “Impact bat. Ultra aggressive yet very good K-zone awareness. Open stance, comes out of his shoes to drive a ball. Scorches all zones with strength, adjustments will come. Can flat out hit and with power. Bat will carry fringe defence.

Nick Weglarz, the Cleveland Indians’ third-rounder in 2005, went 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch.
“The adrenalin was so high for that top of the first,” said Weglarz. “It got pretty boring after a while.”
Weglarz’s parents, Cheryl and Stan, came to St. Louis from Stevensville, Ont. Weglarz, who played for Team Ontario and was signed by Cleveland Indians and is hitting .247 with 13 homers and 59 RBIs in 83 games at double-A Akron. For a power hitter he’s shown discipline walking 53 times and striking out 58 times in 321 plate appearances.
Weglarz and Lawrie were teammates at the Beijing Olympics and March’s World Baseball Classic, and were happy to find themselves together again.
Weglarz (Stevensville, Ont.) a left fielder is the closest to the majors and is expected to do some damage for the Indians sooner rather than later.

Nick Weglarz, Team Ontario, Canadian National Junior Team, signed by Les Pajari.
MLB Scouting Bureau report: “Extra-large frame. Strong. Pull, power hitting approach. Most swings are all or nothing. Power upper cut swings. Back elbow high, swing gets long, Often out in front vs. off-speed. Routine plays only in LF. Arm is short. Proper jumps and routes. Organization power bat.”

“Canadian MVP standing over there right now,” Gillies said, pointing to Tosoni. “These guys are really talented players and it’s a good thing to be out here and expose yourself because it only makes it better for the players in Canada right now.”

Weglarz is the closest to making the majors.
Lawrie is the highest Canadian position player ever drafted.
Tosoni was the MVP.
Tyson Gillies has overcome the most of the record four Canadians. Gillies is hearing impaired.
Sitting in the third base dugout yesterday morning he wore his World Team uniform and cap, his glove, cleats plus a hearing aid in each ear.
“I have 35% hearing in one ear, 50-55% in my other, my right ear is the good one,” said Gillies.
Young Canadian players want to grow up to be like Weglarz, Tosoni and Lawrie. Everyone admires Gillies.
“Sometimes we’ll get a new guy and he’ll ask ‘what’s that in your ear?, I’ll tell him and he’ll say ‘cool,’ anything new and exciting people like,” Gillies said. “I had an email from a woman, who had lost her hearing, she wrote how it had taken her so long to accept it and she was in her 40s. It’s not the easiest thing to accept and move on with your life.”
Gillies has accepted and moved on and up and says he will speak to the National Association of the Deaf in Seattle.
He’s hitting .326 with six homers, 26 RBIs and 23 stolen bases at class-A High Desert in the Seattle Mariners system.
“As tall slender outfielder I’m not really certain who I’d compare him to, maybe the best comparison is Willie McGee,” said Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik. “He doesn’t have McGee’s speed but he has above average speed.
“He plays the way Pete Rose does. We saw him in spring training. He runs to back up first ... runs to back up a ball to another outfielder ... runs to back up throws to second. He’s the Energizer battery bunny.”
Becuase the Mariners had players away at the World Baseball Classic, Gillies played in 18 games, making five starts for the Mariners. He’s hitting .303 with three doubles, a triple, 21 RBIs and 21 stolen bases.
“I have a great respect for how he competes and the young man he has become,” Zduriencik said.
Scout Wayne Norton (Port Moody, BC( gave Gillies a $60,000 US signing bonus and also signed third baseman Alex Liddi of San Remo, Italy for $50,000.
Gillies was named “breakout player of the game” by highly-respected Baseball America. Gillies who is .327/.435/.472 with 23 steals at high class-A High Desert beat out a bunt single and stole two bases, one after being picked off after scoring a run and he ended the game by snaring a hard line drive in deep center. He showed his top-of-the-line speed by racing to first base in 3.4 seconds on the bunt. Gillies (Vancouver, BC) a speedy centre-fielder in the Seattle Mariners system, went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, a run scored and a walk. He also made a nice running catch in centre to record the game’s final out.
“He was almost like Jacoby Ellsbury for me, a left-handed leadoff hitter with the speed to make things happen,” said a scout with a National League club. “He’s a high-energy guy who just seems like he does everything right. Looking at what he did in High Desert, the way that park is friendly to hitters, I was skeptical. But seeing him here had me pretty excited. I can’t think of any major leaguers who could run that time from home to first on a drag bunt.”
Said another scout: “He’s going to play in the big leagues.”

Tyson Gillies Langley Blaze, Canadian National Junior Team, signed by Wayne Norton.
MLB Scouting Bureau report: “Bundle of energy. Never stops running. Solid run, throw tools. Speed makes up for late jumps in the outfield. Shoots the ball the oppositte way. Pull gap pop. Will bunt. 4.0 runner. Shorws interests to steal. Bat catching up, Possible ML regular CF.

Gillies was in right and Weglarz was in left while Lawrie was the DH.
While Weglarz was cut from his minor bantam team in Niagara Falls, Tosoni didn’t sign out of high school and Lawrie was forced to switch positions.

DIamond Diamonds: The 1997 Chatham Diamonds Senior Baseball team has been inducted into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame. Chatham won the 1997 Ontario elimination tournament and represented Ontario at the Nationals in Mt. Pearl, NFLD and earned a Silver medal. Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Atkinson and Jeff Stead, son of Canadian Baseball HOFer Ron Stead were on the team.
The ceremony takes place on Sept. 17th in Chatham, Ont.. Organizers are hoping to celebrate the history of senior ball in Chatham and hope to have an alumni game on this weekend.
Any former players who are interested in attending to please contact Terry Oulds at 519-352-1807 (toulds@cogeco.ca) or contact Jason Chickowski at 519-355-0458 if they would like to attend.

Final Ontario roster invitees: Lefty Evan Grills (Whitby, Ont.), entering his fourth term with the Canadian National Junior Team, highlights the list of players invited to the final selection camp for the Ontario Youth Team.
Manager Geoff Wendt and staff compiled their list for the camp July 27-30 at Oshawa’s Kinsmen Stadium. The team will play Ontario Summer Games Team and the Oshawa Royals before leaving for the Canada Cup. Canadian National Junior Team members invited include: outfielder Ryan Clarke, infielder Brandon Dailey, catcher Chris Robinson, plus lefties Joel Pierce, Brian Smith and Evan Rutckyj.
The breakdown ...
From the Ontario Blue Jays (16): RHP Justin Atkinson (Mississauga), OF Jordan Boston (Brampton), INF Luke Brenn (Mississauga), C Brandon Devlin-Yerex (Mississauga), OF Philip Diedrick (Ajax), INF Joey Hawkins (Whitby), INF Jevon Jacobs (Ajax), RHP Dany Jimenez (York), LHP Christopher Machete (Mississauga), INF Cameron Mattice (Mississauga), C Jordan Romano (Markham). C Gregory Telford (Newmarket), INF Jose Torralba (Mississauga), INF Scott Wilcox (Burlington), LHP Kyle Willard (Brampton), Clarke (Mississauga) and Grills.
From Team Ontario (12): C James Anderson (Barrie). INF Troy Black (Mississauga); INF Brandon Collins (Scarborough), RHP Ian Filion (Whitby), RHP Dane Gordon (Barrie), INF David Head (Claremont), RHP Jordan Hill (Toronto), OF Brodie Jeffery (Whitby), LHP Bruce Lombard (Oakville), INF Marc Anthony Martiniello (Mississauga), RHP Eric Wood (Pickering) and Robinson (Uxbridge).
From the Tecumseh Thunder (6): INF Andrew Cooper (Belle River), CF Eric Cunningham (LaSalle), OF Patrick Lesperance (Windsor), INF Casey Power (Belle River), Pierce (Windsor) and Rutckyj (Windsor).
From the Toronto Mets (6): OF Michael Foster (Pickering), RHP Alex Johnson (Toronto), OF Owen Laing (Toronto), INF Connor Panas (Toronto), 1B Nick Studer (Toronto) and Brian Smith (Pickering).
From the Intercounty Terriers (4): OF Simon Clarke (Kitchener), LHP Austin Huibers (Waterdown), RHP Lucas Scocchia (Thunder Bay) and Dailey (Brantford),
From the London Badgers (3): C Cam Firth (London), LHP Baird Kelly (Stratford) and LHP Ryan Zimmer (London).
From the Brockville Bunnies (1): RHP Brent Daviault (Ottawa).
From the Mississauga North Tigers (1): RHP Graham Tebbit (Mississauga).
From the Sudbury Hitmen (1): RHP Curtis Johnson (Sudbury).
From the Woodslee Orioles (1): RHP Skylar Janisse (Maidstone).

Never too early to shop for Christmas: The 2010 Justin Morneau calendar is now on sale for $15. Nine dollars of each program go to support Baseball Canada amateur and BC baseball progams.
You can order of the BC baseball website: playballbc.com with all of the key dates for 2010 marked.
We've seen most of the months and the photography is excellent.

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Send us your story ideas and suggestions and we’ll consider them all.
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IN YER FACE: The Canadian Baseball Network facebook group is up and running ... and running fast:
Mike Nitsos (Whitby, Ont.) of the Iowa Western Reivers, is the 400th to join.
Grant Kveder (Lethbridge, Alta.) of the Gonzaga Stags is No. 500.
Dan Chappel (Edmonton, Alta.) formerly of the Longview Lakers, the Mayville State Comets, the Southwest Mustangs, the Schaumburg Flyers and the Edmonton Cracker Cats is No. 600.
Drew Parker (Surrey, BC), who has signed a letter of intent to pitch for the Brewton-Parker Barons this fall and former ace of the JUCO World Series champion Chipola Indians, is No. 700.
Andrew Brock (Burnaby, BC) of the Idaho Coyotes is No. 800.
Derek Papp (Windsor, Ont.), who used to pitch for Judson, is No. 900.
Jonathan Lussier (Montreal, Que.), former C-DH with the Les Ailes du Quebec alongside Phillipe Alexandre Valiquette, Alexandre Periard and Mathieu Poirier is No. 1,000.
Ben TInklin (Kitchener, Ont.) of the Canadian Thunderbirds, who is headed to Kaskaskia College, is No. 1,100.
Catcher Curtis Davis (Surrey, BC), who played with the Fraser Valley Chiefs in 2008 and this year will play for the White Rock Tritons and Team BC is the 1,200th to join the group.
Kevin Bowes (Chatham, N.B.) who plays outfield for the Chatham Ironmen and coached the New Brusnwick Selects at the Canada Cup is No. 1,300.
Stephen Holland (Summerside, PEI), who in 2008 played for the Summerside Chevies and was picked up by Kings County for bantam nationals is No. 1,400. He pitched, played first base, and outfield.
Ian Robillard (Montreal, Que.), who coached the Montreal Orioles in junior (LBEQ) play and this year will coach Les Ailes du Quebec (U-17) is No. 1,500.
OF Mark Sleeman (Vancouver, BC), formerly with John Harr's North Shore Twins and who played for the Vancouver Cave Ducks in 2008, is our No. 1,600.
RHP Shawn Hetherington (Tsawwassen, BC), the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds closer, is No. 1,700.
RHP Craig Hucul (Saskatoon, Sask.) of Williston State College, is No. 1,800.
TJ Code (Vancouver, BC), a coach with the Langley Blaze is No. 1,900. Code played with the likes of Kyle Paul, Jordan Lennerton, Jon Hesketh, Matt Lesek, Justin Dyck, Jeff Thompson, Tyson Gillies, Shane Wilson and Jon Syrnk with the Blaze from 2003-05. He began coaching in the fall of 2007.
Our No. 2,000 is Cam Newitt (Barrie, Ont.). Cam's father, Gary Newitt played in Oshawa before joining the Pittsburgh Pirates minor-league system. Cam played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Intercounty League until he retired and now coaches bantam baseball in Barrie.
And our No. 2,100 is RHP Ryan Oxford (Sussex, N.B.), who pitched for Vancouver Island University (VIBI) and plans on playing for New Brunswick at the Canada Summer games this year.
Our group has representation from all 10 provinces led by Ontario, which has 757 members. B.C. has 340, Quebec has 175, Alberta has 127, Saskatchewan 67, Manitoba 47, New Brunswick 52, Nova Scotia 23, Newfoundland 20 and Prince Edward Island 15, plus 35 states led by Michigan, plus nine other countires.

Don't forget Delaware: So says Blair Hains. The former Intercounty umpire (1991-2006) worked the memorable semi-final playoff game between the Brantford Red Sox and the Toronto Maple Leafs, after the great power outage in 2003, when the CIty of Toronto couldn't turn the lights on at Christie Pitts. The game was resumed in Brantford, The defining moment came late in the game when three Leafs went down swinging.
Now Hains works NCAA DIvision II and Division III games where the best teams are John Hopkins and West Cheste.

R.I.P.: Ron Steele a good man with a baseball-shaped heart and founder of the long time Windsor Titans passed away. Funeral is Thursday, July 23.

EXTRA BASES -- Our first 50 EXTRA BASES blogs ... from Brett Lawrie signing to James Paxton being drafted ... from the Nationals in 2008 to the Mizuno Camp to the World Baseball Classic ... to Canadian promotions to the 40-man (Alexandre Periard) to Canadian promotions to the big league (Chris Leroux). It's all here and more for you to check on ... and links to what has been going on in the Majors, the Minors, in College, with Team Canada and on the Sandlots. Plus in out first year of the site we've had excellent contributions by Kevin Glew, Jonathan Hodgson, Allan Simpson, Bob Broughton, Shi Davidi, Adam Morrissette.