* Team Canada gets together after for a post-game talk. The Canucks finished seventh at the World Juniors in Taiwan. ... 2014 Canadian draft list 2013 Canadians in the Minors  2013 Canadian collegians playing summer ball 2013 Canadians in College  Letters of Intent

By Peter Bean

This 'week in review' actually covers two weeks due to the Labour day holiday. 

The Blue Jays Baseball Academy, in collaboration with Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar will host the inaugural Tournament 12, a national baseball showcase tournament at Rogers Centre, Sept. 20-24. Tournament 12, presented by New Era, will highlight the best Canadian amateur baseball players with college eligibility. A total of 10 teams will represent the Canadian provinces. The Canadian Baseball Network will be covering this event from every angle. Our coverage, and event details can be found here.

The IBAF 18U World Cup started by not starting at all. Tropical storm Kong Rey delayed the first two days of play requiring the tournament organizers to re write a portion of the schedule. When the tournament finally began the juniors powered through the Czech Republic with a 16-3 win. Things were looking good. The next two games didn't go as well as the juniors lost to Venezuela 7-5, then followed with a 4-2 loss to Taipei. The Canucks won the next game against Mexico 11-4 with JP Stevenson going 8 shutout innings. In the next game against Japan Canada held a 5-1 lead before eventually losing 7-5 and being eliminated from the tournament. The final game for seventh place was played against Australia and the juniors showed their power beating the Aussies 17-3. Team Canada put together a 13-run eighth featuring 13 hits as 14 consecutive batters reached base. Team Canada finished 7th place in the tournament. The US eventually won the tournament beating Japan in the gold medal game.

Welcome to Melissa Verge! Melissa is our newest contributor at The Canadian Baseball Network. Melissa has been playing baseball since she was six years old, and has recently grown passionate for writing about the game. Read her bio and first article here about her trip to the girls invitational tourney.

MLB Bureau camps were held in Welland, Etobicoke and Sarnia and INF Royce Andro (Mississauga, Ont.) C Darren Shred (Brampton, Ont.) OF Travis Whacker (Oakville, Ont.) and C Drew Rilley (Cambridge, Ont.) were the best of the best.

David Matchett wrote about the history of all Canadian batteries in his three-part piece Boucher/Siddall Celebrate 20 Years.

Bob Elliott discovered The Meat Department, a sporting man’s butcher shop on the Danforth. A-Rod, the entire NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox as well as Brett Lawrie are not allowed to eat there. Behind the counter is a list of who is not allowed to eat there, and who can eat there for free. You must read about this place.

It was a busy time for Canadians being called up and/or traded. Justin Morneau was traded to the Pirates. John Axford was traded to the Cardinals. Peter Orr was called up by the Phillies. Chris Robinson was called by by the Padres and got his first MLB at bat. Jim Adducci got the call after 10 years 889 games in the minors. James Paxton won his ML debut for Mariners beating Tampa Bay with 6 IP, 1 ER and Mike Nickeas was promoted by the Blue Jays.

We added some great videos from the past to our Canadian Baseball Video Archive. The includes our founder, Bob Elliot's Spink award speech.

April Whitzman spoke to Kevin Pillar about his journey to the bigs. She also wrote about how Blue Jays superfan and season ticket holder Liz Holmes gives 'rally beavers' to Blue Jays catcher JP Arencibia. Both stories are in her blog, April Means Baseball. 

Andrew Albers wrote about his second start and what it's been like getting the call for the first time in his newest blog.

111 Canadian players are now (or have been) active in the minor leagues during the 2013 season on an affiliated minor league rosters, 43 independent league players and eight more are with foreign teams as George Farelli tells us in his updated Canadians in the Minors.

Jared Mortensen (Abbotsford BC.)  won CBN POW honours for week 21 by pitching 11 scoreless innings in the Rays system and Stephen Wickens (Whitby, Ont.) hit .421 for the class-A Fort Myers Miracle to win CBN POW for week 22.

OF Tyler Hibbert (Markham, Ont.) of the Charles Town Cannons and RHP Graham Tebbit (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Aldie Senators were ranked amongst the top 40 prospects by Perfect Game in the Valley League summer collegiate league. Hibbert, a senior with the Florida International Golden Panthers, was ranked No. 12 after hitting .333 in 34 games with five doubles, 13 RBIs while going 16-for-18 stealing bases. Ranked No. 35 was Tebbit, a senior with the Hofstra Pride, was 1-3 with a 1.81 ERA in six games as he walked six and struck out 44 in 49 2/3 innings.

RHP Chad Hodges (Medicine Hat, Alta.) and 1B Jeremie Fagnan (Calgary, Alta.) both of the Humboldt Crabs, made the Far West League summer collegiate top 25 of Perfect Game prospects. Hodges was 7-0 for with a 2.46 ERA, walking 18 and striking out 57 in 62 innings. Fagnan hit .320 in 38 games with seven doubles, a triple, two homers and 25 RBIs.

The CBN Podcast posted part 2 of our tribute to Tom Cheek which included interviews with Mike Wilner and Buck Martinez.

That's it for the last two weeks in Canadian Baseball!