By: Dustin Saracini

Canadian Baseball Network

It was a warm and sunny afternoon in Calgary, Alberta.

A three-year-old Clayton Keyes stepped outside with his older cousin -- a baseball player.

Equipped with a plastic bat and a few rocks, the two set out to see if the young Keyes could make contact.

He could.

A handful of rocks turned into a dozen, a dozen into 30, 40. The two were outside hitting line drives for hours.

It was here where Keyes fell in love with the game.

A few years later, those rocks turned into baseballs; the plastic into metal, and eventually birch.

It’s quite odd for someone to come from Alberta with the sole purpose in mind of getting drafted and playing for an MLB team.

“Mention baseball in Calgary and people look at you funny,” Keyes said.

“Hockey is the big sport here.”

Hockey was an afterthought for Keyes, who knew in his bantam year that he could do some serious damage with a bat in his hand and a glove in the field.

Before finding his way to the Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Academy, Keyes dominated at the youth level with the Langley Blaze and, at times, had to bring a birth certificate to tournaments.

Head coach for the Academy, Allen Cox, who played collegiate baseball at the University of Kentucky, first heard about the young Calgarians abilities through Frank Ingram, another instructor with the Dawgs organization. He impressed early and often at Marty Lehn’s Big League Experience tournament, which was enough for Cox to have a chat with him -- the rest is history.

“Allen has been one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Keyes noted.

“He knows the game of baseball so well but what makes him such a good coach is that he can teach the game even better.”

During his midget year, Cox and the Dawgs caught another glimpse of just how talented Keyes was.

“I was coaching bantams with Lou Pote and we were getting ready to play in the provincial finals,” Cox shared.

“We were watching the midget finals on an iPad in the dugout with the team. The Dawgs were down in the seventh. I believe Tyler Hollick, one of our coaches, said Clayton is going to hit a walk-off grand slam. A couple guys got on from errors here and there. I’m not sure how much they were down or how many out, I just know that he was up with the bases loaded, with a chance to win it. He did just that -- he hit a walk-off grand slam to win provincials.”

“Our coaches and players were jumping up and down like little kids. I think it helped us going into our provincial finals. I'm sure the other team we were playing thought we were crazy.”

The Academy was attracted to Keyes’ skill-set right off the bat; his play only further solidified how special of a player he truly was.

“Many MLB teams think the same way. So does Greg Hamilton with the Junior National Team,” Cox noted.

“He is a very athletic skilled baseball player. He is an above-average runner and has power. He has recently become a better hitter, which he struggled with a little bit a couple of years ago.”

“Clayton has a very good eye at the plate and has become a really good outfielder. He just started playing a couple of years ago as he was a shortstop all the way through bantam, it was a great transition for him. I love his character and he is a very good kid who likes to cut up with his teammates but is very quiet with his coaches, very respectful.”

In the eyes of Cox, what separates Keyes from the rest is his knack for clutching up in certain situations.

“He has been getting a lot of big hits in big games,” he said. “He had a couple game winners versus very good competition. He had a game-winning RBI in an Area Code game and so on. He’s also hit some big home runs at some pro stadiums against some pro guys.”

The now 17-year-old has always been in the conversation. Whether it be with the Kansas City Royals Scout Team, Perfect Game or the Tournament 12 showcase -- he has been on the radar.

Much was the same with Hamilton and the Junior National Team, who have offered Keyes and their players incredible exposure over the years.

“It was an unbelievable feeling to put on that jersey,” Keyes said.

“A bit nerve wracking as well. But being able to put on the Team Canada uniform and represent your country is an honour.”

He wore the colours with pride and performed. In their Dominican summer trip, he hit an RBI single against MLB Prospects before homering against the Los Angeles Dodgers. His speed was on display as well, swiping bags against the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays prospect teams.

The 6’1”, 215-pound shortstop turned outfielder was timed at 6.72 in his 60-yard dash at T12 last September and was ranked 254th on Perfect Game USA’s top 500 high school players. Andy Yerzy, who was recently drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, was the only Canadian player ahead of him.

During his trip to St. Petersburg in March with the Canadian club, all 30 major league scouts were on hand to see top talent from around the world. The thought of professional eyes in the bleachers was something that didn’t get to Keyes as he approached the plate and dug his spikes into the batters box.

“I'm not really the kind of guy that looks into the stands and worries about the scouts watching me play,” he said.

“I'm just there to play and hopefully do well in front of them. Plus having all the guys with me makes baseball a lot easier to handle.”

Keyes had an incredible 11-day trip, hitting two triples against Puerto Rico while adding an RBI double against the Phillies minor leaguers and another against the Jays.

Patrolling the outfield for Canada is a dream come true for a player coming out of a hockey-dominated city. He has had a unique opportunity to learn under an all-pro coaching staff beginning with Hamilton, Hyung Cho, Chris Robinson, Tanner Watson, John Picco, T.J. Burton and ending with Roberto Alomar.

“Being able to work with Roberto was an honour,” Clayton said.

“Getting to learn from someone who had success at the major league level isn't something you get to do every day so I'm grateful that I had the opportunity and that I get to do it all again in a couple weeks.”

Team Canada will head back to St. Petersburg for Spring Training and National Team Alumni Week in March and have an upcoming trip to Orlando in October.

It’s a lot of baseball, but Keyes wouldn’t have it any other way as he continues to progress.

“You really have to love the game of baseball,” Keyes noted.“It's such a tough game that it could make you feel like quitting in minutes. That's why I want to work as hard as I can to be the best player I can be.”

Work hard he as done, and the accolades will come.

After last summer's trip with Canada, the Seattle Mariners organization requested a closer look at the outfielder during a workout at Safeco Field. It was another notch on the belt of Keyes heading into the draft, but in the 17th round, it wasn’t Seattle that came calling -- it was Canada’s team.

“Speechless,” Keyes said, excited. “I have no words to describe the feeling I had. It was crazy.”

It was the Toronto Blue Jays selecting him 522nd overall.

The Calgary product out of Bishop Carroll High School had planned to attend either Washington State University, the home of John Olerud, or Central Arizona before being selected in the MLB Draft. It was a tough decision, but one that needed to be made regardless.

“I made the decision to stay back a year and develop my game,” Keyes said.

“Hopefully I'll be able to go higher in the draft next year. And if that doesn't work out I can always go to school in 2017.”

Keyes has another full summer of Canada and Okotoks Academy baseball ahead of him. He’s come a long way since driving rocks down the street with his plastic bat. He has a lot of people to thank for supporting him during this journey, but none bigger than his parents, who grew up in Nigeria but can now watch their son play right field for their country.

“I wouldn't be where I am today without my parents,” he said, emphatically. “They've done so much for me my whole life. I owe everything to them.”

He may have a lot left to prove, but nobody can put a wrench in his goal to be yet another Canuck to take the field under the bright lights of Major League Baseball.