By: CJ Pentland

Canadian Baseball Network

Compared to the rest of year, the end of August allows Jason Willow a bit of time to relax. With a few weeks off from baseball, he can to kick back, catch up with friends – but admittedly still go through withdrawals.

The 17-year-old from Victoria, British Columbia has spent the last year crisscrossing North America to play ball, whether for his hometown Victoria Mariners, the Canadian Junior National Team, or other select tournament teams. The next stop: Toronto for Tournament 12, which he also attended last year with the Futures Team.

Over that past year, Willow has established himself as one of the bright young infielders in Canada. A right-handed hitting shortstop, Willow’s latest step into the spotlight came in early August at the Area Code Games in Long Beach, California, where he was one of three Canadians playing for the Northwest Region team.

With a home run, double, and three walks at the event – which Willow called easily the highest-calibre tournament he’d played in to date – he caught the attention of Baseball America, who named him to their New Balance All-Area Code Team. They wrote that Willow “showed some of the best power of the event, consistently barreling pitches and driving them with explosive life off his bat,” calling him one of the top uncommitted players in the 2017 class.

Though when asked to give his elevator pitch on how he describes himself as a player, Willow downplays the power aspect of his game.

“I get on, I’ve got some speed,” said Willow. “I like to bring a defensive side to the game, and ultimately just good leadership and someone who you want to play around. I pride myself on being positive and trying to make the team as best as I possibly can.”

That defense and attitude are what stands out to Mike Chewpoy, Willow’s coach for the past three years with the Victoria Mariners of the BC Premier Baseball League, and who Willow calls one of his biggest role models in baseball. To Chewpoy, Willow has always had the look of a ball player – confident, professional, and not flashy when he goes about his business on and off the field. The 17-year-old is also one of the more coachable players he’s had during his 12-year tenure with Victoria, and he sees comparisons to Blue Jays outfielder Michael Saunders, who also played for the Mariners in high school.

On the field, his coach has watched him make plays at shortstop that regular guys don’t make – especially on balls hit into the hole, as he possesses the arm strength to complete the long throw. Whereas many Canadian players end up shifting to second or third base down the road, Chewpoy sees Willow staying at short as his career progresses.

The son of Vicki and John Willow, Jason has an older brother, Evan, who played ball up through high school and is currently at NAIA McPherson College in Kansas – where he was named 2015 Freshman of the Year in the Kansas Collegiate Athletics Association. Jason followed his brother into the sport and started out playing ball in Esquimalt Little League on southern Vancouver Island, with his coach Jesse Blackstone helping him in those early years. Willow played soccer and basketball while growing up as well, and while he loved all other sports, he always knew that baseball was number one – so come high school, his focus shifted solely to ball.

Willow came onto the radar of Chewpoy around grades seven and eight. After a short stint with the Victoria Eagles in bantam, Willow joined the Mariners’ program as a Grade 9 on their junior team – often getting called up to play in tournaments with the senior squad and take on players as much as four years older than him. His grade 10 season saw him join the senior team full-time, and then in 2016 he led a Mariners team the came second at the PBL championships. Playing in just 25 games due to commitments with the Junior National Team, Willow hit .356/.417/.534 with a homer, 17 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases.

“It’s a program where people can go to – not only myself but other kids in Victoria – and have a good development through your high school career,” said Willow. “It’s a big time in your life with baseball and just in life [in] general, but it’s a great program to develop kids and send them on to places that they need to go to get further in their baseball career.”

As a member of the JNT, which he’s played for just under a year, Willow has soaked in the influence of head coach Greg Hamilton, who he says brings a great perspective to the game. Over that season with Team Canada, he’s visited Florida, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, and he’s already looking towards the goal of making the roster for the U-18 Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay in 2017.

While he’s seen top calibre play in each of the locations that he has visited, it was playing in Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana and experiencing the baseball culture in Cuba that stands out to Willow the most.

“We didn’t do as well as we expected to, but overall it was a super cool experience being around the culture of Cuban baseball and seeing how much of a passion they have – they love playing it – and how much they die for the game, because it’s something different you seen when you go down the Cuba and the Dominican. It’s not like up here where … kids play it just to play it – [the Cubans and Dominicans] play it because they love the game, and I think that’s something that really opened my eyes and showed me that you really got to want it.”

In the next couple of months, Willow will decide on a school commitment in order to go through his final high school season with fewer distractions. While he knows that he’s on the 2017 draft radar and that exciting times lay ahead, his focus remains on getting a good school and getting a spot on Canada’s team at next summer’s World Cup. Fall ball and winter training with the Mariners are just around the corner, where he will hope to add strength to his current frame of 6-foot-1, 175 pounds and, most importantly, stay healthy for his final season.

As for the upcoming Tournament 12, Willow looks forward to another opportunity to showcase his talents on the field that his favourite team, the Blue Jays, play on – while also looking forward to fielding grounders on the new infield at the Rogers Centre. Willow has travelled extensively over the past year, but as a west coast kid he still considers it a thrill to head east to Toronto to play at the home of the Jays and take part in a marquee showcase of high school Canadian baseball talent.

“I’m hoping to get some exposure, but also have a good time – it’s what baseball is about. It’s cool going to play at the Rogers Centre, especially playing against the best talent in Canada, and it’s not only just to expose yourself, you’re supposed to have fun and play the game the way that you were taught to be played and put everything on the line.”