Quebec's William Sierra coming off strong summer representing Canada

By: Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

A lot has happened for Montreal’s William Sierra since he first took the mound at Tournament 12 last September.

His year-long journey back to Toronto began with a trip to the Baseball Canada Fall Instructional League, followed by an impactful spring training jaunt to Florida as a member of the Junior National Team - an impressive summer with Academy Baseball Canada’s 17U squad and his first entry into the June amateur draft earlier this summer.

Now, fresh off helping his Quebec ’17 squad earn a gold medal at the Baseball Canada National Championship in Sherbrooke, Que. this August, the 17-year-old right-hander has his sights set on a second visit to the yearly showcase tournament at Rogers Centre.

Taking the hill for the defending T12 champs in 2015, the 160-pound right-hander admits to feeling a certain amount of pressure prior to arriving in Toronto. But, having limited the Prairies to only one earned run over seven innings of work on the week, that pressure did little to affect his success in last year's tournament.

“There was definitely pressure on us, but I just went out there and tried to pitch like I always do.” explained Sierra when asked about his first T12 experience.

To date, Sierra’s success has been predicated on the ability to pitch to his strengths.

Using a slider and changeup to complement both a four-seam and two-seam fastball, his biggest asset is having the aptness to control his pitches on the inner half of the plate, a strength he credits to his experience at the fall instructional league.

“When I got there, I was still a little bit nervous. Back then I wasn’t that aggressive. I would start with fastballs outside and just go everything outside because I didn’t have that mentality yet. “

With more experience came both an added level of confidence and a new mindset, one that would help establish his current disposition on the hill.

“With time I just decided to be more aggressive and it worked out really well. I’m better when I’m aggressive. When I throw first-pitch strikes inside.”

That aggressive nature helped get the then 16-year-old product of Canada’s national program noticed by a handful of big league clubs last fall, one of which would go on to make him a 28th round draft pick a few months later.

With the 850th selection in 2016’s first-year player draft this June, the defending National League Champion New York Mets decided to take a shot at signing the promising young hurler.

“When I started talking to the Mets about the draft, they said they knew me from Tournament 12.” remembered Sierra. “They contacted me and said they saw me in Toronto. Followed me for the whole year.”

In 2015, the Mets reached the World Series for the first time since winning it all in 1986, and they did so on the backs of an impressive core of young arms.

Having developed such stars as Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Jacob DeGrom, Sierra was humbled by their decision to target him this year’s draft.

“It boosted my confidence. I really like the Mets; their pitching staff is amazing. Just to get drafted by them felt amazing.”

In addition to being afforded an opportunity to be seen by a number of big league clubs, the T12 showcase last fall also presented Sierra with a chance to come back home. 

When he was 12, his family relocated to Toronto for a year and spent a considerable amount of time watching the Blue Jays take the field at Rogers Centre that summer.

Although he grew up idolizing Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, a pitcher who also seemed to work almost exclusively on the inside part of the dish, Sierra admits that Toronto is his favorite Major League club, and having a chance to take their mound was nothing short of a surreal experience.

“It felt great. Being able to pitch on the Blue Jays mound was just an amazing feeling, and it was even better with all of the scouts in the stands. I really enjoyed it. “

With the intentions of building off a solid first-year performance in 2015, Sierra is looking forward to getting back to Toronto and displaying his improved approach to pitching in big situations.

“Tournament 12 is probably the best showcase in Canada. It gives young players like me opportunities to be seen by scouts and it really makes our game go up.”