UBC ace Webb drafted by the Reds
By C.J. Pentland
Canadian Baseball Network
It took one start and one post-game walk for Alex Webb to realize that 2016 might be a pretty special year for him.
In his first start of the NAIA season in February, Webb took the hill against Northwest Nazarene at a tournament in Lewiston, Idaho. The senior tossed six scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out six and walking one to help the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds to an 8-3 victory.
Following the contest, he walked around a bit before popping into the washroom – where two scouts followed him to grab his information. When heading back to the field afterwards, four more guys greeted him at the railing of the dugout. And when walking to the dugout, one last scout stopped him and tracked him down.
“So within like 10 minutes I had talked to about seven teams. I’m like, ‘ok, this is going to be a fun year.”
Last June, Webb had come off a season when he took home NAIA West Group Pitcher of the Year honours, and the San Diego Padres selected him in the 36th round of the MLB Draft. Yet the righty still had a year of eligibility and two years of classes to go – he studies electrical engineering and was also named an Academic All-American in 2015 – and felt he could develop more for professional baseball by heading back to UBC for another season.
He felt a little bit of doubt regarding the decision, but come Friday, any that remained had erased. Starting in the seventh and eighth rounds, several teams started getting in touch, but it was in the middle of the eighth when one – who he hadn’t talked to since February – called to say they were taking him. It was the Cincinnati Reds, letting him know that in the ninth round they’d select the right-handed pitcher from White Rock, BC.
“It really is that life-long dream, and it is surreal in a way,” said Webb. “You never know who’s watching around the world that sees your name come up, and you’ve worked your whole life to get to this point, and it’s finally happened in an instant. And it’s amazing; it’s an indescribable feeling.”
In 2016, Webb managed to improve on his stellar 2015 campaign, taking home NAIA West Top Pitcher for the second straight year. Getting the start in Game 1 of nearly every weekend series, the 6-foot-3, 228 pound ace finished the campaign with a 1.38 ERA and 115 strikeouts compared to just 15 walks in 104.1 innings pitched. Of the 56 hits he allowed, only eight went for extra bases.
After pitching for the White Rock Tritons of the BC Premier Baseball League in high school, Webb’s only college offer came from UBC. His talent and his grades made him a good fit in the eyes of former head coach and current program director Terry McKaig, but it was the work he put in over the past four year that elevated him to ninth-round draft status.
“Man oh man has he turned himself into a good pitcher,” said McKaig back in March. “He dealt with a lot those first few years … but he’s overcome all that and continues to get better. He’s our number one, and the guy that the team wants out there in game number of a weekend series. He’s really come a long way.”
Webb didn’t hesitate to state the positive impact the UBC program had on his development. McKaig believed that he would one day play professional baseball and pushed him to achieve that, and then current coach and former major leaguer Chris Pritchett took it to the next level – always being their for advice, especially during the draft process. “I just gotta say I owe them a lot, and I just want to say thank you. I can’t really describe it, because they’ve been such a big influence on me.”
After his teammate Curtis Taylor went in the fourth round to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Webb became the 21st draft pick out of the Thunderbird baseball program and the first to be selected by the Reds. While he can’t wait to get started with his new team, he seems equally honoured to join the illustrious crew of T-Bird alumni.
“I’m just really proud to represent UBC. I think we take a ton of pride in being Canadians, competing against American colleges, and to join the 20 other names on that list is an incredible feeling, because it’s really a legacy of Canadian baseball. There’s big things happening for the program in the future, and I’m thrilled that Curtis and I could be part of the start of that, but just to join the names that have already gone through is amazing, and it’s an honour just to be in the same conversation with all the guys that have come before me.”