Fieldhouse Pirates and Junior National Team alum Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) is the Chicago Cubs’ fourth-best prospect, according to Baseball America.

January 5, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week:

Four Canadians on Baseball America’s Top 10 Prospects lists

Baseball America recently released their Top 10 Prospects lists for each major league team.

Four Canadians were included on the lists:

OF Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.), Chicago Cubs, No. 4

Chosen by the San Diego Padres in the second round of the 2020 MLB draft, Caissie never played a game in the Padres’ organization before he was dealt to the Cubs. Since then, the left-handed hitting outfielder has played four seasons in the Cubs’ organization and established himself as one of the team’s top prospects. In November, Caissie, 22, was added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster. The Fieldhouse Pirates and Junior National Team alum spent the 2024 season with the triple-A Iowa Cubs and batted .278 with 19 home runs, 75 RBIs and 11 stolen bases, while posting an .848 OPS, in 127 games. His performance earned him the Canadian Baseball Network’s Randy Echlin Award, as the top Canuck hitter in the affiliated minor league ranks.

INF/OF Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.), Milwaukee Brewers, No. 5

Chosen 33rd overall in the 2021 MLB draft by the Brewers, Black made his big-league debut on April 30, 2024 and promptly doubled in his first at bat. The 24-year-old infielder also added a single to go 2-for-4 in the Brewers’ 8-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. In all, Black went 10-for-49 (.204 batting average) with three stolen bases and seven walks in 18 big-league games. He spent the bulk of the year with the triple-A Nashville Sounds. In 102 contests with the Sounds, he belted 14 home runs, stole 20 bases and registered a .375 on-base percentage (OBP).

OF Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.), Oakland A’s, No. 8

The A’s added Clarke to their 40-man roster in November. Selected in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB draft by the A’s, the 6-foot-4 outfielder batted .269 with 13 home runs, eight triples and 36 stolen bases in 116 games with the A’s double-A Midland RockHounds in 2024. He followed that up by hitting .382 with two home runs, 13 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 19 games with the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League (AFL). For his efforts, he was named to the AFL All-Star Team.

OF Dante Nori (Toronto, Ont.), Philadelphia Phillies, No. 10

A first-round pick of the Phillies in the 2024 MLB draft, Nori, who’s the son of former Toronto Raptors coach Micah Nori, is a speedy left-handed hitting outfielder who honed his skills at Northville High School in Michigan. In 14 games with the class-A Clearwater Threshers in 2024, the 19-year-old recorded a .424 OBP and had a triple and four stolen bases.

Cade Smith on CBN Podcast

Smith, who put together one of the greatest rookie seasons ever by a Canadian relief pitcher in 2024, was a guest on the Canadian Baseball Network’s podcast this week. The 25-year-old Abbotsford, B.C. native, who posted a 6-1 record and a 1.91 ERA in 74 relief appearances and struck out 103 batters in 75 1/3 innings for the Cleveland Guardians this past season, shares some great stories during the podcast, including how he was recruited for the University of Hawaii at the Canadian Futures Showcase at Rogers Centre in 2017. “I had to go east to Ontario before going all the way West, and more, back to Hawaii,” Smith said with a chuckle. You can listen to the entire 31-minute interview here.

Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) donated a game-worn Colorado Rockies jersey and hat from his 2024 season, plus a game-used ball from his start on April 27, 2024, to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

Quantrill donates Rockies jersey to Canadian ball hall

It was a great way to start the new year for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. They received a jersey and a hat that Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) wore for the Colorado Rockies during the 2024 season for their collection. The veteran right-hander also sent a ball from his start against the Houston Astros in Mexico on April 27, 2024.

Quantrill was non-tendered by the Rockies following the season and is a free agent. The 29-year-old righty went 8-11 with a 4.98 ERA in 29 starts for the Rockies in 2024. The Ontario Terriers and Junior National Team alum led Canadian big-league pitchers in starts (29) and innings pitched (148 1/3), while his eight wins and 110 strikeouts ranked second among Canadian major leaguers.

Quantrill has pitched in six big-league seasons and is 43-34 with a 4.07 ERA in 161 appearances (123 starts).

Cormier signed by Red Sox 26 years ago

Twenty-six years ago today, the Boston Red Sox signed left-hander Rheal Cormier (Cap-Pele, N.B.) to a minor league contract. The left-hander had just completed parts of four seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. Cormier cracked the Red Sox roster out of spring training in 1999 and proceeded to post a 3.69 ERA in 60 relief appearances for them. He followed that up by registering a 4.61 ERA in 64 relief outings for the Sox in 2000. This was Cormier’s second stretch with the Sox. In 1995, he had served as a spot starter for the club, making 12 starts in 48 appearances, going 7-5 with a 4.07 ERA in 115 innings.

Happy 62nd Birthday to former Expo Jeff Fassero!

Who recorded the most wins by a left-handed pitcher in Montreal Expos’ history?

The answer is Jeff Fassero was born on this date in 1963.

He collected 58 wins in six seasons with the Expos after being signed as a minor league free agent by the club on January 3, 1991. Fassero’s 222 strikeouts in 1996 were the most by an Expos left-hander in a season. In all, in 262 games (100 starts) with the Expos, Fassero posted a 3.20 ERA and had 750 strikeouts in 850 innings.

Remembering Doug Hudlin

It was 10 years ago today that legendary umpire and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Doug Hudlin passed away at the age of 91. Born in 1922 in Victoria, B.C., Hudlin served as an umpire in his home province for more than 40 years.

Along the way, he was chosen as the first non-American umpire to work the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., in 1967. Seven years later, he returned to umpire the event, making him the first international umpire ever to work two Little League World Series.

Hudlin also worked the Canada Little League Championships five times (1966-67, 1973, 1981, 1987), the Senior Little League World Series in Gary, Ind., twice (1968, 1974) and the B.C. Summer Games in 1988. He umpired his final Little League game in 1992. To honour his legacy, the B.C. Baseball Umpires Association presents the Doug Hudlin Distinguished Service Award each year to a dedicated and long-serving umpire in the province.

Happy 96th Birthday to Bob Oldis!

Bob Oldis, who was the Montreal Expos’ first base coach in their inaugural season (1969), turns 96 today. Prior to his coaching career, the Preston, Iowa native was a backup catcher for the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Phillies for parts of seven big-league seasons between 1953 and 1963. In 1971, he managed the class-A Short-Season Watertown Expos and then served as a scout with the big-league Expos for many years. Among the players he scouted were Bill Gullickson, Jeff Huson and Casey Candaele. In 2002, he joined the Marlins as a scout. He continued to work as a full-time scout until he was 91.

Bill Humber has a new book

Without Bill Humber, I wouldn’t have started my Canadian baseball history blog. He is the Canadian baseball historian and has been an inspiration to me. He is rightfully the only historian elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. So, when he releases a new book (see image above), I get excited. His latest, which is hot of the presses, is called Old Ontario at Bat: Baseball’s Unheralded Ancestry and it is now available through the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Here’s the description for the book from the Hall’s website: “The generally accepted belief about baseball’s North American development is that it is an American game, a product of purely American ingenuity and invention, exported to Canada as a finished product. In his book Old Ontario at Bat, historian Bill Humber begs to differ. He argues instead that in Canada (and in the 19th century baseball hotbed of southwestern Ontario in particular), the steps in the game’s evolutionary process were of a Canadian agency, largely independent of American influence. His book propounds this viewpoint as baseball’s unheralded ancestry, busting myths and clarifying understanding along the way. The book is the result of decades of research into the game’s origins and development in Canada.”

You can buy the book here.

BWDIK: Caissie, Cormier, Hudlin, Oldis, Quantrill, Smith