March 28, 2023

By Spencer Closs

Centennial Sports Journalism

DUNEDIN, Fla. – There are a number of ball players from Quebec in pro baseball, but the road taken by each is different.

Blue Jays’ prospect Nicolas Deschamps played for the Academie Baseball Canada (ABC).

He was committed to play Division I for the Stetson University Hatters when the Toronto reached out.

“In my senior year, my first goal was to get drafted. I wanted to make that jump,” said Deschamps, before taking part in training last Friday morning at the Blue Jays facility. “When I didn’t get drafted I was ready to go to college but the day before I stepped foot on campus, the Blue Jays called me and said they were going to sign me as a free agent.”

After the ABC, he moved to Florida to play his high school baseball for TNXL Academy (in Ocoee) before signing in August 2021.

In his first season within the minor league system, the catcher had an on base percentage of .447, an impressive feat he attributes to being behind the plate on defence.

“It helps seeing a lot of pitches behind the plate, you catch maybe 150 pitches a game,” said the 5-foot-11, 190 pounder. “Knowing the strike zone first of all, working with the umpire so you know where the zone will be gives you an idea of what he is going to call (on that day.)”

It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Canadian however as he had to find creative ways to get better at baseball while the pandemic was taking its toll on the world.

“In Canada we were shut down a lot, so we didn’t have a lot of baseball,” said Deschamps. “For six months, I would hit outside in the snow off of a tee. That’s all I could do. It was hard to get better but I just tried to keep the pace.”

With all the ups and downs, Deschamps finds himself with an opportunity to reach his goal of playing in the big leagues, following in the footsteps of his favourite player, fellow Quebecer Russell Martin.

“I think it would be a really nice thing to be a Canadian player to play for a Canadian team, going to Toronto and representing a whole country,” said Deschamps, of his future goals. “But the ultimate goal is to be in the big leagues.”