Carey, Lawson at East Coast Pro Showcase in Alabama

August 2, 2023

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

One year on the drive home from Fenway Park ...

(It was one of those days where the boss said “when you leave Cooperstown, why don’t you slide by Fenway for the Toronto Blue Jays series ... it’s the final one before the deadline.”)

Ex-Blue Jays Frank Thomas was inducted that year, along with former Atlanta Braves Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux back in 2014. Then we headed to Boston and then we headed home.

Passing the time on the I-90 thruway, I spoke to a scout on the phone who asked where I was driving.

“You are nuts if you think you are going to do that 9 1/2 hour drive in one day ... why not stop and see us in Syracuse?”

The triple-A team was on the road, so the East Coast Pro Showcase was there. Late in the day I sitting down the third base line with Colorado Rockies scouting director Bill Schmidt, New York Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer and San Francisco Giants legendary scout John Castlebury.

A youngster whose name was INF Brendan Rodgers from Lake Mary, Fla., pulled a ball home run distance down the left field line at NBT Bank Stadium. The ball was a few feet foul ... to the wrong side of the 330 foot sign.

“Man he nearly got all of that,” I said.

One of the scouts shook his head and said “you know in all the years we’ve had this event here -- not once has a right-handed hitter, hit it out.”

I apologized.

Two pitches later, Rodgers hit one out ... 20 feet to the good side of the foul pole. And 11 months later Rodgers was selected in the first round (third overall) and given a $5.5 million signing bonus from the Rockies.

And the annual East Coast showcase is underway in Hoover, Ala.

RHP Tate Carey (Windsor, Ont.) of the Great Lake Canadians impressing at the Canadians Futures Showcase in 2022.

SS Brendan Lawson (North York, Ont.), of the Ontario Blue Jays, and RHP Tate Carey (Windsor, Ont.), of the Great Lake Canadians, are the two Canadians competing. Both are on the Dodgers roster and the Junior National Team. Carey will start the Dodgers’ second game.

We were told RHP Matt Brown (Carlisle, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays would be pitching at the event. But his name does not show on the roster.

Six teams, 156 players in all, will showcase their abilities in front of pro scouts and college recruiters. Each team will play four games.

The Dodgers are composed of prospects from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware and Canada. Paul Murphy is managing the club.

The East Coast Pro was created and designed in 1995 by scouts to evaluate and educate prospective players and parents in order to attain their goal of an opportunity to play pro ball.

The purpose of this showcase is to provide a venue for the premier youth players across the Eastern US to compete in a pro environment and allow evaluation opportunities for scouts from every big-league organization.

The Showcase is a non-profit event with proceeds from the event placed in a fund to aid scouts, both active and retired, in need of financial assistance due to unfortunate circumstances. Annually, between 80 and 110 players from are selected in the draft.