RHP Landon Leach (Pickering, Ont.) of the Toronto Mets ...

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network

SCARBOROUGH _ Bundled up as if they were ready to see a grudge match between the University of Toronto Blues and the Queen’s Golden Gaels 22 scouts from both sides of the border gathered on the U of T campus.

They came to Dan Lang Field in football weather to see Landon Leach (Pickering, Ont.) of the Toronto Mets and Adam Hall (London, Ont.) of the Great Lake Canadians, the top two Ontario high schoolers heading into the draft June 12-14. There were also 41 other players -- from the Ontario Terriers, Ontario Yankees, Fieldhouse Pirates, Team Ontario, Ontario Nationals, Ontario Royals, Mets and GL Canadians -- invited to the Prep Baseball Report run by Mets coach Chris Kemlo.

Leach was 92-94 MPH with his fastball in the intra-squad game, although a couple guns had him at 95 twice on their guns. And Leach was worth the drive to Old Kingston Road and Dan Lang Field ... as most people know most roads do lead to Kingston.

“He threw hard, with couple of 95s and with not a lot of effort,” said one veteran scout. “Right now I have him right there with high schoolers from Florida and Texas.”

A catcher until grade 10, his Toronto Mets coaches John Marriotti, Greg Densem, Honsing Leung, Hyung Cho and Kemlo, his current manager, thought it would be best for the big-framed catcher to head to the mound. And that’s where the 6-foot-4, 205 pounder will stay.

“He’s not a finished product like Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta. -- who went 28th over-all to the Atlanta Braves in 2005),” said another scout. “What he is is, a diamond in the rough. He needs to be polished. It’s not like he has 1,000s of innings on his arm.”

Some scouts expect Leach to go from the 2nd-to-5th round, while the guess on Hall is the 3rd-to-5th round. All guesses are subject to change and the loudest voices in the respective war rooms.

Hall made a great throw from short right centre on a triple -- taking the throw and getting rid of it in a hurray and thhrowing a rope to third as the Canadians played the Mets Saturday at Dorchester. Hall’s GLC won 10-3 and lost 11-1.

Ontario Blue Jays OF Cooper Davis (Mississauga, Ont.) had a good day ran well and barrelled some balls in game.

INF Dondae Bremner (Toronto, Ont.) of the Toronto Mets ...

Toronto Mets’ INF Dondae Bremner (Toronto, Ont.) hit the only homer in the game of Harley Gollert (Toronto, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays with a drive to right field.

Also on hand and impressing were players not eligible for the June 12-14 draft: Noah Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays; Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.), Great Lake Canadians, Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.), Toronto Mets; Jaden Brown (Mississauga, Ont.) Ontario Blue Jays; Leo Markotic (Georgetown, Ont.) Toronto Mets and David McCabe (Oshawa, Ont.) Team Ontario.

* * *
Bob Leach, Landon’s father was born in St-Eustache, Que. and then moved to Sherbrooke. Landon attended French immerson classes and is fluent in French when any of the Quebec-based amateur scouts come a calling.

“He speaks excellent French, Quebec French,” said one.

* * *

On hand: There were 22 scouts from 16 teams at the event. The Minnesota Twins had three scouts on hand including head Canadian scout Walt Burrows (Brentwood Bay, BC) and Tim O’Neill of Lexington, Ky.

The Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays had a pair of scouts on hand. The Phillies had former major leaguer Eric Valent, regionala scouting supervisor and Alex Agostino (St. Bruno, Que.), their eastern region scout, while the Jays flew in special assignment scout Russ Bove along with Canadian scout Adam Arnold (London, Ont.). The Royals had area scout Casey Fahey and supervisor Keith Connolly and Cleveland had area scout Mike Kamen and Brad Grant, senior director of scouting.

Also on hand were Murray Zuk (Souris, Man.) from the San Diego Padres, Claude Pelletier (Ste-Lezare, Que.) representing the New York Mets, as well as Denis Boucher (Lachine, Que.), New York Yankees, Jason Bryans (Tecumseh, Ont.) St. Louis Cardinals, Trey Magnuson, scouting co-ordinator of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Takeshi (T-Money) Sakurayama, Texas Rangers, Raimondo Calleri (Montreal, Que.), San Francisco Giants (wearing only one of his World Series rings), Adam Bourassa of the Pittsburgh Pirates; Meyer Shemtov (Richmond Hill, Ont.), Colorado Rockies, Jeremy Jayaweera (Cambridge, Ont.), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Trevor Nyp (Kitchener, Ont.) of the Washhington Nationals.

Greg Hamilton, head coach of the Canadian National Junior Team, was also evaulating as always.

* * *

Every day Eddie: Batting practice began with David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) hitting one line drive after another. Of course it takes two for a good BP session to happen. This is what happened about 10 pitches into the first hitter.

“Man that guy can throw BP,” said a scout from out of town.

“He’s not as good as the Ontario Blue Jays guy, that guy is a machine,” said another.

“Ah, that’s him,” said a third scout.

On the mound was ‘Every day’ Eddie Largy (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays, resembling a pitching machine when it came to strike zone consistancy.

OF Cooper Davis (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays was the fastest man ion the field

Prep Baseball Report
60-yard times
First Name Last Name Team Class Ht Wt Pos B/T 60 Time
Cooper Davis, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’11 175 OF L/R 6.6
Kurt Dawkins, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’10 170 OF R/R 6.65
Adam Hall, Great Lake Canadians 2017 6’0 170 SS R/R 6.7
Jakob Newton, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’3 180 SS L/R 6.79
Rashad Collymore, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’10 175 OF S/L 6.8

Dasan Brown, Ontario Blue Jays 2019 5’10 160 OF R/R 6.84
Noah Naylor, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 5’11 190 C/INF L/R 6.84
Leo Markotic, Toronto Mets 2018 5’11 185 3B R/R 6.9
Matt Turino, Toronto Mets 2017 5’11 175 OF L/R 6.9
Jaden Brown, Ontario Blue Jays 2019 6’1 175 SS R/R 6.93

Dondrae Bremner, Toronto Mets 2017 6’2 170 SS L/R 6.94
Owen Jansen, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’0 185 SS L/R 6.94
Denzel Clarke, Toronto Mets 2018 6’3 187 OF R/R 6.95
Ryan O’Halloran, Ontario Terriers 2017 6’0 150 SS R/R 6.96
Tyrell Hebert, Great Lakes Canadians 2017 6’6 210 OF L/R 6.98

C Noah Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays

Catching
First Name Last Name Team Class Ht Wt Pos B/T Pop Time Velocity
Noah Naylor, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 5’11 190 C/INF L/R 1.87 80
Mitch Osborne, Toronto Mets 2017 6’3 200 C R/R 1.93 80
David Mendham, Ontario Nationals 2017 6’2 195 C L/R 1.97 81
Kyle Bryan, Ontario Yankees 2017 6’4 192 C R/R 2.07 71

Blake Buckle, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 6’1 210 C L/R 2.11 70
Justin Raspanti, Team Ontario 2018 5’10 200 C L/R 2.17 68

INF Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) of the Toronto Mets

Infield Velocity
First Name Last Name Class Ht Wt Pos B/T INF Velo
Tyler Black, Toronto Mets 2018 6’1 190 SS L/R 87
Dondrae Bremner, Toronto Mets 2017 6’2 170 SS L/R 85
Daniel Carinci, Great Lakes Canadians 2018 5’10 175 SS R/R 85
Adam Hall, Great Lakes Canadians 2017 6’0 170 SS R/R 85
David McCabe, Team Ontario 2018 6’4 215 3B S/R 84

Noah Naylor, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 5’11 190 C/INF L/R 84
Thomas Grilli, Fieldhouse Pirates 2017 6’0 180 SS R/R 83
Tyrell Hebert, Great Lakes Canadians 2017 6’6 210 OF L/R 83
Owen Jansen, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’0 185 SS L/R 82
Ryan O’Halloran, Ontario Terriers 2017 6’0 150 SS R/R 82

Jakob Newton, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’3 180 SS L/R 82
David Mendham, Ontario Nationals 2017 6’2 195 C L/R 81
Leo Markotic, Toronto Mets 2018 5’11 185 3B R/R 81
Riley Perks, Fieldhouse Pirates 2017 6’2 215 OF L/L 78
Jaden Brown, Ontario Blue Jays 2019 6’1 175 SS R/R 77

Ryan Magdic, Ontario Royals 2018 6’4 210 1B L/L 70

OF Rashad Collymore (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays.

Outfield Velocity
First Name Last Name Class Ht Wt Pri B/T INF Velo
Rashad Collymore, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’10 175 OF S/L 86
Noah London, Ontario Yankees 2018 5’11 165 OF R/R 86
Jakob Newton, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’3 180 SS L/R 86
Tyrell Hebert, Great Lake Canadians 2017 6’6 210 OF L/R 86
Denzel Clarke, Toronto Mets 2018 6’3 187 OF R/R 84

Matt Turino, Toronto Mets 2017 5’11 175 OF L/R 84
Cooper Davis, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’11 175 OF L/R 81
Kurt Dawkins, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’10 170 OF R/R 80
Riley Perks, Fieldhouse Pirates 2017 6’2 215 OF L/L 80
Noel McGarry Doyle, Toronto Mets 2019 6’0 195 OF L/R 78

Jaden Brown (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays

At the plate
First Name Last Name Class Ht Wt Pos B/T Exit Velo
Jaden Brown, Ontario Blue Jays 2019 6’1 175 SS R/R 96
Leo Markotic, Toronto Mets 2018 5’11 185 3B R/R 94
David McCabe, Team Ontario 2018 6’4 215 3B S/R 94
Noah Naylor, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 5’11 190 C/INF L/R 94
Mitch Osborne, Toronto Mets 2017 6’3 200 C R/R 94

Adam Hall, Great Lake Canadians 2017 6’0 170 SS R/R 93
Jakob Newton, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’3 180 SS L/R 93
Thomas Grilli, Fieldhouse Pirates 2017 6’0 180 SS R/R 92
Owen Jansen, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’0 185 SS L/R 92
David Mendham, Ontario Nationals 2017 6’2 195 C L/R 92

Riley Perks, Fieldhouse Pirates 2017 6’2 215 OF L/L 92
Dondrae Bremner, Toronto Mets 2017 6’2 170 SS L/R 91
Noel McGarry Doyle, Toronto Mets 2019 6’0 195 OF L/R 91
Kyle Bryan, Ontario Yankees 2017 6’4 192 C R/R 90
Daniel Carinci, Great Lake Canadians 2018 5’10 175 SS R/R 90

Ryan O’Halloran, Ontario Terriers 2017 6’0 150 SS R/R 90
Rashad Collymore, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’10 175 OF S/L 89
Kurt Dawkins, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’10 170 OF R/R 89
Tyrell Hebert, Great Lake Canadians 2017 6’6 210 OF L/R 89
Justin Raspanti, Team Ontario 2018 5’10 200 C L/R 89

Matt Turino, Toronto Mets 2017 5’11 175 OF L/R 89
Dasan Brown, Ontario Blue Jays 2019 5’10 160 OF R/R 88
Blake Buckle, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 6’1 210 C L/R 87
Cooper Davis, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 5’11 175 OF L/R 87
Noah London, Ontario Yankees 2018 5’11 165 OF R/R 87

Tyler Black, Toronto Mets 2018 6’1 190 SS L/R 86
Denzel Clarke, Toronto Mets 2018 6’3 187 OF R/R 86

RHP Noah Skirrow (Stoney Creek, Ont.) of the Great Lake Canadians

Pitcher's velocity

First Name Last Name Class Ht Wt Pos B/T FB low FB high
Landon Leach, Toronto Mets 2017 6’4 224 RHP R/R 92 94
Noah Skirrow, Great Lake Canaadians 2017 6’3 210 RHP R/R 89 91
Eric Cerantola, Great Lake Canadians 2018 6’5 195 RHP R/R 87 90
Nathan Holmes, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’5 235 RHP R/R 87 89
Jordan Marks, Great Lake Canadians 2017 6’2 180 RHP L/R 86 88

Harley Gollert, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’0 185 LHP R/L 84 88
Ben Abram, Ontario Terriers 2018 6’8 235 RHP R/R 85 87
Jacob English, Great Lake Canadians 2017 6’1 175 RHP L/R 84 87
Carter Seabrooke, Ontario Terriers 2018 6’0 175 LHP L/L 83 87
Ryan Capuano, Toronto Mets 2018 6’0 190 RHP R/R 85 86

Evan Kiser, Ontario Royals 2017 6’2 218 RHP L/R 84 86
Hayden Malenfant, Toronto Mets 2017 6’2 175 RHP R/R 84 86
Dimitri Stamatopoulos, Ontario Blue Jays 2018 6’6 225 RHP R/R 83 85
Jack Liddell, Ontario Blue Jays 2017 6’4 180 RHP R/R 83 85
Griffin Hassall, Great Lake Canadians 2018 6’3 170 RHP L/R 81 83

Elliott at PBR: Leach, Hall, Naylor, Bremner impress