RHP Kyle Bloor (Lethbridge, Alta.) did sign with the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs, but he also agreed to terms with the Minnesota Twins

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

On a picture-postcard type Tuesday afternoon right-hander Kyle Bloor took the mound at Sloan Park in Mesa, Az.

“There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was about 24 degrees,” said Bloor on the drive home from Calgary to Lethbridge Friday night.

So, how then did the 24-year-old wind up in a rain delay after one scoreless inning of work against Chicago Cubs minor leaguers?

“I was about to throw my final warm-up pitch (of the second inning) and then the sprinklers came on,” said Bloor, 24, who was pitching for the Langley Blaze on their annual pro tour of Arizona.

The automatic, yet out-of-control, sprinklers stayed on ... and on. They didn’t care about the fact that five pro scouts were there to gun Bloor’s velocity and watch his every move or the fact that sentence ended in a preposition.

“Finally, I saw everyone in the Cubs dugout packing up their gear, so we moved from Field 4 to Field 3,” said Bloor. Bloor walked all the way to the right field bullpen where he had left his equipment bag. Then, it was off to other diamond.

The sprinklers behaved but the field had not been groomed from the previous game. So, after “35-to-40 minutes” of tamping down the plate area and the mound, as well as dragging the infield and moving all the scouts’ cameras, Bloor was back on the mound.

Another scoreless inning.

And then another.

The former catcher was as advertised and now has his foot in the door as his fastball sat at 94-96 MPH according to scouts and he hit 97 in what was his first time on an outdoor mound in seven months. The Minnesota Twins were so impressed that they quickly signed free-agent Bloor, with the help of his agent agent Nick Tuori.

Veteran Twins scout Walt Burrows (Brentwood Bay, BC) was there, but Burrows said all the credit should go to his assistant Todd Hubka of the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs in Lethbridge.

“Todd did all the legwork,” said Burrows, who has helped from the PBA coach for four years and this is his first pro sign with the Twins. It was Hubka who arranged for Bloor to have a spot on Doug Mathieson’s (Aldergrove, BC) team. Mathieson is a Milwaukee Brewers scout.

“No one new who he was before he showed up,” said Mathieson. “What a great kid. Deserving.”

The Brewers, like other scouts, had interest in sighting the right-hander.

“I spoke to some of the Twins coaches, they sent me a contract and said it was official,” Bloor said. “I had a call from Jason Davila (Twins manager, minor league operations) and some pitching coaches. I have all their names written down.”

And in a few days he’ll fly from Calgary to Florida and the Twins spring training complex in Fort Myers.

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JOE McFARLAND _ From Mask to Mound

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Bloor allowed a lead-off double the first inning he pitched on Tuesday and then went 1-2-3 ... on Field 4. Then, in the second part of his outing over on Field 3, he had back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. He did not walk a man in his three scoreless frames and struck out three.

Bloor faced the PBA Dawgs in live batting practice inside Lloyd Nolan Yard in Lethbridge, hitting 99 mph before heading south ... but as he warmed up in the dry Arizona heat this week “I felt like I was throwing 90 feet.”

A catcher for the most part growing up, he was a member of the Lethbridge American Legion team and was with Alberta at the 2017 Canada Cup when he was felled by an elbow injury. After Tommy John surgery, he went to the Colby Community College Trojans and was converted to the mound.

In three seasons as a Trojan, he was 1-7 in 34 appearances -- including 11 starts -- with a 9.80 ERA, striking out 76 and walking 31 in 79 innings.

In the summer of 2021, he pitched five games for the Lethbridge Bulls of the Western Canada League.

Then, he transferred to the Tennessee Wesleyan College Bulldogs where he was a workhorse going 13-0 with two saves and a 5.92 ERA in 44 games including nine starts. He issued 44 free passes and struck out 110 in 94 1/3 innings. The record and strikeouts were certainly worthy of the Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian college team. Ah ... but about that ERA. His fastball sat at 93-96 mph.

Bloor pitching for the Falmouth Commodores on Cape Cod in 2023

Last summer Bloor pitched in three games for the Falmouth Commodores on Cape Cod, going 1-0 with one save and a 4.32 ERA, striking out nine in 8 1/3 innings.

“He was a guy at an NAIA school who was overlooked in the draft,” said Hubka (Claresholm, Alta.). Bloor added a two-seamer this winter, working with PBA pitching coach former Cubs minor leauger Josh Burgmann (Lethbridge, Ont.), who assists Rhett Feser (Unity, Sask.).

Hubka was on the phone from Lethbridge congratulating Bloor, who never gave up, after the right-hander accepted the Twins offer. How many Canadian youngsters wish that they were in Bloor’s shoes this morning? He has a contract. He has a shot. As Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC), a Twins Hall of Famer, always said -- when he notices a draft Canadian not signing -- “You don’t earn your money the day you sign, you earn it in the majors.”

“When I spoke to Kyle he was kind of overwhelmed,” said Hubka. “This has been his dream since forever. When you throw that hard you get noticed.”

The most influential person in Bloor’s baseball life, the reason he has a boarding pass southward bound? An American Legion coach? His college coach in Kansas, Ryan Carter who gave him a chance? Billy Berry his coach at TWU who also helped greatly in his development. Or was it someone on the Cape?

“It has to be Todd, he reached out, he got me a spot on the Langley team,” Bloor said flashing back to his grade 11 year and still catching for his club team. “I played for the PBA Jayvees and Todd had me pitch. I thought at the time that he was silly for converting me. Todd saw the future.”

And Bloor has done the work to realize it. Bloor’s spin rates are impressive on his fastball (2,600-to-2,800) and slider (touching 3,000).

“The thing about Kyle is that he won’t walk the world,” said Hubka. “Hopefully he gets to double-A, triple A and then the majors.”

On Bloor’s journey he probably won’t have to worry about rain delays on sunny days.

Elliott: Bloor pitches through sun and sprinklers to earn a Twins contract