August 28, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

AJAX - Baseball and live music are similar in that the success of both depends on the audience.

Family, friends and fans were appreciative of Zak Szabo as he worked three scoreless this week as the Junior National Team scored a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays Academy Scout Team at Pan Am Park.

Szabo (Whitby, Ont.) fanned seven and walked two. He maintained order. Watching in admiration was his grandfather Rick Wilkins, who didn’t play a lot of baseball, but knows all about order.

“My grandfather played in the Boss Brass band, was a music director for the Jackson Five, directed the jazz portion of the opening ceremonies of the SkyDome and was given the Order of Canada.”

Wilkins, a renowned tenor saxophonist born in Hamilton, was presented with the Order of Canada and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2003 for his more than five decades on the international music scene.

Over the years, we have interviewed one son after another and listened to them talk of their father’s or grandpa’s exploits on the diamond. They would swell their chests and their eyes would widen as they spoke with passion and pride.

That was Szabo speaking of his grandfather. Passion. Pride.

“My grandfather always tells me ‘Be yourself ... stay level headed ... and don’t get too pumped up,” said Szabo, who originally lived in Ajax, before his family moved to Whitby.

A commitment to excellence, the ability to hone your craft and the discipline of practice were all passed on from grandmother Caralyn Wilkins and Rick Wilkins to Szabo’s parents -- Kara Cornish and Andrew Szabo. Kate is a probation officer, while Andrew is a project manager for Tellus.

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Besides Szabo others working three scoreless this week in Ajax were: Kaleb Thomas (Hagersville, Ont.) with three whiffs, Matteo Pare (LaSalle, Ont.) allowing four hits and one walk, while striking out five, Chase Marshall (Surrey, BC) who walked three, allowed one hit, struck out three and walked three.

Felix Morin (Quebec City, Que.) worked three innings, allowing two runs -- unearned -- on four hits and a walk, while fanning five.

And putting up three zeros for the Toronto Blue Jays Scout Team were Makaio Cisneros (Whitby, Ont.), one walk and six strikeouts, Matthew Brown (Waterdown, Ont.), who walked three.

Matt Evans (Tillsonburg, Ont.), of the Scout Team, homered and so did Myles Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.)

Greg Hamilton and his coaches played four exhibition games during the selection camp.

Then, Hamilton’s coaches Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.), Rob Butler (East York, Ont.) and Chris Begg (Uxbridge, Ont.) will select the roster for the WBSC U-18 World Cup in Sarasota, Fla. on Sept. 9-18. Pitching coach Chris Reitsma (Calgary, Alta.) will meet the team in Florida.

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As a youngster Matteo Pare pitched for Riverside Royals and the Windsor Selects 16U before TNXL Academy in Florida this summer. Playing peewee and bantam ball he learned pitching tips from the legendary mound guru Marc Picard.

“When I started to get to a more competitive level, Marc worked with my mechanics,” Pare said. With the Selects he pitched for coach Mark Campbell. Campbell, according to Pare, helped him “with my baseball I.Q.”

Pare’s pop Justin is a police officer in LaSalle and his mother, Maria is a border agent. Pare has a younger sister Giulia.

His welcome to the Junior National Team moment came when he arrived at the Toronto Blue Jays’ new complex in Dunedin.

“There was my name over the locker,” said Pare, who found inside his locker Junior National Team hats, T-shirts, pullover and equipment bags.

“I can’t say enough about the level of baseball here, everyone is here for a reason,” Pare said.

Now he’s off to pitch as part of Teal Nation with Coastal Caroina.

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Szabo played for the Toronto Mets and coach Rick Leitch ... “he’s like my second father.”

The youngster has been on a whirlwind travel tour -- saying it has been a “crazy few months,” pitching for ...

_ P27 in Lexington, SC, 15 minutes from Columbia, SC for 2 1/2-3 months last summer.

_ P27 at the World Wood Bat in Jupiter last fall.

_ Next was a flight into Tampa and the Junior fall instructional camp in Dunedin.

_ After spending time at home it was off to the Junior spring training camp at West Palm Beach, Fla.

_ Then, he came home and headed out on the Juniors Dominican Academy Tour

_ After being home three days, he was off to hurl for the Frederick Keys in the Draft League. He was 1-1 with an 8.68 ERA in four games. He fanned eight and walked six in 9 1/3 innings. His roommate with the Keys team was former Toronto Mets teammate RHP Jonah Tong (Markham, Ont.), 19, who was 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA, walking 14 and fanning 16 in 11 2/3 innings. Tong went from the Toronto Mets to the New York Mets in the seventh round in July. He signed for a above slot value of $226,000.

Szabo accepted a scholarship to pitch for the Troy University Trojans in Montgomery, Ala.

After the selection camp, it was back to Troy, then to Sarasota, and when the World Cup is over is over, it is back to being a Big Man on Campus.

Attending a PBR event in DuBois, Pa. -- eight strikeouts in three innings -- he attracted recruiters from Wright State, Marshall, Northern Kentucky and Troy.

“I committed to Troy before visiting,” Szabo said. “(Head coach) Skylar Meade called me and offered a scholarship.”

Szabo recalls having six or seven strikeouts in the Canadian Premier League all-star game at Dorchester. ‘

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Best player in camp (we have to ask best “player,” since New York Yankees scout and former Blue Jays lefty Denis Boucher (Lachine, Que.) was in the park and he always has the best curveball on the premises, so we can’t ask who is the best pitcher ...

Pare: “Myles Naylor. He has the best raw talent. He’s been playing third base, but I think he’s good enough to play shortstop.”

In the four games against younger competition (and possible future members of the Junior National team) Naylor was 5-for-11 (.455) with five RBIs, including a homer, 10 walks (for a .714 on-base mark) and one hit writer.

Szabo: “Dylan O’Rae (Sarnia, Ont.) was the highest Canadian drafted in July. He went to the Milwaukee Brewers in the third round. He’s a second baseman but I think he can play short.”

O’Rae was the 102nd player selected in North America and was given a signing bonus of $597,500 by Brewers scout and Canadian base-running legend Peter Orr.

During the four games, O’Rae, of the Great Lake Canadians, was 0-for-14 with two RBIs and eight walks (on-base mark of .364).

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Nick Szabo, who will pitch for the Toronto Mets 14U next season, was there to see big brother pitch, along with his friends and grandparents.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you more about Szabo’s grandfather, Rick Wilkins. Besides being an outstanding tenor sax player, he was an arranger, composer and conductor. In addition to the Order of Canada, he was one of the leading writers and arrangers for CBC-TV Variety, conducted for Buddy Greco at the Copacabana and was music director for The Jacksons, according to Canadian Jazz Archive Online.

He joined join Rob McConnell’s “Boss Brass” for 30 years, provided the string arrangement for Anne Murray’s “Snowbird”, conducted Oscar Peterson’s “Canadiana Suite” for CBC-TV, composed and conducted the opening 13 minutes of the Calgary Olympic Games and scored and rescored the “Hockey Night in Canada” theme.

In his career he has written, arranged, and conducted for the likes of Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Celine Dion, Ranee Lee, John McDermott, Rob McConnell, Kenny Wheeler and many others.

Grandpa hit the right notes and the high notes, just as Szabo has hit the strike zone.

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Former Blue Jays scout, Canadian Baseball Network scout of the Year and 2019 Driver (Male) of the Year, Ed Heather (Cambridge, Ont.) visited Toledo recently to see Scott Thorman (Cambridge, Ont.) manage the Omaha Royals against the Toledo Mud Hens.

Thorman knew it was Heather’s birthday so the next day in the seventh inning when groups are welcomed, anniversaries and birthdays are mentioned on the Jumbotron, Heather looked up to see

“Happy 100th birthday to Ed Heather.”

Heather, 80, sent Thorman a text: “Scott, how am I going to blow out all those candles?”

Thorman’s reply: “Take a deep breath.”