March 27, 2024

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Kyuhan Lumsdon was the top arm on the Langley Blaze’s Pro Tour of Arizona.

And Lumsdon was also the best of the Blaze pitchers who headed to the mound against Seattle Mariners first- and second-year minor-league pros.

RHP Lumsdon (Vancouver, BC) had his fastball clocked at 90-92 MPH. Once again Lumdson showed that he knows how to pitch and why he was one of the recent additions to the Junior National Team. A 6-foot-3, 195-pounder, he is receiving plenty of interest from schools.

Another memorable name in the other dugout was SS Felnin Celesten, who signed with the Mariners for $4.7 million in 2023 and was the No. 2 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s international class his signing year.

Yet, the biggest name remained Wayne Norton.

The game itself -- the annual Wayne Norton memorial game -- was much more than a spring exhibition game as it played tribute to Norton (Port Moody, BC), the former Mariners’ scout, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and a dear friend of scouts Doug Mathieson (Aldergrove, BC) and Jamie Bodaly (Langley, BC) of the Blaze.

Some innings were rolled -- halted after a certain number of runs were scored as opposed to recording three outs. Also impressive:

-RHP Owen Slater (Whitby, Ont.), of the Ontario Blue Jays, a Missouri State commit, was next best and caught the eyes of the scouts on hand.

-Starter LHP Sean Duncan (Port Coquitlam, BC), of Langley, allowed one run, induced five weak ground balls, didn’t walk a man and gave up a double to Celesten.

-RHP Josiah Romeo (Caledon, Ont.), of the Mississauga Tigers, touched 91 MPH with his fastball.

-RHP Kai Fyke (Langley, BC), of the University of Fraser Valley Cascades, had a strong outing.

-Former Toronto Blue Jays RHP Scott Richmond (North Vancouver, BC) was on hand for the game.

-Keegan Drinkle (Langley, BC) and Briggham Kokotailo (Langley, BC) had two hits apiece while Evan Dugdale (Maple Ridge, BC) had one.

-Another highlight of the trip was RHP Kyle Bloor (Lethbridge, Alta.), 24, hitting 94-96 MPH and being signed by the Minnesota Twins.

You can’t say this about a lot of spring games ... but a good time was had by all.