RHP Tyler Bremner, of the Santa Barbara Gauchos, is a Canadian. His mom, Jen, is from Queensville, Ont. and his father Jason is from Mississauga.

April 16, 2025

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

What are the odds of finding the top-rated draft-eligible Canuck less than 15 weeks before the annual selection of high schoolers and collegians?

Over the years, we have found a few, yet we never have we found anything like this:

Santa Barbara Gauchos RHP Tyler Bremner.

Tyler was born in San Diego. His parents are Jason Bremner, of Mississauga, and Jennifer, of Queensville, Ont., north of Newmarket. They now call southern California home.

Tyler has a Canadian passport.

And he’s really good ... no, we mean really, really good.

The highly-respected Baseball America has him rated No. 3 in the top prospect list heading into the July draft. MLB Pipeline has him ranked No. 4 and Perfect Game Scouting Service has Tyler Bremner listed as No. 7.

Tyler was a member of the Jays playing 6U T-ball

“Wouldn’t it be something to have Tyler Bremner pitching on Bremner Blvd?” asked Jason on Friday from Poway, Calif. before his son struck out 10 in a 13-4 win over University of California, Riverside Highlanders in an ESPN telecast.

The Toronto Blue Jays chose eighth in the July draft.

While the Blue Jays mailing address might be 1 Blue Jays Way, Bremner Blvd. is where Gates 6-A, 7, 8, 9 and Gate 9-A are located -- behind home plate.

“Tyler’s two favourite teams are the San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays,” said Jason, a vice president of engineering at Google, who designs pixel cell phones. We were going to ask him to design one that was “undroppable,” but thought we’d best wait until after the draft.

And on Thursday, Bremner struck out 13 in his seven-inning, 119-pitch outing, as he allowed three runs on six hits and one walk. Despite his outing he wound up with a no decision as the Cal Poly Mustangs edged Santa Barbara 4-3 in 11 innings.

Jason lived on Havenwood Drive and attended Glenforest Secondary School on Fieldgate Dr. in Mississauga and played sports. He admits he was pretty good “at a lot of sports, wasn’t great at anything.” Very early, he knew two things A) if he ever had a son, he was going to be a pitcher and B) his son was going to be named Tyler.

Answer A) Jason was a pitcher for Forest Glen growing up in Mississauga. His dream was to be a big leaguer like most kids but “there really wasn’t a path for me. I played a lot of sports in high school but baseball has always been my true love.”

Answer B) Hmmm. Was Tyler his father’s name? The name of his favourite player -- Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC)? RHP Tyler Beede, a former first-round draft pick of the Blue Jays and the San Francisco Giants? Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.)? Brampton’s Tyler Seguin, who won a Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011?

Nope. Jason served as a camp councillor for a YMCA youth group in the Beaches. And there was a youngster there named Tyler.

“He was seven or eight years of age,” Jason said. “He always was smiling. Just glowing. Never had a bad day, And it was the same thing every day: ‘Throw me the ball, throw me a ball, throw me a ball.’”

Tyler with sisters, Hailey and Sierra … all three Blue Jays fans

The Haliburton summers: Jason and Jen would take their brood to Jen’s parents cottage on Kennisis Lake every summer for four-to-six weeks.

“For a long time, they never understood the difference between Canada and the U.S.,” Jason said. “They were emerged in the Haliburton culture: chip truck and poutine along the side of the road on Highway 11.”

Jen and Jason’s three children -- Hailey, 21, who attended TCU, Tyler 20 and Sierra 18, who goes off to school this fall -- enjoyed cottage country. Jen’s family saved for years to make the purchase. All three children have dual citizenship status.

“Jen comes from a family of six kids, so some weekends we would have 20 people, sleeping in the house and in tents,” Jason said. “That was their summers ... come home when it gets dark.

“It was complete freedom compared to southern California. The rallying points for the whole family still remains that cottage.”

Tyler was a Blue Jays fan an an early age …

The Trip West: After both Jen and Jason graduated from the University of Western Ontario, Steve obtained his masters degree from Dalhousie and they settled in Newmarket, with Jen teaching school nearby.

Jason was senior product manager for SONY of Canada (1997-2000), moved to San Diego with Packet Video as senior director product management (2000-03) and next was a move to Qualcomm, as senior vice president product management (2003-15).

Then he moved to Google as vice president hardware engineering responsible for pixel phones, buds, watch, and home products (2015-to-present). He travels a lot to San Francisco, Chicago and Taiwan.

* * *

Canuck roots: So, Jason has been in southern California for 25 years, How Canadian is he?

“Can you guess what uniform I was wearing for the final of the Four Nations Face Off?” Jason asked. “Well, it was a Team Canada jersey I bought at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

“We always cheer for Canada ... same with the kids. It goes back to those summers at the cottage, part of their heritage.”

Growing up in Mississauga, his two Blue Jays faves were RHP Dave Stieb and Hall of Fame 2B Robbie Alomar.

And where was he the night Joe Carter homered off Mitch Williams to win the 1993 World Series at SkyDome?

“There are multiple memory time stamps, the night Carter homered we were at the house (in Mississauga) with my buddies Todd Gradson and Derrick Tong.”

Hey, my son is good: Every parent of an elite player has that moment -- and so do some whose sons are not going to be elite players. When did Jason realize how talented his son was?

Tyler started playing T-ball at six and when he was playing 10U another parent approached Jason.

“You know Tyler’s got some good stuff.”

Jason said he then began to look at his son objectively as he played for the Longhorns.

There was a social aspect to Tyler playing ball with his buddies. Then Tyler realized, “I’m going to be a competitor,” when he got older.

The inflection point was leaving the Longhorns to play for CBA (California Baseball Academy). Jason remembers Tyler being nervous at the tryouts. He faced four hitters. Each was a strikeout.

Then, he was headed for the travel circuit, flights to Atlanta, Perfect Game in Jupiter, Fla., Arizona and the Area Code Games in San Diego.

He really progressed as a player in 2021 and had a couple of good starts in Jupiter, earning Scripps Ranch High pitcher of the year. Scouts approached him asking whether he would sign if drafted as a high schooler. He headed to Santa Barbara instead.

* * *

Becoming a Gaucho: Scripps Ranch teammate Zac (Wolfie) Ferrell asked Tyler to accompany him to Santa Barbara’s open workout. Farrell wanted to be there with a friend. Ferrell was older but the two had played together for six years with the Longhorns and in high school.

After about 20 pitches, head coach Andrew Checketts asked if he could talk to Tyler and Jen inside. Only two years into high school, Tyler had his first official offer.

Ferrell? He did not make the Santa Barbara squad. However, don’t shed any tears for Ferrell. He’s playing outfield regularly with the Army Black Knights at West Point, N.Y.

The Son impresses the Father the most when: “Someone hits a home run off him. He’s so unfazed. Does he have great stats? Sure, but he just got his teeth knocked out and I am sure he feels it. But he acts like nothing happened. He’s very calm, Mr. Ice.”

Now, that’s composure and it’s what scouts look for when evaluating.

“Once in a while you see a fist pump ... last year we hosted a regional against Oregon. The game was on ESPN. It was scoreless in the fourth inning, two out, they had a runner on third. He threw three straight changeups for a strikeout.”

Tyler worked 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run on seven hits and two walks. He fanned eight in his 112-pitch outing. Oregon won 2-1, handing Tyler his first loss of the season. He finished 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA in 19 games, making nine starts, fanning 104 in 88 2/3 innings.

In his freshman year, he was 5-4 with a 5.37 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings. This season, he has a 3-3 record with a 4.00 ERA in 10 starts fanning 74 in 54 innings. With his 238th career strikeout, he broke Cy Young award winner Shane Bieber’s record for the most strikeouts in program history.

* * *

Mississauga memories: The Bremner family lived in the Bloor-Dixie area and Jason’s mom later moved to Dundas, Ont.

“We used to go all the way out Highway 5 (Dundas St.) to the 5 Drive-In Theatre on Ninth Line in Oakville,” Jason said. “Last time I drove out there it was all built up.”

I explained I lived in the Winston Churchill/Dundas area since 1987. Jason replied: “Oh, you are living in the boujie area of Mississauga.” I had to ask one of the young “cool kids” what it meant and whether it was an insult or a compliment.

* * *

Two discoveries in less than 10 days: Eight days ago, we wrote about discovering OF Slater de Brun, a Summit High Schooler from Bend, Ore., and how his mother and he had dual citizenship.

And now here comes Tyler Bremner ... looking for a stadium located on a boulevard to pitch.

Again, we have a new name atop our list of projected Canadians to go in the July draft.

* * *

Scouting Reports

Baseball America

No. 3 RHP Tyler Bremner

School: UC Santa Barbara Drafted/Committed: Never Drafted

Age At Draft: 21.2

Bremner cemented himself as one of the premier arms in the country in 2024, when he posted a 2.54 ERA with 104 strikeouts to just 21 walks in 88 2/3 innings for UC Santa Barbara. Bremner has an easy, under control operation with present arm speed. He attacks hitters from a high 3/4s slot and his fastball sits in the 93-96 mph range while topping out at 98. It has big-time run and ride, and is most effective when located in the top half of the zone. His fastball’s velocity and shape makes it a plus pitch. He boasts two quality secondary offerings in a mid-80s change up and low-80s slider. Bremner’s change is the more polished of the two and earns 70-grade reviews, but his slider has consistently flashed plus. In 2024, Bremner’s change generated an impressive 46% miss rate. He has advanced feel for the offering and will throw it to both left and righthanded hitters. The change plays well off his mid-90s fastball and flashes late tumbling life. Bremner’s slider features ample late sweeping life, as well as some depth, and is a real weapon against right-handed hitters. Bremner profiles as a starter on the strength of his plus control, low-effort delivery and chance for three plus pitches. He has a chance to be the first arm off the board.

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 60. Slider: 55. Change up: 65. Control: 60.

MLB Pipeline

No. 4 RHP Tyler Bremner

UC Santa Barbara

AGE: 20

BATS: R THROWS: R

HT 6’ 2” WT 190

Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 65 | Control: 55 | Overall: 60

In his first two years at Santa Barbara, Bremner has slid back and forth between starting and relieving, finding success in both roles in 2024 to put up gaudy numbers. He began the year in the rotation but moved to the bullpen when Hudson Barrett got hurt. He was back in the rotation when Matt Ager struggled, helping the Gauchos reach (and host) a Regional.

With the chance for three plus pitches and easy velocity, Bremner has some thinking he could figure into conversations at the very top of the 2025 Draft. His fastball averaged a tick over 95 mph in 2024 and touched 98 mph with good ride, lighting up the radar gun with little effort and with some feeling there’s room for growth and more velocity to come in pro ball. His best secondary offering is his easily plus change up that some scouts hang a 70 grade on. He’ll throw it to any hitter in any count, and it stays on the fastball plane for a long time with late, hard fade, missing bats at a 46-percent clip in 2024. His 86-88 mph slider with gyro-type shape has improved as well.

Perhaps the only question surrounding Bremner is about durability, as he’s yet to show he can handle a full season of starting. But he throws all of his pitches for strikes and misses bats with all three offerings. Proving he can take the ball every Friday this spring should cement him near the top of most Draft boards.

Perfect Game Scouting Service

No. 7 RHP Tyler Bremner

School: University of California, Santa Barbara

Lean bodied, flashed big time upside in this look, although he only went 4 1/3 innings in taking the loss at fullerton. The stuff was loud out of the gate, showing swing and miss stuff, running the fastball up to 96 (up to 22 inches of IVB), living 93-94 in the first and the fastball pretty much lost a tick of velocity every inning. In the fifth he worked 89-91 touching 92. He gets downhill with the riding fastball, really pounding the heater at the bottom of the zone early in the count and elevating to put away hitters. Regularly got ahead of right hand hitters with the fastball to the glove side corner. The breaking ball has really evolved since high school, firmer than the curveball he used and more of a slurve with much lateral action with some depth. Looked like he may have flashed a shorter firmer slider or cutter early, or may have just got on the side of a heater at 86. Also showed really good feel for an advanced change up that he went to quite often (stuck out two with it) and doubled/tripled up with the pitch on occasion, and threw it to both side hitters. Turns it over hard, and like the fastball (regularly in 2300’s), and slurve (2400-2500’s), the change has quite a bit of spin nearing 2400 RPM’s on occasion. Bremner registerd seven strikeouts (one walk) over his 4 1/3 innings of work, with five coming on the fastball, and2 on the change. Ended up taking the loss giving up two runs on six hits. Big time upside here, will be interesting to track the progress. It’s a pretty thin frame, with added physical maturity we could see him not only gaining more velocity, but he should be able to hold that velo later in to outings.

Elliott: Will top Canuck Bremner get chance to pitch on Bremner Blvd?