September 21, 2023

By Trevor Fitzpatrick

Canadian Baseball Network

As soon as you pick up the Canadian Futures Showcase official program, you’re greeted by three of the nation’s best prospects right on the cover.

Of the three, you have Tate Carey (Windsor, Ont.) and Brendan Lawson (Toronto, Ont.), but there’s one more player, towering over the other two by a few inches.

Standing at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, it’s not too hard to guess what Matthew Brown (Carlisle, Ont.) is at the showcase to do – pitch.

Brown, the No. 5 ranked Canadian on CBN’s 2024 Draft List, played his first game of the showcase for Team New Blue against Team Royal Blue. The right-hander dominated in his three innings of work.

While a large draw to Brown’s game is his high heat – he reaches upwards of 94 mph on his four-seam fastball – this game he relied on his sinker while mixing in sliders.

He sat around 89 mph with the sinker, which had great movement. By the end of his limited innings, he didn’t allow any runs on only one hit, while striking out four batters. One of those punchouts included Benito Bonilla (Halifax, N.S.), a player on CBN’s 2024 draft watch list.

As Team Royal Blue members filed back into the dugout after the second inning, the ones due up the next inning asked for hitting advice. Silence followed.

Only one voice spoke up and offered: “Be on time – I guess.”

It was obvious to everyone there what the game plan was on the mound and yet almost nobody could touch Brown’s pitches.

“Just come in there and throw strikes. Stay competitive every at-bat,” Brown explained.

A member of the Ontario Blue Jays and formerly a part of the Junior National Team, he’s now committed to Oklahoma State University.

Of course, Brown still has his eyes set on the Major League draft with his high ranking and it’s hard to imagine a team not having interest in him. You can never have enough pitching. Especially when that pitching happens to throw mid-90 mph fastballs.

Some of the largest upside lies in his earlier-mentioned sinker though. With the potential for its velocity to reach 90-plus mph while maintaining its already great arm side break, it’s a scary thought for hitters.

“I only really had a four-seamer and slider but knew I needed more pitches. Big shoutout to Darren Shred (Brampton, Ont.) who showed me a good sinker grip, it instantly clicked and I think is now my best pitch.”

Shred, who is now coaching for the Ontario Blue Jays, was a catcher for Team Canada’s Junior National Team in 2014-15. He was then drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 2015 and played for two seasons in the Arizona League, posting a 4.22 ERA.

The Ontario Blue Jays have been one of the top teams in Canada when it comes to producing major-league talent, with pitching alumni including Jordan Balazovic, Zach Pop, and Jordan Romano.

While Brown is very grateful to the Ontario Blue Jays for all the development they’ve helped him with, the most influential people in his life are still his parents.

“The way my parents go about their business is amazing. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

As the Canadian Futures Showcase continues, Brown’s team New Blue will play twice more. Once Thursday at 1 p.m. against Team Red, then Friday at 10 a.m. when they face Team Black.

Finally, there is the prospect game on Saturday, an all-star meetup of the showcase’s best players. A game that Brown has already made a strong case for himself to attend after only one outing.

It would be far from the first big game that he’s played in though. He’s already been a part of one of Perfect Game’s National Showcases and Baseball Canada’s U18 qualifier games.

Whether he will attend the prospect game on Saturday is still up in the air, however, as he has previously committed to attending Prep Baseball Reports’ inaugural All-American Game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is taking place that same Saturday.

It goes to show just how many eyes are on Brown heading towards the 2024 draft.