September 16, 2019

By Joshua Howe

Canadian Baseball Network

Fun, new relationships, a potential future — these are the things offered to young hopefuls like Riley Silva at the Toronto Blue Jays’ Tournament 12 this week.

Silva, a 17-year-old outfielder hailing from Cambridge, Ont., will be making his second appearance at the tournament, which is comprised of the best 150 amateur baseball players in the country (who have college eligibility).

It’s held at Rogers Centre each September under the watchful eye of the Blue Jays Baseball Academy, and Tournament Commissioner and Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar.

In 2018, Silva played on the Futures team, performing in two games in which he managed just a single RBI and no hits in seven at bats.

“In T12 last year,” Silva said, “I was expecting the competition to be good, but I wasn’t expecting them to be as good as they were. They really pushed me and made me strive to be better. It was pretty fun.”

Now another year older, faster, and stronger, Silva has his mind focused on the future, and what opportunities can be born out of a potent performance at the tournament.

“What I really want to accomplish this year is just doing well,” he said. “To be selected in the tournament is a big honour.

“There are always a ton of scouts there and I’m just trying to hopefully impress somebody, go to my right fit of school. Hopefully some schools will see me and be interested in me.”

Chris Robinson, the head coach and director of baseball operations of Silva’s summer team, the Great Lake Canadians, has watched his young pupil grow over the past two seasons, and expects there to be aspects of Silva’s game that will impress.

“Riley has a tool, with his speed, that can change the game,” Robinson said. “As such a dynamic player, Riley is the type of kid who can wow you on any given play in a game.

“Very few players I have seen at the amateur level can do what Riley can do when it comes to his running. Not only can he fly, but his instinct and feel when he is on the bases and in the outfield actually make his speed seem that much faster, which is very tough to do, given his ability to run.”

Since T12 was conceived in 2013, 69 former participants have been drafted by MLB teams and over 300 have received college scholarships, including the San Diego Padres’ Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) and the Atlanta Braves’ Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta.).

And while the priority for Silva (and presumably most other players) is to make an impression that catapults him towards his next goal, the actual experience of the tournament itself and those who comprise it makes for a perfect breeding ground for memories that will last a lifetime.

“After batting practice [last year],” Silva said, “Lloyd Moseby, the Blue Jays alumni, he came up to me after my round of BP and he just gave me nice advice on hitting, how to be better at fielding, running, and basically just how to be an overall better baseball player.”

Moseby, who was part of a star Jays’ outfield in the 1980s, was always talking to the bigger names, said Silva, but coming up to him was a surprise because the young player didn’t think of himself in the same category.

“It was just sick that he came up to me, a little name guy, and gave me some nice advice that I’ll never forget.”

Along with being able to interact with former Blue Jays, T12 also incentivizes and promotes the chance to form and build new relationships with other young players.

This has been emphasized this year with the format of the tournament shifting from rosters based on region, to rosters made up of an appropriate distribution of all participating players.

From Silva’s perspective, the notion of getting dropped into a mishmash of countrywide talent is appealing.

“I find it really exciting,” he said, “because when you’re playing with other guys from around Ontario, you’ve played with most of them, you’ve seen most of them, and you basically know how every team is going to play, how every player is going to play.

“I find it exciting that now I get to play with different people, so when I get to go on to college, it’s just going to help me develop relationships with new people and see how well I can work as part of a team.”

With his hopes high and his appetite for opportunity insatiable, Silva already has a post-high school plan in place—following in the footsteps of his older brother, Tyler, who is currently a D1 athlete at North Dakota State University.

“I just want to go somewhere like a JUCO,” Silva said. “Like, as an example, either Wabash Valley or Garden City, something like that. And then, after that, hopefully go on to a D1 just like my brother at a big school like Duke or Texas A&M. Then, hopefully, I’ll get drafted after that.”