Gallagher: Ontario teen Corson Scobie turning heads with his play

Canada Reds’ catcher Corson Scobie (Renfrew, Ont.) has his sights set on playing college ball in the U.S.

March 14, 2025

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

When Corson Scobie was enrolled in T-Ball by his parents Lindsay and Jeremy, he hated it -- to their surprise.

A few years later, he wanted to get back into baseball again and he's been loving it ever since.

While many kids were watching cartoons, this lad from the Upper Ottawa Valley town of Renfrew grew up more attuned to watching baseball highlights on TSN Sports Centre -- on repeat.

As he gets older and older, he's thinking of professional baseball and the majors. First things first, though, he wants to get playing for a U.S. university or college.

A day after the Valley was walloped by a second snowstorm within a week, Corson's parents drove him from Renfrew to Ottawa to catch a plane to Florida to resume his baseball career at the Florida Reds Academy in Davenport.

He's only 17, a left-handed hitting catcher, stocky at 5-foot-7, 183 pounds, and hits a lot of line drives.

"I just returned from the DRD International Baseball Academies Tournament in Puerto Rico and I batted .350 in eight games,'' Scobie told me in an interview. "There were a lot of scouts there, a lot of teams from around the world: Canada, U.S., Japan, Australia, the Dominican, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Colombia and Mexico.''

Corson came up through the Renfrew minor-ball system and then switched for a year to St. Anthony's Baseball Academy in Ottawa after attending a practice there. He kept going to other places to improve himself. He attended the Canada Reds Academy in Ottawa and last September, he began his first season at the Florida Reds Academy.

Corson said he's one of 26 kids at the camp and they're all Canadians, many of them from Quebec.

Since September, he has been back and forth from Davenport to Renfrew. Several months in the fall, he was in the sunny south until the end of October and then came home. He returned to Florida in early January before the tournament in Puerto Rico. Once the Puerto Rican event was over, he was back in Renfrew. 

His latest Florida tutoring will take him to the end of March-early April. He'll be back home again before he returns to Davenport for a summer program.

It's a rigorous, whirlwind schedule that is very expensive but thanks to family funding, he keeps going.

"Tons of driving,'' Mrs. Scobie said. "He usually practices two-three times a week in Orleans or Embrun when he’s home. There were games in Montreal, New York and Ottawa in the summer as well as many tournaments throughout the US. 

"He started travelling to tournaments alone when he was around 15 which obviously made him grow up very fast. He has a great baseball family that looks after him when we can’t be there. 

"He’s got to play in some pretty amazing ball fields throughout the U.S., including Florida, Atlanta, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Indiana. His favourite is the Camden Athletic Complex in New Jersey because of the amazing view of the Ben Franklin Bridge when he's behind the plate and then, of course, Puerto Rico.''

Scobie was a first baseman before converting to the catching position.

Corson knows some players are drafted by MLB teams out of high school but he's not interested in that route. He plans to go to college or university in the U.S. and will be looking to get drafted. At this point, he's not sure where he will end up in university.

When he's away, he takes Grade 12 virtual classes at St. Joseph's high school in Renfrew and he's planning to be back there for his fifth year.

"I was a first baseman but being kind of not very tall, I kind of ended being a catcher,'' he explained. "I grew up liking Russell Martin, the Blue Jays catcher, and R.A. Dickey of the Jays. I'm a Cubs fan so, there were former players I loved watching growing up: Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.''

Throughout his career, he has come under the tutelage of many coaches who saw something in him and pushed him to keep working harder and get to the next level. He said it wasn’t anybody in particular, just everybody together pushing and “making me believe in myself’’ as a prospect. 

Corson has been taught the art of blocking balls and handling pitchers and a lot of other basics and fundamentals but maintains his general knowledge of the game comes in handy.  Hitting comes naturally but he’s always looking to improve.

"My ability to compete drives me a long way,'' Corson said. "Ever since I started, I've had a lot of support from the town of Renfrew and the area. People have always been there.

"The biggest part of catcher is just being aware of everything and knowing what you have to do and when. It's very important to try and slow the game down whenever possible to make sure if doesn't speed up on you so fast, as that's when mistakes happen.

“I would say I am more of a contact hitter than a power hitter but I definitely will have power and as I continue to grow and get stronger, I will continue to build more power,’’ he said.

His story is one of determination and resilience and his mother had the right words to say about him and what people might want to know.

“We have talked about advice he might give someone just starting out in baseball and wanting to take it to the next level and his best advice is not to give up,’’ Mrs. Scobie said. “Being told no is hard but working harder to hear yes is much more satisfying.’’ 

After this story first appeared in the Eganville Leader this week, Corson’s dad told me, “You nailed it on the head with that guy. He gets doubted but won’t quit.’’

Now, about that first name, this writer guessed right when he said Corson was likely named after former NHLer Shayne Corson.

"Ya, my dad is a big Canadiens fan and liked him when he was playing with them so, that's where I got my name from,'' he said.

Danny Gallagher played baseball in his dual hometowns of Douglas and Renfrew in the 1960s and 1970s.