Prairies infielder Guenther chooses baseball over hockey
Prairies infielder Brodie Guenther, shown here with the Sask Five Giants, is one of a growing number of young athletes that has chosen to focus on baseball over hockey in Canada. Photo Credit: ccgazette.ca
By Julia Kreuz
Canadian Baseball Network
TORONTO - When asked to decide between hockey and baseball, Brodie Guenther takes the unconventional path.
Or at least what used to be considered so.
Playing his first T12 tournament with the Prairies team and fresh off being drafted into the Western Hockey League, the 15-year-old Saskatchewan native would rather be a second baseman in the big leagues than a goalie in the NHL.
“I want to play baseball professionally,” he says, standing on the field of Rogers Centre after a T12 game. “Hockey right now is just another outlet so that I don’t get tired of baseball.”
Guenther grew up in Warman, in the Saskatoon metropolitan area. As a goalie and an infielder, it was always easier to gain recognition for his talents on the ice.
“Hockey opportunities, there’s a lot more in the city I’m from, with the WHL and everything, because those scouts are at all the games,” he says. “With baseball, you don’t really get looked at unless you’re at a big tournament.”
Prairies infielder Brodie Guenther is a goalie in the off-season, and a good one. He was drafted in the 10th round by the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades this year. Photo Credit: The Scouting News
The Prairies infielder is just the latest dual-sport athlete to follow a trend that has been perceived over the past few years. Canadian teens have tended to veer away from hockey, even in areas like the Prairies or Atlantic Canada, both because of cost, and opportunity.
While players like Larry Walker, Justin Morneau and Joey Votto have herded a generation of fans, the percentage of Canadians in the NHL has dropped from 75 per cent in the 1970s to less than 50 per cent in 2018 (according to Business Insider, quoting Quanthockey.com).
The back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993 and the recent playoff runs by the Toronto Blue Jays are among the causes for the growth in baseball interest.
“I’ve always loved baseball, just the aspects that are involved in the game,” says Guenther. “Hockey is kind of just instinctual, and I love the thinking part of baseball.”
While Ontario still dominates the draft lists and development programs, the change is visible across Canada.
Out of the 195 Canadians are on the rosters for next spring collegiate level in the United States, 96 are from outside of Ontario. This, however, hasn’t necessarily been followed by an increase in infrastructure and opportunity everywhere. The total was 731 in the spring of 2018.
British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only provinces to offer year-round baseball academies.
“I do see a trend towards kids focusing on baseball,” says Atlantic Maroon coach Darren Doucette. “But whenever they get that opportunity they have to leave, they go elsewhere in the country.”
Micah McDowell, last year’s T12 MVP and champion, is just one example of this. He grew up in Coldbrook, N.S., and had to move to Alberta at age 15 to practice at the Okotoks Dawgs Academy.
“It was definitely a big decision,” said McDowell, who is back in the tournament this year. “Getting the opportunity to go to the Dawgs really ramped it up for me, to just focus on baseball.”
Doucette, a Halifax, N.S., native, helped lead the Atlantic team to the 2017 T12 title as a coach. He believes now is the time to capitalize on the decline of the “Sidney Crosby effect.”
“With the success of our team in this tournament the last couple of years, hopefully we can develop some year-round programs over there to keep them at home.”