October 20, 2021

10 Canadian story lines to keep an eye on during the 2022 college baseball season

By Matt Betts

Canadian Baseball Network

It’s only October but is it ever too early to start talking about college baseball?

The 2022 season should be the most “normal” since the pre-pandemic 2019 campaign. As is the case every season there are plenty of Canadians playing in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA. With fall workouts wrapping up, lets take a look at 10 players to keep an eye on this season.

RHP Adam Maier (North Vancouver, BC) - University of Oregon

We may as well start at the top. The top of the 2022 Canadian Baseball Network Draft List, that is. Maier currently sits atop the rankings after an impressive summer in the prestigious Cape Cod League. Maier, a University of British Columbia Thunderbird turned Oregon Duck, struck out 27 over 25 2/3 innings for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. By the end of the summer he had appeared in six games, making five starts with a 4.55 ERA.

The former North Shore Twin will make the 684 km trek from Vancouver, B.C. to Eugene, Ore., to join the Ducks pitching staff after transferring this summer.

Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.) - University of Alabama

If we’re going to talk about No. 1, we should probably mention No. 2. That’s Diodati of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Much like Maier, Diodati played in the Cape this past summer and showed very well while suiting up for the Wareham Gatemen. He hit .246 with seven home runs, 23 RBIs in 36 games. His strong summer season numbers earned him a spot on the Cape Cod League West Division All-Star team.

At Alabama in 2021, his sophomore season, the former Great Lake Canadian hit .230 with 11 long balls and a .420 slugging percentage over 56 games. If the Tide want to roll to great heights this season, Diodati will likely have to play a big role.

OF Bryce Arnold (Grimsby, Ont.) - Campbell University

Expectations are high in Buies Creek, N.C., and for good reason. The Fighting Camels are coming off a season that saw them go 37-18 and lose to the eventually College World Series champion Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Starkville Regional final.

Arnold, a graduate of the FieldHouse Pirates, had arguably the best season of any Canadian freshman in 2021 and should be relied upon heavily this year. It took some time for him to get in the lineup in his rookie season, but once he did he was there to stay. Arnold finished the season hitting .324 with a .447 on-base percentage, a .511 slugging percentage and nine stolen bases in 49 games. He collected three hits in the Starkville Regional while hitting in the leadoff spot.

Former Vauxhall Jet RHP Evan O’Toole (Bridgewater, NS) of the Iowa Western Reivers.

RHP Evan O’Toole (Bridgewater, NS) - Iowa Western Community College

Toeing the rubber for one of the top programs in the NJCAA Division I automatically puts eyes on you. That didn’t seem to bother Iowa Western Reivers O’Toole in 2021. After making five appearances in the COVID shortened 2020 season, he was lights out last year. Over 11 appearances and 10 starts, O’Toole went 9-0 with a 1.31 ERA. He gave up 39 hits, walked 17 and punched out 51 in 55 innings pitched.

The Reivers are expecting more of the same from the former Vauxhall Jet as they look to win their fourth national championship in program history.

1B David McCabe (Oshawa, Ont.) - University of Charlotte

The Charlotte 49ers took a big step forward in 2021 by winning 40 games, their most since 2011 when they won 43. Freshman McCabe had a lot to do with it. McCabe hit .338 and slugged .731 in 37 games, 34 starts. His 14 home runs led the 49ers in that category. He was twice named the Conference USA Hitter of the Week, on March 1 and May 24, respectively.

One of his more memorable moments of the season came in an impressive 9-0 victory over No. 14 Tennessee on March 9. In that game, the former Ontario Blue Jay and Ontario Astro was the middle man in back-to-back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning.

INF David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) - University of Oklahoma

The Oklahoma State Cowboys replaced one left-handed Canadian hitter with another. Max Hewitt (Midland, Ont.) departed signing a free agent deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Mendham arrived. Mendham makes his way to Stillwater, Okla., after spending the 2021 season in Columbia, S.C., as a member of the South Carolina Gamecocks. He hit .243 with five home runs in 52 games for the Gamecocks. That was a dip from the Ontario Nationals’ sophomore year at Connors State Cowboys when he hit .493 in 21 games during the pandemic shortened season.

The 2020 Canadian Baseball Network College Player of the Year will have a good mentor at OSU in former big-league All-Stars Matt Holliday, a volunteer assistant, and Robin Ventura, a student assistant. Holliday’s brother, Josh, is the head coach of the Cowboys.

Former Fraser Valley Cardinal C Kayden Beauregard (Abbotsford, BC)

C Kayden Beauregard (Abbotsford, BC) - Illinois State University

Cloud County Community College has been home to many Canadians over the years, including nine last season. One of those was Kayden Beauregard who has transferred to Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. Beauregard put up a .306 average, hit six home runs with a .905 OPS in 34 games for the Thunderbirds.

The Fraser Valley Cardinal will join left-handed pitcher Graham Brunner (Sherwood Park, Alta.), infielder Aiden Huggins (Edmonton, Alta.) and right handed hurler Jordan Lussier (Winnipeg, Man.) on a Redbirds squad looking to improve on a 23-34 season.

1B Cal Brazier (Oshawa, Ont.) - Tiffin University

Another Oshawa native, Brazier has made his way to Tiffin University in Ohio after a stellar season at Niagara County Community College. Brazier hammered his way to a .394 average with seven home runs, 44 RBIs and a 1.159 OPS in 2021. Following the season, he came back to Ontario to play for the Hamilton Cardinals of the Intercounty Baseball League during the summer. With the Cardinals he hit .339 with 10 walks in just 14 games.

The Toronto Mets alum will look to continue his offensive output in the NCAA Division II ranks with a Dragons team that went 29-16 last season.

RHP Matt Duffy (Burlington, Ont.) - Canisius College

Sophomore Duffy burst onto the college scene late in his freshman season in 2021 to become one of the Canisius Golden Griffins most reliable arms. Duffy made six appearances in all, posting a 2.67 ERA. He surrendered just 14 hits and five walks over 27 innings.

The best start for the ex-Great Lake Canadian came in the first game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament when he held Fairfield, then 35-1, to one run over nine innings to pick up the complete game victory. He struck out 10 Stags in the 4-1 win.

The UBC Thunderbirds are ready to return to live action.

The entire University of British Columbia roster

Nobody in college baseball suffered more from the COVID-19 pandemic than the UBC Thunderbirds. The T-Birds entire season was put on ice before it ever began due to border issues and they had to watch from the sidelines as the NAIA World Series trophy was handed out in Lewiston, Idaho in June. Their last full season in 2019 began with an exhibition tour to Japan and ended in the NAIA Opening Round, finishing a respectable 30-22 along the way.

The 2022 roster features 21 first-year players and 11 second-year players, so they’ll be young. They will also have to take the field without the aforementioned front-of-the-rotation RHP Adam Maier who transferred to the University of Oregon.

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