Baseball Canada invited 33 players to the U-18 team Spring Training Camp, based in St. Petersburg (Florida). The Camp will include games against minor leaguers from various Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations.
Canada will participate in U-18 Pan American Games, that qualify for U-18 Baseball World Cup 2019. Powerhouses like Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Venezuela are all stepping up their youth National Team programmes, which makes qualifying for the U-18 world championship as tough as ever.
Canada finished in fourth place the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2017 that they hosted in Thunder Bay.
Amongst the 33 Canadian Prospects, it is pretty easy to spot a name that is renowned in baseball. One of the invitees is Braden Halladay, the son of Roy Halladay, the former star pitcher who died in a plane crash last November.
Braden Halladay was born in Toronto (Canada) in 2000, when his father was pitching for the Blue Jays. He throws righthanded (like Roy) but is a switch hitter. His scouting report portrays him as follows: “Large, athletic frame with square shoulders and a long limbs…Attacks zone and locates to either side, sweeping breaking ball”.
On 9 December, 2017, Braden Halladay (then a Junior at Calvary Christian High in Clearwater (Florida, USA) had announced his commitment to Penn State University.
Roy Halladay and his wife Brandy Gates had met as kids in Denver, Colorado. Their younger son is named Ryan.
