Young baseball player gets taste of life in the big leagues

Barrie native Austin Boylan is a few swings closer to realizing his dream of playing professional baseball.

The 16-year-old recently returned from a four-day stint in Ottawa where he got to feel what life in the major leagues would be like after being invited to play at the eighth annual Canadian Futures Showcase, the biggest amateur baseball tournament in Canada, which took place Sept. 20 to 24 at the Ottawa Stadium (RCTG Park).

Boylan, a Grade 11 at Bill Crothers Secondary School — an athletic-based high school in Unionville — was one of only 144 baseball players from across Canada invited to showcase their skills during the event, hosted by the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Academy. 

According to mlb.com, the showcase splits players evenly between six teams to compete against each other in a tournament-style format, starting with a scout day and ending with a prospects game and home run derby on the final day. Players were selected through a series of open tryouts and in-person evaluations that ran nationally over the spring and summer. It also serves as an opportunity for rising amateur talent with draft and college eligibility to further their athletic and academic careers, by exposing them to scouts and college recruiters.

The teen told BarrieToday he thought it was “awesome” when he got the news he’d be joining the best-of-the-best of young baseball players,

“Some of these guys have already been drafted. They are Team Canada guys and these guys are good," he says. 

For him to get picked is a pretty big deal, says dad Jason Boylan.

“They were the best guys. He had a couple of really good showcases before to make this and it’s a hard decision. They probably had 4,700 kids try out from across Canada and they took 144. And then they make up the Prospects Team out of the top 30 or 40," says the elder Boylan. 

From the moment he got on the bus, Boylan, who currently dons No. 8 on the back of his Ontario Blue Jays 16U elite baseball jersey, says he and the other players were treated like major leaguers, adding the first day was filled with testing and batting practices, while the next two days consisted of games.

“The last day was the Prospects Game, which you had to be picked for… and I was picked for it," he says. 

Boylan is proud of how he handled himself, especially given he was one of the youngest players there, going 4-for-8 — with two triples and two singles.

“I hit my one triple off of a Team Canada guy. Some of these guys are like three years older than me, and most of them topped (speeds) of the high 80 (miles per hour),” he says. “I felt like I belonged there and like I fit in there with the older guys. I felt like no one could strike me out.”

Back home in Barrie, Boylan said he walked off the field feeling confident about his skills, along with a slew of tips from the coaches, who were former Major League Baseball players.

“They gave me a lot of advice about hitting and playing my position at the next level," he says. 

Although scouts are not allowed to talk to Boylan due to his age, dad Jason said he has been contacted on behalf of his son by two colleges, and had the chance to speak with several pro scouts while in Ottawa.

“They’re looking at him as a potential major league draft pick,” he says. “Every kid has potential, but he did very well to put a little bit of a bug in their ears about who he was.”

Since 2013, 110 former Canadian Futures Showcase participants have been drafted by Major League Baseball organizations, with more than 500 receiving college scholarships.

Next up for Boylan  is to continue to play his best this year, and hopefully take part in bigger events south of the border that will continue to get him recognized in the sport. He also hopes he caught the eye of the Team Canada Junior National Scout who was in attendance in Ottawa, in the hopes of earning a spot on that team in the not so distant future.