Baseball Canada announced the names of 27 athletes including Adam Hall invited to the Junior National Team’s annual Dominican Summer League (DSL) Camp that will take place from May 19th - 27th.
The team will tour the island and play 13 games over 9 days against Dominican Summer League clubs from the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies organizations.
The highlight of the trip will come on May 25th at Estadio Cibao in Santiago when the juniors take on some of the Dominican Republic’s top prospects that are eligible to sign with Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs on or after July 2nd, 2017.
The annual contest has featured an impressive group of alumni that includes some of the top prospects in baseball today - Eloy Jimenez (Chicago Cubs), Amed Rosario (New York Mets), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Josh Naylor (San Diego Padres), Cal Quantrill (San Diego Padres) and Mike Soroka (Atlanta Braves) to name a few.
Manager Greg Hamilton leads the coaching staff that includes Shawn Bowman, Hyung Cho and Mike Johnson.
“The Dominican Summer League camp is a very important component to our Junior National Team program that will provide an invaluable experience to our players,” said Head Coach Greg Hamilton “Players will be challenged with an intense schedule, while also dealing with elements in the Dominican Republic that they don’t face at home. The strides taken at this camp will better prepare our team for success going forward.”
All 27 players named to the roster participated in the Extended Spring Training camp last month in Orlando.
Two players named to the roster were selected last June during the MLB First-Year Player Draft: OF Clayton Keyes (17th round, Blue Jays) and RHP William Sierra (28th round, Mets). Both are eligible for the upcoming MLB Draft in June.
Two other players Cooper Davis and Hall were named to the roster that represented Canada at the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Osaka, Japan where the team finished in sixth.
With MLB’s First Year Player Draft scheduled for June 12th - 14th, the trip to Dominican will provide draft-eligible players an opportunity to perform in front of MLB scouts and personnel.
The camp will also serve as the last event on the Junior National Team calendar before the Final Selection Camp in August where 20 players will be selected to represent Canada at the WBSC Under 18 Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay from September 1st - 10th.
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