Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

The Super 60 - Past and Present Canadians

January 30, 2023
Cam Black-Araujo
Lead Scout, PBR Canada

Interested in attending a PBR Ontario event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.

Super 60 - Past and Present Canadians

With the Super 60 upcoming this weekend, we take a look at the present and past performances from the Canadians who have attended and take a strong look at the first participant from BC to make the trip in right-hander and Oregon State commit Dominic Hambley from the Victoria Mariners.

With looks from professional scouts not promised to anybody this season, players know how important events like the Super 60 are and this year's roster is absolutely loaded with talent from all over North America. We know a lot of pro scouts are excited to get an early look at this group of high schooler prospects.

THE PAST

2016

From a Canadian perspective, we kicked off our first Super 60 appearance in 2016 with two left-handed hitting catchers (go figure) out of Ontario with Luke Van Rycheghem and Max Wright. With this being a relatively new event, both of these players stood out with their offensive side to the game. LVR ended up being a 23rd rd. pick from the Diamondbacks and Wright had a very strong career at Indian State and ultimately signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants after playing in the MLB Draft League this past summer.

2017

In 2017, you could make the case that this was the best Super 60 appearance by a Canadian. Left-handed hitting shortstop Dondrae Bremner had himself a workout as the Cincinnati commit stood out in every facet as he ran well, sprayed line drives everywhere with a short stroke and made every play and some highlight reel plays on the defensive side. Bremner went on to be drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 31st round but bypassed and is now a senior for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

2018

In 2018 Denzel Clarke was the next Canadian to grace the Super 60 and looking at where he was then and what he looks like now - he is exactly what the poster boy could be when you talk about high ceilings, project-ability, upside and so on and so on… Clarke was a draft pick of the New York Mets in 2018 (36th round) and was selected again in 2021 by the Athletics (4th round), signing this time.

2019

Another left-handed hitting catcher in Owen Diodati took care of letting people know about the Baseball Canada world in 2019 as the power hitting Diodati did some loud talking with the bat and was a standout in a talented roster, showing arm strength behind the plate and but the bat really made people take notice. There was a lot of early round talk with Diodati on draft day but he decided to go off to Alabama and as a freshman, he was the talk of college baseball as he went off early and often for the Crimson Tide. Diodati was drafted in high school by the hometown Toronto Blue Jays in the 29th round. Diodati now enters his junior season at Alabama with the potential to hear his name called in the first five rounds.

2020

This was the first time we expanded outside of Ontario, with two Quebec representatives in catcher Raphael Pelletier and underclass right-hander Simon Lusignan. Along with the Quebec battery you had teammates in Owen Caissie and Bryce Arnold making it the largest Canadian group to ever attend the Super 60. Caissie impressed many with his left-handed swing and ended up being a 2nd round pick of the Padres, before being flipped to the Chicago Cubs in the Yu Darvish trade.

Pelletier is at Kansas State, Bryce Arnold is at Campbell and quickly becoming an impact player while Lusignan enters his freshman season at Stetson.

2021

Last year was tough sledding for the Canadian crew due to border restrictions, but we had our first player from the west coast attend the Super 60. RHP Dominic Hambley from the island in Victoria made the trek to Wisconsin last February as the lone Canadian participant. The Oregon State commit impressed in the MLB Draft League last summer and was eventually drafted by the Cubs in the 18th round, signing for $200k.

2022
Last year was the second straight year where we had a Super 60 representative go on to player in the PBR's MLB Draft League with both  SS Nate Ochoa, right-handed pitcher and RHP Micah Bucknam.

Ochoa put together a strong performance last February with good metrics across the board. He was up to 92mph across the diamond (3rd-best at the event), ran a 6.77 and a top exit velocity of 99.5mph. Ochoa went on to play for the Trenton Thunder in the MLB Draft League before being selected as a third baseman in the 6th-round (171 overall) by the Washington Nationals, ultimately signing for $375k.

Bucknam was drafted the previous year by the Toronto Blue Jays but decided not to sign and re-enter the 2022 Draft. Bucknam sat 89-90 throughout his bullpen at the Super 60, along with a breaking ball and changeup. Bucknam went on to dominate in the MLB Draft League, posting a 0.53 ERA over 17 innings with the Trenton Thunder. The B.C. native now enters his freshman year with the LSU Tigers, the consensus No. 1 team in the nation heading into the season.

THE PRESENT

The 2023 Super 60 will be the first time Canada has representatives from three different provinces with RHP Matthew Brown (ON), LHP Jeremy Pilon (QC) and INF Sam Shaw (BC).

Brown put together a strong 2022 campaign, jumping onto the national scene with appearances at the Future Games and the PBR Canada ProCase. He immediately catches your eye on the mound with a long, lean, prototypical pitchers frame at 6-foot-5, 195-pounds. Aside from his size, he possesses some of the best stuff in Canada's 2023 draft class. The fastball began touching the 90s late in the summer and works with a pair of breaking balls, a hard slider at 82-84 and a curveball at 77-78, along with a developing changeup. Second-ranked prospect in his class in Ontario and Oklahoma State commit.

Pilon is another arm who's really raised his draft stock over the past year with several impressive performances and he was also a late-round selection (18th-round) by the Toronto Blue Jays as a 16-year-old. The athletic 6-foot, 200-pound left-hander from ABC Academy got stronger as the year went on and peaked at 91mph throughout the summer, along with a high-spin breaking ball at 72-75 which he can locate and a changeup at 80-81mph. Pilon committed to Alabama early in the fall and is one of Canada's top draft arms.
Shaw has long been tabbed as one of Canada's top 2023 positional prospects with his smooth left-handed swing and ability to control at-bats. Shaw has been a mainstay in the middle of Canada's Junior National Team batting order for a year now with feel for the strike zone, good bat-to-ball skills and feel for the barrel which allowa him to tap into power during game-action. The Xavier commit has already logged a plethora of at-bats against pro arms as he heads into his draft year.