Two of the best 16-year-old baseball players in the province call Duncan home.
After representing B.C. at the Canada Cup tournament in New Brunswick earlier this month, catcher Connor Caskenette and pitcher Gavin Pringle are already looking forward to their next big event, the Blue Jays Baseball Academy T12 Tournament at Rogers Centre in Toronto in mid- September.
“It should be fun,” Caskenette said. “It’s always been a goal of mine to play on a pro field.”
Caskenette and Pringle will play for the Futures team, made up of the 20 best players in Canada who finished grades 9 and 10 last spring. The rest of the teams are for older players, most just out of grades 11 and 12, representing separate regions across the country: two teams from Ontario and one each from B.C., Alberta, Quebec, the Prairies and the Atlantic.
A few Grade 10 players crack the provincial team rosters, in most cases after having played on the Futures team as Grade 9s.
This is the sixth year the Blue Jays have presented the T12 Tournament, featuring the top 160 amateur players in Canada ages 19 and under, playing in front of pro scouts and college recruiters.
That factor appeals to both Caskenette and Pringle, who have their sights set on playing in the major leagues. Caskenette is looking more at the college route, while Pringle thinks he would prefer to go straight to the minor pro ranks after high school if that is an option — although he acknowledges his parents might have different ideas.
Both players have already caught the eyes of scouts while playing in the B.C. Premier Baseball League, Caskenette with the Mid Island Pirates and Pringle with the Victoria Eagles. They also helped Team BC to a silver medal at the 2018 Canada Cup for 16- and 17-year-olds, which wrapped up on Aug. 12.
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“It was a hard-fought game,” Pringle said of the final. “We almost came back.”
The 9-5 final score didn’t reflect how close the game actually was, as Ontario scored six runs in the third inning.
Pringle didn’t pitch in the final, but he did see a couple innings of action in B.C.’s semifinal win over Nova Scotia. Caskenette, who also saw action at first base during the tournament, did catch in the final. Caskenette also caught Pringle in B.C.’s first game of the tournament, a special experience for the boys who grew up playing together and only went their separate ways once they reached the PBL.
Both players have played for Team BC before, including when their peewee AA Duncan RiverCats team represented British Columbia as they won the 2014 Western Canadian championships. There were a few more scouts in the stands for the Canada Cup, however.
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“You could look up in the stands and see guys with college and MLB hats on,” Caskenette noted.
For Pringle, it’s the scouts’ radar guns that stand out.
“I look for the little circle and throw as hard as I can,” he said.
In addition to the Canada Cup, Caskenette was also invited to the Northwest Nike MLB Showcase in Hillsboro, Oregon on Aug. 14-16. but the overlap with the Canada Cup made it impossible to attend both. In October, Caskenette will play in the Arizona Fall Classic with the Langley-based Diamondbacks scout team.
This is a big year for both players as they enter Grade 11 at Cowichan Secondary School: colleges aren’t allowed to contact prospective players until Sept. 1 of their Grade 11 year. Caskenette and Pringle admit they will both be checking their email accounts frequently starting this Saturday.
