Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

The dream for all athletes is to win a championship. In the case of two young baseball players from our province, that dream has been recognized recently, albeit in different ways. Baseball Canada Women's National Team rising star Madison Willan helped guide her St. Albert Slash hockey team to a third-straight Esso Cup title, while Dawgs Academy product Clayton Keyes was a big part of Central Arizona College winning the JUCO World Series. We caught up with both of them to talk about their accomplishments and what's to come this summer.

Four Albertans were selected in last week's MLB Draft while several others with ties to this province were also picked. We continue our discussions with some of those players in the second of our two-part review. This time around, we chat with Stony Plain's Adam Macko (Seattle) and Lethbridge's Thomas Little (Philadelphia), both of whom honed their skills with Vauxhall Academy. We also chatted with Lethbridge's Tanner Jesson-Dalton, who was taken by the Chicago Cubs and Ben Thompson, a New Zealand product who came to Alberta for Dawgs Academy and was taken by the Atlanta Braves. You can read more about all of Alberta's connections to the 2019 Draft here.

A total of four Albertans were taken in the 2019 MLB Draft as were several players with Alberta connections. In part one of our two-part look at some of those names, we catch up with Vauxhall Baseball Academy alum Josh Burgmann and Dawgs Academy product Matt Lloyd, who were taken by the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds, respectively.

He has been all the rage around Major League Baseball this season. Calgary's Mike Soroka has been achieving great things with the Atlanta Braves, setting records and turning a lot of heads. Ian Wilson and Joe McFarland chat about the phenom's season thus far and are also joined by former coach Brent Cooper. The guys end the show talking about the Western Canadian Baseball League season and what's exciting them most heading into the summer.

It probably comes as no surprise that there is no shortage of words from two teams involved in one of the Western Canadian Baseball League's biggest rivalries. The head coaches of the Okotoks Dawgs and Edmonton Prospects were pretty thorough in their answers as we previewed the upcoming summer, leading to a longer-than-usual episode to wrap up our look ahead to the season.

2019 could be another good year for Alberta baseball talent being selected in the Major League Baseball draft. Dawgs Academy product Cesar Valero has been projected as one of the top draft-eligible Canadians for quite a while now, but there is also some excitement surrounding teammate Ayden Makarus and Vauxhall Academy pitcher Adam Macko. We sit down with Jeff Duda from Dawgs Academy and Les McTavish from Vauxhall Academy to talk about the draft and what it means to them and their schools to have some of their students getting so much attention.

The Western Canadian Baseball League season is just a couple of weeks away now. We continue our previews of Alberta's six organizations with two in the sunny south. The Lethbridge Bulls are looking to rebound after a rough 2018 campaign, while the Brooks Bombers are hoping to make the jump into the playoffs after their first three seasons in league. We chat with Bulls head coach Jesse Sawyer and Bombers Vice-President and Director of Baseball Operations Jason Wandler about the upcoming summer.

As the US college baseball season winds down, we wanted to throw another spotlight on some of the great stories happening courtesy of Alberta's baseball talent. This week, we chatted with Belgium-born Kyran Weemaels about coming to Alberta and where he actually grew a love for the game (hint: think of a "Queen City"). We also sat down with Edmonton's Davis Pratt as he is one of many from this province who is playing for Cloud County, following a long list of players who have gone there.

We are getting closer and closer to the start of the Western Canadian Baseball League season. Over the next few weeks, we'll be bringing you two episodes a week. On Mondays, we will preview the WCBL season with chats with two different teams. This week, we sit down with Greg Morrison of the defending champion Medicine Hat Mavericks and discuss a big move north for new Fort McMurray Giants manager Ray Brown.

The Canadian College Baseball Conference playoffs are this weekend and the three Alberta teams are hoping to bring home the title. It will likely be an emotional weekend for a couple of players. Edmonton Collegiate's Ty Wagar is into his final weekend in college baseball as he heads towards graduation, while the University of Calgary's Myles Creran shares his inspirational story of playing the sport he loves while battling Multiple Sclerosis. We update you on this story we brought you last fall.

What a week it's been for Alberta's baseball products. From Calgary's Mike Soroka starting strong for the Atlanta Braves to a viral walk-off home run from Okotoks' Matt Lloyd, there was no shortage of heroics. One providing those heroics was Camrose native and Prairie Baseball Academy product Dylan Borman, who hit a walk-off grand slam for the University of Arkansas at Monticello. We chatted with him, as well as Dawgs Academy grad Jacob Bouzide, as he is one of the many players from our province who is now playing for Colby Community College.

Andrew Case first garnered attention for a no-hitter at the inaugural T12 tournament, signing with the Toronto Blue Jays. We hear about that story and more from one of his former coaches, Todd Hubka at Prairie Baseball Academy. We also chat with another Albertan making waves in the US college baseball ranks. Prospects Academy grad Matt Quartel is now patrolling the outfield for the Milwaukee Panthers.