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By Alexis Brudnicki
PBR Ontario Lead Writer

Eric Senior was a surprise.

With all of Canada’s top college-eligible talent in one building for the second-annual Tournament 12, an amateur showcase hosted by the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, Senior was one who stood out among the crowd.

“The big surprise for me was Eric Senior,” one American League scout said. “The strength he has added in the last year, combined with his athleticism and feel at the plate have turned him into an outfielder with some serious upside.”

Playing for Ontario Black with two of the top prospects from north of the border for next year’s draft in Josh Naylor and Demi Orimoloye, the 6-foot-2, 170-pound outfielder paced his team going 9-for-17 with three doubles – two ground-rule hits that might have been stretched further otherwise – three runs driven in and five runs scored.

Turning 17 at the end of the month, Senior showed speed, power and arm strength throughout his team’s six games after running a 6.86 60-yard dash at the workout day on Tuesday.

“Tournament 12 was one of the best experiences that I have ever had playing baseball,” Senior said. “Playing at Rogers Centre has always been a dream of mine and to actually play there is amazing. This being my second time around, I was less nervous so I could enjoy it more and just play the game.

“The best part of the tournament for me was hearing all of the good things the Blue Jays alumni had to say about me, and the helpful tips they offered me to improve my game.”

When Lloyd Moseby was asked who stood out the most to him at the tournament, he rattled off a few more familiar names before saying, “Other guys might not agree with me, but I really liked Senior. He was one of the best guys here.”

The Toronto native gleaned as much as he could over the duration of the five-day event from all of the resources available to him.

“I talked with most of the alumni coaches but I talked the most with Sandy Alomar Sr., Lloyd Moseby, Tanyon Sturtze and Devon White,” Senior said. “I learned from them that this is the beginning step to where I need to go and they told me that I need to keep working hard to reach my goals.”

Senior has been working harder than ever before leading up to and throughout this season, putting in as much extra time as he can with his Toronto Mets coaches.

“I have been mostly working on my hitting in the cages, going after school up to three times a week and getting in as many reps as I can,” Senior said. “[I’ve been] going to showcases and hearing feedback from coaches and then spending the time in practice to really go over what I need to improve on.

“The biggest changes I’ve seen in my game are that I’m hitting much better now that I am being more disciplined in my at-bats. Before I would go swinging at anything that looked like a strike but over the summer I worked with my coaches to fix that problem. The people who helped me most during that time were my 17U Mets coaches. They put in a lot of time with me.”

All of the work seems to have paid dividends already, but Senior knows he still has a long way to go and a lot more time to spend on honing his craft.

“My [biggest asset] on the field is my arm,” Senior said. “The things I need to work on are my reads in the outfield, getting my arm up when I make a throw from the outfield, and working on getting my bat head out on my swing. My favourite thing to do is hit.”

Senior’s immediate goal for the event at Rogers Centre was to get his name on the map a little more than it had been previously, and that is exactly what he did.

“Getting my name out more is what I came to Tournament 12 to do,” Senior said. “And knowing that I accomplished that goal will open more doors for my future…I am looking forward to going to more showcases and deciding what I want to do after I graduate. I am not committed to any schools yet.”

Being named by several as one of the tournament’s top players is a great feeling for the young player, and also a motivator for him to continue on the path he’s started down.

“It feels great for people to recognize me at this type of tournament,” Senior said. “It also shows me that they are looking for me to get better and improve a lot over the off-season, so it shows me that I need to work even harder in the winter months.”

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