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Ontario Insider: Preseason College Prospect Showcase: Highlights

February 1, 2016

By Richard Birfer and PBR Staff
Ontario Intern

We would like to thank all who participated in PBR Ontario's Preseason College Prospect Showcase. This was a great opportunity for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 prospects to be put on college radars. Many players impressed during their individual workouts at the showcase. Below we have the complete statistical results from the event as well as the top performers across various different categories.

In the coming two weeks, we will be adding and updating profiles for each of the players in attendance, including complete analysis and video.

Visit our scout blog, which includes velocity, pop times and in-depth scouting reports. The blog will be updated throughout the entire spring, with information on top prospects and top performances, click here.

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

For now, please take a look at the statistical results from the event by clicking here.

Ontario Insider: Preseason College Prospect Showcase: Highlights

On January 23, PBR Ontario hosted their first showcase for top baseball talent on the high school level in Kitchener, Ontario. The event, which took place at the Playball Academy, brought in many athletes entering their first ever showcase and other kids for whom it was just another day in the office.

With that being said, the event attracted quite a few scouts as well. You saw baseball players from the 2016 class as well as the younger talent in the 2019 class still with much to prove and much to work on.

A talent pool filled with potential did not disappoint.

The event began early on the Saturday afternoon with the catchers, infielders and outfielders. The 40-yard dash tipped off the showcase, in which outfielder Shanif Hirani impressed with a time of 4.81. The Waterloo collegiate high school student displayed electric speed and athleticism throughout the day ending the showcase as one of the standouts.

Another good-looking young prospect at the showcase was catcher, David Mendham. The 2017 catcher has shown strides of improvement, a strong and accurate arm and a smooth swing from the left side of the plate. When asked what he hopes to work on with PBR, Mendham went on to say “[his] speed and strength” with the hope that he can move onto a division I NCAA school in the near future.

Along with Mendham, guys like power-hitting Riley Perks, Ethan Baptie, Andy Leader and Brent McGhee all came out with their best in the first half of the showcase.

The second half of the event showcased some bright, young PBR Ontario pitching talent, none of which stood out more than Thunder Bay’s D.J. Depeiro. The southpaw lit up the radar gun touching 87 mph with his fastball as well as showing off his impressive breaking ball.

Scouting director Chris Kemlo had this to say on Depeiro “He has a lot of life in that left arm of his. It’s quick and loose, and he shows feel for his off-speed. The curveball has a chance to be a quality pitch for him. I think right now he just needs the repetitions and innings to help him grow as a pitcher. The ability and tools are there.”

When speaking to Depeiro, it is obvious that the West Virginia Wesleyan commit has worked extremely hard over the past couple of seasons on both fixing his pitching mechanics while shortening his stride. Of course, his mechanics do need a little bit more fine-tuning, but the potential was put on full display for all of the scouts present at the event. The goal for Depeiro, like for so many of the high school kids in attendance, is to eventually make it to the MLB draft and pitch on the big stage.

Apart from D.J., Cameron Dyck and Noah Wood-Jolivet put on nice pitching performances to close out what was a great PBR Ontario event, which saw an array of potential-loaded, young talent.

With yet another showcase in the books, we will all undoubtedly hear of many of these bright young prospects in the future.


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