Inside Pitch Baseball Academy arranges private workout with Major League Scout

On Thursday, February 23rd, ten Saskatchewan baseball players were given the rare opportunity to show their skills to a major league scout in a private workout arranged by the Inside Pitch Baseball Academy and attended by Cleveland Indians scout Jim Chapman from Delta, B.C.

The workout proved to be an experience to remember for all in attendance. Normally, scouts watch a pitcher throw 15-20 pitches and then move on to the next player, but Chapman went beyond expectations and took the time to give each player key feedback critical to their baseball development. Parents and players were excited to draw on Chapman's 20+ years of developing and scouting players such as Rich Harden of the Athletics and Jeff Francis of the Colorado Rockies.

"Our son Blaine had the privilege of meeting Jim Chapman. Jim provided insightful and constructive criticism from the perspective of a major league scout. It was a very positive experience made possible by The Inside Pitch and Morgan's connections to professional baseball".

Apparently Chapman was impressed with the level of talent here in Saskatchewan. When asked about the quality of players, Chapman reported that there "are definitely some prospects here".

Immediately after his visit, Chapman contacted college coaches south of the border regarding opportunities for some of the older players. Morgan Reiter, Inside Pitch Director of Player Development has been in contact with 3 different schools in Texas and has facilitated offers for three of the players attending the workout.

One of the Inside Pitch students that will be heading south next September is Cory Hall. He had a great workout and was able to throw 88mph, which, along with his invitation to Junior Team Canada, has garnered him offers from several schools south of the border.

Reiter has been working with Hall the past four off-seasons and has witnessed steady improvement each year. "Hall is definitely a prospect for this year's draft. However, we are looking at him going to school this September to get his feet wet in the U.S. college leagues," Reiter commented.

Others, such as Blaine Kovach, will be attending school in Canada, continuing the baseball dream in the Canadian college league. Blaine Kovach and Jesse Pentz will be playing ball and attending Kwantlen College in Surrey, B.C. Murray Gage-Cole of the Kwantlen Eagles, a friend of Reiter's, will be their head coach.

The IP Baseball Academy plans to continue such workouts in the future and to work to develop and bring attention to Saskatchewan players of all levels and abilities.