The Calgary-area baseball scene got some well-earned attention during the recent 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.
A number of hitters and pitchers from Alberta’s largest city – and its surrounding communities – were among the 600-plus players selected over 20 rounds during the MLB Draft, which took place from July 14-16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Cohen Achen, who grew up playing in the Babe Ruth Calgary system, was a 14th-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles. The 429th overall selection appeared in 25 games for Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky during the 2023 and 2024 collegiate seasons. He logged 138-plus innings with the Blue Raiders, going 10-9 with 211 strikeouts and a 3.97 earned run average (ERA). The starting pitcher, who has signed a contract with the Orioles, suffered a fractured skull after he was hit in the head by a line drive in 2020.
Meanwhile, a number of players from the Okotoks Dawgs Academy baseball program and alumni of the Okotoks Dawgs summer collegiate team in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) also heard their names called during the MLB Draft.
Dawgs Academy shortstop Jack Lines, of Okotoks, was taken in the 12th round by the Tampa Bay Rays. Lines, who has inked a deal with the Rays, also played for the Dawgs in the WCBL in 2021.
Oregon State University (OSU) pitcher Sam Stuhr was a 5th-round pick of the Oakland Athletics. The right-handed pitcher from Portland played on the WCBL champion Okotoks Dawgs team in 2022 alongside infielder Mason Guerra, a 14th-round selection of the Atlanta Braves. Guerra was teammates with Stuhr in Okotoks and with the OSU Beavers.
Micah McDowell – taken in the 17th round by the Miami Marlins – trained at Dawgs Academy and played with Stuhr and Guerra in 2022 at OSU and with the Dawgs in the WCBL.
Players from the 2023 Okotoks Dawgs team who were taken in the MLB Draft included outfielder Titus Dumitru (16th round, Atlanta Braves); pitcher Vicarte Domingo (19th round, San Diego Padres); and outfielder Eric Hartman (20th round, Atlanta Braves). The Dawgs won a second straight WCBL championship title last summer.
Jay Schueler, a pitcher on the 2024 Okotoks Dawgs roster, was not selected in the MLB Draft but he signed a professional contract with the Toronto Blue Jays following the three-day event.
It was also a successful MLB Draft for the WCBL’s Sylvan Lake Gulls, who had three players chosen. Nathan Flewelling of Innisfail, Alberta – a catcher with the Gulls – was taken in the 3rd round (94th overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays, while pitcher Owen Pote of Sherwood Park, Alberta went to the Cincinnati Reds in the 19th round. Tyler Hampu, who pitched for Sylvan Lake in 2022, was an 18th-round pick of the Colorado Rockies.
The Brooks Bombers had their first player taken in the MLB Draft. Slugger Eric Rataczak, who won WCBL Rookie of the Year honours in 2023, was a 16th-round pick of the Miami Marlins.