Spring Training & National Team Alumni Week in St. Petersburg, FL  with National Youth Team  March 04-14

Tues- 6- Mar  - 7:05 PM Canada vs Netherlands (V) Walter Fuller / Al Lang Stadium

Wed-7-Mar - 7:05 PM St. Petersburg J.C. vs Canada (H) Walter Fuller / Al Lang Thurs-8-Mar  - 7:05 PM Canada vs Baltimore Orioles (V) Al Lang Stadium

Fri-9-Mar  - 7:05 PM St. Petersburg J.C. vs Canada (H) Al Lang Stadium

Sat-10-Mar -  5:05 PM Netherlands vs Canada (H) Al Lang Stadium

Sun-11-Mar -  1:05 PM Canada vs Philadelphia Phillies (V) Al Lang Stadium

Mon-12-Mar  - 1:00 PM Canada vs Philadelphia Phillies (V) Carpenter Complex

Tues-13-Mar  - 1:05 PM Canada vs Toronto Blue Jays (V) Al Lang Stadium

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TEAM CANADA NOW QUALIFIES FOR THE 2012 WORLD YOUTH TOURNAMENT IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

CONGRATULATIONS TO BRETT SIDDALL ON BEING NAMED TO THE TOURNAMENT ALL STAR TEAM

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Good Luck to Selects Executive Bernie Soulliere(Business Manager), Keith Sanford(Equipment Manager) and former Selects player Stubby Clapp (3rd Base Coach/Hitting Coach) on their appointment to Team Canada at the Pan-Am Games & World Championships.

CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM CANADA ON WINNING THE GOLD MEDAL AT THE PAN-AM GAMES

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With a midnight deadline looming Monday to sign or go back in the draft next year, Rutckyj received a $US500,000 signing bonus and a US$155,000 education package with the world champions.

“I don’t really spend money,” the St. Joseph high school graduate said. “I’ll probably just put it in the bank.”

“I had confidence in myself and they’d come to a respectable number."

The 18-year-old Rutckyj left Tuesday for Tampa, Fla., where he’ll take his physical today and sign his contract.

“It’s really happening fast,” Rutckyj said.

Some publications had Rutckyj as one of the top 100 prospects in the draft, but he made it clear early he wouldn’t come cheap.

“I put a certain number out on draft day,” the six-foot-six, 215-pound Rutckyj said. “It was whoever stood up.”

That resulted in a much longer wait than he might have anticipated before the Yankees grabbed him in the 16th round with the 505th pick of the draft.

“I love the Yankees and when they stepped up, I was glad,” Ructkyj said.

Being drafted was just the start of a two-month negotiating session for Rutckyj.

Under the advice of agent Dan Lawson, Rutckyj refused to talk to the media about the prospects of signing.

“We did our business,” Rutckyj said.

Rutckyj's rise on Major League Baseball's radar came quickly and only after he switched from the outfield to pitching on a full-time basis two years ago.

“I was always sort of a pitcher, but I was always playing a year up, so everyone was bigger and stronger,” Rutckyj said.

“It was my last year at Riverside, when I played with my own age group in bantam major, that I started throwing and then with the national team and (Windsor) Selects 18s where I got noticed.”

At one time, there was debate between baseball and hockey.

The big defenceman out of Windsor minor was a late draft pick by the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts in 2008.

“I went to their camp and we were talking about (this year),” Rutckyj said.

“(Last year), I ended up with the national team, so that made it baseball.”

Baseball scouts refer to him as raw and unrefined because he’s pitched so little.

At the same time, they see the potential in a player who has a fastball that touches 92 m.p.h., a slider that clocks in the low ’80s and can also throw a changeup.

It has Rutckyj thinking he has a long and productive future ahead of him in baseball.

“My arm’s fresh,” Rutckyj said. “I’m not like those guys in Florida that have been throwing eight innings since they were (age) eight, nine or 10.”

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The Select Program congratulates Zack Breault on his signing with the Toronto Blue Jays


The Select Program congratulates Ryan Lapensee on his signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks

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The Select Program congratulates former Selects player and current University of Windsor Head Coach Frank Jeney on his induction to the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame. 


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MARC PICARD INDUCTION/ANNOUNCEMENT