HarbourCats roster likely to have Canadian flavour

Here's a trivia question for you: True or False? There are more Canadians playing college baseball in the United States than there are playing college hockey.

If you said "False" you are... wrong! According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, there were over 700 Canadians playing American college baseball in the 2011-12 season, but fewer than 500 Canucks were lacing up their skates south of the 49th to play college hockey. Those 700 Canadian ballplayers are spread across schools that are part of the NCAA, NAIA or NJCAA and all of these institutions are potentially a supplier of talent for our HarbourCats. Given those numbers, we can expect a number of Canadians on the HarbourCats roster and likely a few local boys.

Kelly Norris-Jones

The HarbourCats have not announced any player signings so far, but I'm guessing that the roster is pretty close to being finalized. Rumour has it that we'll be learning of at least some of the player signings before the end of the month, but it's not too early to speculate on who we might see donning a HarbourCats jersey in June.

So who are some of the Canadians that might appear on our roster? A quick scan of Bob Elliot's list of Canadians playing U.S. college baseball yields a slew of possibilities. Much to my amazement, there are 24 ballplayers from Victoria on the list. The Garden City has been considered a Canadian baseball mecca for some time now, but that number puts it all in perspective.

One name that that immediately jumps out at you is Kelly Norris-Jones, a Victoria native who is the starting catcher for the University of Illinois. He was selected by the Blue Jays in the 50th round of the 2010 draft, but opted to go the NCAA route and did not sign with Toronto. Norris-Jones is a Victoria Mariners alumnus who suited up for the WCL's Kelowna Falcons in 2011 in preparation for his debut with the Fighting Illini. He hit .266 with no homers and 14 RBI in 46 games last season and was solid defensively. Incidentally, his father Brad is the owner of M.V.P. Sports Collectibles on Douglas Street.

Chase Cuckovich

Another possible local boy for the HarbourCats is Chase Cuckovich, an outfielder who used to play for the Victoria Eagles. He now attends Riverside City College (RCC) and is coached by -- you guessed it -- HarbourCats head coach Dennis Rogers. As a freshman at RCC last year, Cuckovich saw minimal playing time and went 3-for-12 with 4 RBI. Chase's older brother Nic also played at RCC and he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 17th round of the 2011 draft.

Cuckovich won't be the only Canadian under the tutelage of Dennis Rogers this season. Toronto-native Bryan Saucedo is a redshirt freshman who is also attending Riverside City College. He was taken by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 29th round of the 2012 draft, but chose to play for Rogers instead of signing with the Brew Crew. The first baseman / outfielder has impressive power and a very high ceiling.

Below is a list of the 24 Victorians playing college baseball in the United States. I'm sure there are a few errors and omissions, but it's a pretty impressive list nonetheless -- and I didn't even attempt to compile a list of other Vancouver Islanders playing down south.

Level	Position	Name	School
NCAA Division I	C	Kelly Norris-Jones	University of Illinois (IL)
	LHP	Jason Gibson	McNeese State University (LA)
	INF	Jagit Gordaya	Texas Southern University (TX)
NCAA Division II	C	Connor Moughtin	Minot State University (ND)
	RHP	Dustin Robirtis	Colorado Mesa State University (CO)
	C	Connor McDougall	Concordia University-St. Paul (MN)
	3B-SS	Duncan Blades	Abilene Christian University (TX)
NCAA Division III	RHP-1B	Dallen Russell	Principia College (IL)
	CF	Mike Turcotte	Minot State University (ND)
	INF	Ryan Adkins	Jamestown College ND
NAIA	RHP	Nick Kearley	Dickinson State College (ND)
	OF	Brendan Magee	Jamestown College (ND)
	INF	Dustin Sandberg	Clarke University (IA)
	RHP	Adam Wilson	University of Science and Art of Oklahoma (OK)
	1B	Ricky Alvernaz	Mayville State University (ND)
	1B	Sam Lawless	Jamestown College (ND)
Junior/CC Division I	OF	Chase Cuckovich	Riverside City Community College (CA)
	RHP	Cole Holt	Colby Comunity College (KS)
	RHP	Colton Lindsay	Volunteer State Community College (TN)
	C	Daniel Peakman	Trinidad State Junior College (CO)
	RHP	Nick Pivetta	New Mexico Jr. College (NM)
	RHP-INF	Cooper Skjeie	Cloud County Community College (KS)
	C-INF	Scott Jones	Colby Community College (KS)
	INF	Austin Russell	Colby Community College (KS)

With that big of a pipeline, I doubt we'll be lacking local talent on the HarbourCats anytime soon.