Arizona State bound Kellogg, MVP for silver medallists
*LHP Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ont.) was Canada’s best on its way to a silver medal at the World Junior Qualification tournament in Colombia ….
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By Chris Toman
A big reason why the Canadian Junior National Team was successful in 2011 was the strength of its pitching staff and perhaps no arm was bigger than Ryan Kellogg’s (Whitby, Ont.).
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound left-hander was an integral part of Canada’s second-place finish at the COPABE World Junior Qualification Tournament in Colombia. For his efforts, Kellogg was named the ESPN Wide World of Sports Junior National Team MVP at Baseball Canada’s awards banquet and fundraiser Jan. 14.
Kellogg earned two victories at the tournament, including a decisive win over Colombia that clinched Canada a berth in the 2012 IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship in Seoul, South Korea.
“This was a really big year for me, probably my breakout year,” said Kellogg. “As a team, we did really well. We trained in the Dominican, Cuba, Florida and did well there. It really came down to Colombia, though, where we qualified for the World Juniors. It was a huge accomplishment for Baseball Canada.”
Both the junior and senior teams had memorable years in 2011. While the juniors won silver at the world qualifiers, the seniors took home bronze and gold at the Baseball World Cup and Pan American Games respectively.
Instrumental in it all was head coach and director of Canada’s National Teams, Greg Hamilton.
“Greg has been great, he’s always there for us,” said Kellogg. “He gives great speeches in the dressing room. He’s always on the field and encouraging us and if he sees something, he will tell you to make you better. I love having him around.”
Kellogg, whose club team is the Ontario Prospects, run by Rich and Rob Butler, credits everyone from his coaches to teammates on helping him mature as a player.
“Our pitching staff is really good,” said Kellogg. “Chris Reitsma, our pitching coach, is great. He helps us out a lot. All the pitchers learn from each other and talk about what pitches we throw and how we throw them. We learn from each other and build so we can come together as a team.”
Kellogg, 17, has an arsenal of pitches he can share with the rest of the team, including a fastball that sits in the high-80s. But, according to him, that’s not his best weapon.
“I have a two-seam and four-seam fastball, a changeup and a curveball,” explained Kellogg. “My out-pitch is probably the changeup. I get pretty good movement on that. I’m still developing the curveball. I started throwing that a little bit later in my career, so I’m still trying to get more consistency on that. It’s a work in progress right now.”
Hamilton has watched his progression and suggests this could be the beginning of a promising career.
“Ryan has a chance to be a special talent,” said Hamilton. “The size is there. The arm works real well, real clean. He’s got a real good feel for his secondary pitches. He throws strikes, builds the strike zone up, competes very well. He has a bright future if he can stay healthy and stay committed.”
For now, Kellogg is certainly committed.
In somewhat unorthodox fashion, Kellogg agreed to attend Division I powerhouse Arizona State University this fall.
“I got really lucky with ASU,” said Kellogg. “They had actually never seen me live before, just heard of me through the grapevine through a coach who knew his college roommate who knew a coach at ASU. I sent them a video and got to go for a visit before the Arizona Fall Classic and committed on campus. It was a cool feeling.”
While Kellogg has agreed to attend ASU, he will also be eligible for the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft in June.
The Canadian Baseball Network has Kellogg listed as the No. 1 Canadian prospect heading into the draft and Perfect Game USA ranked Kellogg No. 175 on its combined top-300 high school and college fall prospect list.
Kellogg says he’ll be training hard until the Junior National Team heads to Florida on its annual Spring Training trip. In addition to games against the Netherlands and St. Petersburg Junior College, Canada will square off against the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays.
