Despite batting .550 for the Milwaukee Brewers this spring, Toronto Mets alum Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) was sent to the minors on Thursday.

March 22, 2026

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes:

Black sent to triple-A by Brewers

Infielder Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) was sent to triple-A by the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.

The decision clearly wasn’t based on his performance this spring. In six Cactus League games for the Brewers, he went 11-for-20 (.550 batting average) and had two doubles, two triples, a home run, three stolen bases and 14 RBIs.

Earlier in the month, the 25-year-old Black made his national team debut at the World Baseball Classic. He went 1-for-10 but scored two runs and had two RBIs in the tournament.

The left-handed hitting Canuck spent the bulk of 2025 with the Brewers’ triple-A Nashville Sounds, where he had a .369 on-base percentage with four home runs and 22 stolen bases in 61 games. He also hit .250 with an RBI in five games with the big-league Brewers.

Nori named to All-WBC team

Fernando Tatis Jr., Roman Anthony and Dante Nori.

That’s pretty good company for the Toronto-born Nori to keep in the World Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team’s outfield, which was announced on Wednesday.

Nori, who was born in Toronto while his father, Micah, coached for the Toronto Raptors, was an offensive force for the underdog Italian team that made a surprising run to the WBC semifinals.

In six games in the tournament, Nori batted .400 and belted two home runs while topping Italy with eight hits and six RBIs.

A first-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2024 MLB draft, Nori honed his skills at Northville High School in Michigan.

In 2025, in his first full season in the Phillies’ organization, he played a combined 125 games between class-A, High-A and double-A and registered a .361 on-base percentage with 12 triples and 52 stolen bases.

The speedy 21-year-old is rated as the Phillies’ seventh-best prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Happy Birthday Ralph Dickenson!

Longtime minor league baseball coach Ralph Dickenson was born in Nanaimo, B.C. on this date 78 years ago.

Best known for his more than four decades as a collegiate and minor league coach, he has worked for several major league organizations, including with the Montreal Expos (2001-02) and Toronto Blue Jays (2010 to 2012). In 2014, he served as the Houston Astros’ assistant hitting coach.

Prior to his coaching career, Dickenson was a two-way player in the Minnesota Twins’ organization. With the Twins’ class-A affiliate in Lynchburg in 1972, he batted .280 in 77 games primarily as an outfielder and posted a 1.72 ERA in 16 pitching appearances as a right-handed reliever.

Molleken hired by Saskatoon Berries

Former Detroit Tigers right-hander and longtime national team pitcher Dustin Molleken (Regina, Sask.) has been hired as a pitching consultant by the Western Canadian Baseball League’s Saskatoon Berries.

In this position, he will help out the Berries pitching coach Ryan Olchoway.

Selected in the 15th round of the 2003 MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Lethbridge Community College, Molleken toed the rubber for parts of eight seasons in the Bucs’ system before enjoying tenures in the Colorado Rockies, Brewers, Cleveland Guardians and Tigers organizations.

The 6-foot-4 righty made his big league debut with the Tigers in 2016 and posted a 4.32 ERA in four appearances for them.

In total, in 16 professional seasons, which also included parts of two campaigns with the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League, Molleken finished with a 54-37 record and a 4.37 ERA in 531 appearances (36 starts).

During his career, Molleken also consistently answered the call for the national team and was a member of Canada’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2011 Pan Am Games.

Since hanging up his playing spikes, he has become a highly respected pitching instructor in his home province. He had previously served as a pitching consultant for the Moose Jaw Miller Express of the Western Canadian Baseball League.

Molleken was inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Allen signs with Dodgers

Fresh off pitching for Canada at the WBC, left-hander Logan Allen has signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported on Wednesday.

Allen, whose father, Norman, was from Lachine, Que., made two appearances for Canada at the WBC. He got the final out in Canada’s 4-3 loss to Panama and then hurled three strong innings – permitting just one run – in relief in Canada’s 3-2 victory over Puerto Rico.

In 2025, the 28-year-old Allen went 7-12 with a 4.53 ERA in 31 starts, striking out 149 batters in 173 innings, for the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

Prior to that, he appeared in 45 big league games across parts of five seasons between 2019 and 2024 with the San Diego Padres, Guardians, Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Allen was born in West Palm Beach, Fla. He honed his skills at the IMG Academy in Bradenton and was chosen in the eighth round of the 2018 MLB draft by the Boston Red Sox.

While with the double-A San Antonio Missions in the Padres’ organization in 2018, Allen roomed with right-hander Rowan Wick (North Vancouver, B.C.) who informed him that he’d be eligible to pitch for Canada at the WBC.

No spiders for Glenallen Hill on his birthday

Happy 61st Birthday to former Blue Jays outfielder Glenallen Hill!

May he not have any nightmares about spiders on his birthday.

For those of you who are too young to know the story, when Hill was an up-and-coming outfielder with the Blue Jays in 1990, he reportedly had a nightmare about spiders while he was sleepwalking. And while trying to escape the spiders in his dream, he crashed through a glass table and suffered bruises and cuts on his feet, legs and elbows. The next day he was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Outside of that incident, Hill had a solid major league career in which he clubbed 186 home runs in 13 seasons.

Abel tracks down three original Blue Jays

This is an article I wish I wrote.

With the Blue Jays heading into their 50th season, veteran scribe Allen Abel managed to track down three Blue Jays who played in the club’s first game on April 7, 1977 for a National Post story.

Most impressive is that he found and interviewed John Scott, the Blue Jays’ leadoff hitter on that snowy day. Scott hadn’t done a baseball interview in nearly 50 years and has lost touch with all of his former teammates.

“I don’t remember a bunch of the guys,” Scott tells Abel about his former Jays teammates. “No contact, nothing. I guess I could take part blame for that. Mexico was the last time I played. Campeche, Mexico. I think that’s where it was. I tried to leave everything there.”

Since his pro career ended, Scott, who lives in Compton, Calif., has scuffled to find work, but has managed to get by. He talks to Abel about some of the personal tragedy he has faced.

Abel also tracked down Pedro Garcia, who started at second base for the Blue Jays in their first game, in San Juan, Puerto Rico and outfielder Al Woods, who homered in his first MLB at bat for the Blue Jays in that first game, in Oakland.

Read the full article here.

Remembering legendary umpire Ernie Quigley

Longtime MLB umpire and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Quigley was born on this date in 1880 in Newcastle, N.B.

Between 1913 and 1938, he officiated 3,351 major league games. He also umpired in six World Series.

After playing basketball at the University of Kansas, Quigley proceeded to have a lengthy career at the school which included a tenure as its athletic director.

He spent a few years as a minor league player before his umpiring career began in the Wisconsin-Illinois League in 1911. Stints in the New York State League (1912) and International League (1913) followed before he graduated to the big leagues.

In 1940, after his umpiring career, he was appointed the National League’s first full-time director of public relations.

He died on December 10, 1960 in Lawrence, Kan.

He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 2021.

Blue Jays release two Canadians

The Blue Jays released catcher Nicolas Deschamps (Quebec City, Que.) and infielder Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, B.C.) on Wednesday.

Signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays in 2021, Deschamps batted .192 in parts of five minor league seasons, rising as high as double-A New Hampshire in 2025. With the High-A Vancouver Canadians last season, the ABC Academy alum threw out 12 of 31 baserunners attempting to steal off him.

The 26-year-old Palmegiani also suited up for parts of five seasons in the Blue Jays’ organization. The Vauxhall Academy grad had three consecutive 20-home run campaigns from 2022 to 2024 before slumping in 2025. He was a member of Canada’s World Baseball Classic team in 2023.

March 22nd Birthdays

1880 – Ernie Quigley (Newcastle, N.B.), legendary umpire, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (died in 1960).

1948 – Ralph Dickenson (Nanaimo, B.C.), longtime professional coach

1965 – Glenallen Hill, former Blue Jays outfielder

1966 – Sean Berry, former Expos infielder

1984 – Joe Smith, former Blue Jays reliever

1996 – Ernie Clement, current Blue Jays infielder

Glew - BWDIK: Allen, Black, Hill, Molleken, Nori, Quigley