Elliott: Antoine Jean CBN's 2025 College Player of the Year

Former ABC LHP Antoine Jean (Montreal, Que.) of the Houston Cougars is our all-Canadian college of the year,

November 3, 2025

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Usually when we ask a scout or a coach when they first saw a phenom pitcher, the answers range from:

A) “I’ll never forget ... he struck out nine in four innings,” or something like that ... or ...

B) “He was 15 years old ... pitching against an 18U club ... and he was so good I thought he was pitching for the older team,” ... or

C) “I was with one of our scouts who had the gun on him ... he threw the pitch ... I put one hand in each pocket and pushed down on my legs. Why? To keep from clapping ... that’s how impressed I was.”

Marc-Antoine Bérubé was the pitching coach at Académie de Baseball Canada and was responsible for chasing Antoine Jean out of the Centre Claude-Robillard, the ABC’s winter facility, many a night.

“He was always hanging out, doing stuff in the weight room and his mobility drills,” said Berube, who was Jean’s pitching coach for three seasons. “I had to kick him out of the facility ... tell him to go home. He worked so hard.”

And for the fifth straight year we are going to build towards our final announcements.

The Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian Third Team.

The Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian Second Team.

The 25th annual Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Year.

On deck ... the 25th Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian First Team and players named to our Honorable Mention list.

And finally …. our stats package.

Yet, that was indoors. The game that Jean really showed Berube something was when the ABC traveled to Chipola College in Marianna, Fla., which produced the likes of Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.), Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC) and a slugger from the Dominican by the name of Jose Bautista.

“One game he showed me how much character he had,” Berube explained.

Jean was tagged for a home run.

“He asked for a new ball from the ump, put his glove in front of his mouth, took the sign and went back to work,” Berube said. “He gave up another home run ball. Same reaction. He gave up another.

“It was not a great outing, but his make up was off the charts. He did not get frazzled or upset.”

It was like “I don’t really care, I’m getting the next guy out.”

Jean had mound composure and mound determination. But what about a start where he did not give up three bombs?

“Well, I remember him carving the Ontario lineup at the Canada Cup (2018),” Jean said. “Antoine approached every game like it was something important.”

We’ve written how the Minnesota Twins drafted Jean in 17th round of the 2019 draft and made him a six-figure offer, attempting to talk him out of attending classes for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. The Twins offered $495,000 US to turn pro.

At ABC, Jean was coached by Robbie Fatal and Maxime Hockoussen, while Berube, now in charge at the ABC, was his pitching coach and “big brother.” The Twins gave Jean’s money to Auburn sophomore Edouard Julien (Quebec, Que.), an 18th rounder, who was already on Cape Cod and set to return to school for his junior year.

* * *

This past July 14 -- 2,233 days after he was selected by the Twins -- Jean was chosen in the seventh round by the Colorado Rockies and given a $200,000 signing bonus by then general manager Bill Schmidt and scout Garrick Chaffee. After three years at Alabama, he missed a year due to injury and transferred to the Houston University Cougars.

“It’s the player’s decision (on going to school or turning pro), so he made the right decision,” Berube said. “It shows how much character and belief he has. He has a special make up. He believed that he would prove anyone wrong.”

Rockies scout Chaffee first saw Jean in 2024 when he was a starter as the Cougars played the Vanderbilt Commodores at Minute Maid Park.

“He was a strike thrower, he had pitchability and Vanderbilt could swing the bats,” Chaffee said from Dallas.

Jean worked 3 2/3 innings allowing one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out two in his 44-pitch outing.

“Then, this spring he started working with (pitching coach and former Toronto Blue Jays right-hander) Woody Williams in a hybrid role for Houston.”

Jean was 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA in 21 appearances all in relief, picking up five saves as he walked 20 and struck out 110 in 67 innings.

“He became even more of a strike thrower, he has always been that way, then he started throwing his four seamer and he became a lethal weapon,” said Chaffee. “We were surprised he was still there in the seventh.”

Jean returned to Montreal to clear up his visa situation and headed to Arizona to pitch in the Bridge League (games that bridge the gap between rookie league and instructional).

“We have had good reports on him,” said Chaffee, “his make up is off the chart according to our coaches. Since they moved the draft from June to July there is a large gap, so we never really push our arms.”

* * *

Berube was asked if in his nine years with the ABC Jean would be the best pitcher he has ever coached?

“Personally we were as close as you can be, when you coach you get along with some guys better than others,” Berube said. “I don’t think he was the best, but he had a little something special.

“He had great pitchability and a special make up,” big brother Berube said. “He didn’t have to step up in big moments, his game was always elevated. You could see that the context didn’t affect how he approached the game. He had fire in the eyes, ‘don’t take the ball out of my hand,’ I mean every outing.

“And pretty much a ‘give me that ball I’ll do it’ when he wasn’t pitching.”

This spring Jean was All-Big 12 First Team Relief Pitcher ... plus a College Baseball Foundation All-America team ... plus a Pitcher of the Year semifinalist ... plus a NCBWA Stopper of the Year Finalist ... plus Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year, the first reliever to win the award.

And ... oh yes ... Antoine Jean is the 26th annual Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian College Player of the Year.

* * *

Previous winners of Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Year (most first-place votes for the All-Canadian team):

2025 _ RP Antoine Jean (Montreal, Que.) Houston Cougars, with 38 of 49 first-place votes (77.6%).

2024 _ LHP Jackson Soucie (Cambridge, Ont.) Wabash Valley Warriers, 39 of 55 first-place votes (71%).

2023 _ C Brady Cerkownyk (Etobicoke, Ont.) of the Connors State Cowboys, 46 of 52 first-place votes (88.5%).

2022 _ 1B Matt Coutney (Edmonton, Alta.) of the Old Dominion Monarchs, 41 of 52 first-place votes (78.8%).

2021 _ INF Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) of the Wright State Raiders, 56 of 56 first-place votes (100%).

2020 _ INF David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) of the Connors State Cowboys, 54 of 62 first-place votes (87.1%).

2019 _ LHP Ryan Johnson (Winnipeg, Man.) of Lubbock Christian Chaps, 54 of 59 first-place votes (91.5%).

2018 _ DH Edouard Julien (Quebec City, Que.) of the Auburn Tigers, 43 of 52 first-place ballots (82.7%).

2017 _ OF Christopher Acosta-Tapia (Laval, Que.) of Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles, 41 of 51 first-place (80.3%) votes.

2016 _ LHP Guillaume Blanchette (St-Constant, Que.) of Lubbock Christian Chaparrals, 51 of 51 (100%) first-place votes.

2015 _ 3B Connor Panas (Toronto, Ont.) of the Canisius Golden Griffins, 33 of 45 first-place votes (73.3%).

2014 _ 2B-OF Craig-St. Louis (Gatineau, Que.) of the Seminole State Trojans, 50 of 59 (84.7%) first-place votes.

2013 _ LHP Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ont.) of the Arizona State Sun Devils, 50 of 65 (76.9%) first-place votes.

2012 _ 2B Maxx Tissenbaum (Toronto, Ont.) of the Stony Brook Seawolves, 40 of 58 (69%) first-place votes.

2011 _ OF Chase Larsson (Vancouver, BC), of the Cameron Aggies, 39 of 41 votes (95.1%) first-place votes.

2010 _ OF Marcus Knecht (North York, Ont.) of the Connors State Cowboys, 49 of 51 (96.1%) first-place votes.

2009 _ 3B Jesse Sawyer (Calgary, Alta.) of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, 33 for 49 (67.3%) first-place votes.

2008 _ DH Mike Gosse (Pitt Meadows, BC) of the Oklahoma Sooners, 35 of 42 (83.3%) first-place votes.

2007 _ 1B Kevin Atkinson (Surrey, BC) of the New Mexico Jr. College Thunderbirds, 55 of 62 (88.7%) first-place votes.

2006 _ OF Jon Baksh (Mississauga, Ont.) of the Florida Tech Panthers, 40 of 63 (63.5%) first-place votes.

2005 _ 1B Karl Amonite (Woodslee, Ont.) of the Auburn Tigers, 55 of 62 (88.7%) first-place votes.

2004 _ OF Charlie MacFarlane (Lantzville, BC) of the Cumberland Bulldogs, 36 of 45 (80%) first-place votes.

2003 _ C Aaron McRae (Delta, BC) of the LSU-Shreveport Pilots, 37 of 49 (75.5%) first-place votes.

2002 (tie) _ OF Ryan Kenning (North Vancouver, BC) of the New Mexico State Aggies and RP-SS Jesse Crain (Toronto, Ont.) of the Houston Cougars, each with nine first-place votes on 18 ballots (50%) in 2002.

2001 _ LHP Jeff Francis (North Delta, BC) of the British Columbia Thunderbirds, six of seven (85.7%) first-place votes.

2000 _ OF Ben Emond (Farnham, Que.) of the Texas Longhorns our inaugural year.

Winners by province: Ontario 11, British Columbia 7, Quebec 6, Alberta 2 and Manitoba 1.

Bold indicates major leaguer.