One of just 150 baseball players out of 1,600 who tried out, Reid MacDonald, of Long Point, was named to the Blue Jays Baseball Academy’s Canadian Futures Showcase roster last month.
-by Bill Dunphy
The path to a career in any professional sport is one that requires dedication, commitment, sacrifice – and you have to be better than good at what you do.
Reid MacDonald has been on that path since the age of 14 and it recently led him to making the roster of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Academy’s Canadian Futures Showcase tournament.
The event, held at the Rogers Field at the Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver on September 17-20, saw 150 baseball players from across Canada showcase their skills in front of Major League Baseball scouts and college recruiters.
MacDonald was one of 1,600 players who competed at 15 tryouts across Canada.
“It was a really cool experience getting to play with the top 150 players across the country,” MacDonald said this week while on tour in the southern United States with his Okotoks Dawgs Academy team.
The Academy, located in Okotoks, Alberta, is a nationally recognized youth development program that is ranked second in North America. MacDonald moved there to attend the Academy when he was 14, along with his dad Sheldon. His mom, Dayna, and his sisters eventually moved there as well.
Sheldon is well-known in Nova Scotia baseball circles as a pitcher, having played with the Sydney Sooners, Halifax Molson Canadians, and winning a national Senior championship with the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry. He also played with Port Hawkesbury in the RABA where he once broke the collar bone of this writer/umpire.
“Leaving Long Point at 14 with my dad was tough, leaving my mom and sisters was pretty hard. I moved there in February of 2023 so it was the middle of winter and we were inside training and lifting in the gym almost every day. It was a grind from the day I got there and I was a little homesick, but as soon as the season came around I had something to look forward to.”
At five-feet-11 and 180 lbs., MacDonald is a right-handed pitcher. He just turned 18 and graduated from the Academy but has a gap year that will allow him to play another year with the Dawgs.
The three-week tour he is currently on is with 40 Dawgs teammates, playing ball in Salt Lake City, Utah, Portland, Washington, and points in between. The team will play ball until November where MacDonald will start a strengthening program before starting to pitch again in June.
“After I’m done in Okotoks I’m planning on going to school somewhere in the States. There are a couple of schools in Texas and Kansas that are interested in me,” he said.
“The time I’ve spent in Okotoks has been awesome and the most fun I’ve had playing baseball and I can’t wait for the upcoming season.”
MacDonald is now on his own, with his family now back in Long Point.
“Our plan was always to come back,” said Dayna, who is the principal at Bayview Education Centre in Port Hood.
“It was quite an adventure, but Reid’s adventure will continue and we’re with him all the way.”