Life-changing moment No. 1 for North Vancouver’s Will McAffer came three weeks ago when he got a call from a Major League Baseball scout letting him know he was about to get drafted.
A few minutes later his name popped up on the draft board. Round 25, pick No. 746: Will McAffer, Toronto Blue Jays.
As a good Canadian kid, it was a dream come true.
“It was unreal. Crazy. A lot of emotions. It was a pretty great moment,” says McAffer. “With them being the only Canadian team, it’s pretty tough not to be a fan. I’ve always rooted for them growing up. It’s a huge honour to get picked by them.”
The next great moment came about a week later after McAffer spent time at the Blue Jays’ extended spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla. The Jays were assigning their new players to minor league clubs, and McAffer knew that there were three likely destinations for players at his level of development: right there in Dunedin, up the coast a bit in Bluefield, Va., or a continent away in good old British Columbia with the Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Canadians.
Through good luck, good timing, or perhaps the good graces of his new employer, the Jays chose to send the Sentinel Secondary grad home to play professional baseball in Vancouver.
“I thought it was a bit of a longshot,” says McAffer. “I didn’t know where they were going to place me. The fact that they placed me here was pretty sweet. It’s really pretty tough to beat.”
McAffer made his professional debut on the road in Eugene, Ore., pitching 1.1 scoreless innings June 17, before making his home debut in a relief appearance June 20 at Nat Bailey Stadium with friends and family there to cheer him on.
“They drive you out on this little baseball cart,” McAffer says with a laugh about the old school bullpen procedure employed by the Canadians. The crowd gave the hometown boy a rousing ovation. “Everyone was so excited. It was a really cool moment.”
It was the latest exciting chapter in a baseball career that started with Highlands Little League in North Vancouver. From there McAffer joined the powerhouse North Shore Twins organization where his game flourished under the tutelage of then pitching coach, now head coach, Brooks McNiven.
“It’s what really made me the baseball player that I am,” McAffer said of playing for the Twins. “It’s where I learned the most, without a doubt.”
McNiven played pro ball himself and pitched for the national team, making him a valuable resource for young McAffer.
“I knew that everything he was saying, he wasn’t making it up,” McAffer says. “He knew what he was doing. It was good that I could just kind of blindly follow him, in a way, and just whatever he said, I could do.
“One of his biggest things was just consistency and keeping a level head. If things aren’t going your way you can’t get mad and throw things, you’ve just got to deal with it, don’t show any emotions. I think that’s really helped me over the years, because obviously baseball gets frustrating and you want to get angry, but it doesn’t help anyone to do that.”
McAffer also played with the junior national team and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds out of high school but chose to take the college route instead, pitching at South Dakota State and Central Arizona College, before moving up for a season of NCAA Div. 1 ball with Tulane University.
Now that’s he’s made the jump to the professional ranks, he wants to go as far as his strong arm will take him.
“I’m just hoping to work as hard as I can and get as far in the game as I can,” he says. “It’s kind of my dream to play – I’m trying to ride that as far as I can, work my ass off to try to get to the highest level.”
It’s been quite a ride for McAffer already and he’s only been a pro for three weeks.
“It’s still all setting in a little bit,” he says. “It’s pretty great. It’s special knowing that this is what I do now, it’s my job, it’s not just something I do just for fun. I’m really putting in a good run at it and trying to go as far as I can.”
