Blue Jays to host baseball showcase this weekend

TORONTO -- The Tournament 12 is set to kick off on Saturday morning at Rogers Centre, with 10 teams from across the country competing for a championship in front of scouts from across baseball.

There will be three teams from Ontario, two from Quebec and one each from the Prairies, Alberta, British Columbia and Atlanta. It will mostly feature athletes who are eligible for next year's Draft, with the exception of one Futures team that has younger prospects.

Scouts from 17 universities in the United States have confirmed their attendance, while some from various organizations across Major League Baseball also will be there.

"Here you're going to have 10 teams, you're going to play against each other four times, so you're going to have more opportunity than just one day," said Blue Jays Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, who is the commissioner for the tournament.

"That's the beauty of this. You can just go out there and play baseball. That's really it. You can't say too much, because you have to see what they're going to do on the field. This is an opportunity for them to perform."

Day 1 will kick off Saturday morning at 8 a.m. ET with Cole White taking the mound for Ontario-Black, while J.P. Stevenson will get the call for Maritimes-Grey. That game will be immediately followed by Ontario-Maroon's Brodie Harkness pitching against Alberta-Red's Mike Soroka.

Later in the day, Ontario Green's Zach Pop will take on British Columbia-Orange's Kurtis Horne. Also scheduled to pitch that day are Ben Onyshko (Prairies-Brown), Liam Munshi (Futures-Navy), Pat Lalonde (Quebec-Blue), Joel Piece (Ontario-Green), Jason Tarapasky (Quebec-White) and Garan Ianni (Ontario-Maroon).

The first of what could become an annual tournament will take place over the course of four days at Rogers Centre. It will also have a fifth day that includes a showcase for the scouts and has been designed to help build the game in Canada and help local athletes get recognized south of the border.