It will surely be a day to remember for Red Deer's Nathan Flewelling.
The six-foot-two, 200-pound catcher was selected in the third round, 94th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2024 MLB Daft on Monday.
"A Day we will never forget!!! @NathanFlewelli1 gets selected in the 3rd Round 94th overall to the @RaysBaseball," read a post on X from St. Joseph's Ball Academy.
"Nathan has been (in) our program since Day 1 six years ago. We are so happy for Nathan and his family!!"
The Innisfail product, who now calls Red Deer home, was the first Canadian selected in the draft.
The left-handed hitting catcher is hitting .329 in 20 games this season for the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the Western Canadian Baseball League, splitting time behind the plate and at first base. In 70 at bats, he has 23 hits, five doubles, five home runs and 19 RBI.
Late last year, Flewelling joined the Canadian Junior National Team program, participating in the Fall Instructional League Camp that took place in the Dominican Republic.
He was ranked 236th on MLB.com's Top 250 draft prospects list and is committed to Gonzaga University.
The 17-year-old was selected as the Prep Baseball Canada Player of the Year on July 8. He was the first player outside of Ontario to win the award.
"The Gonzaga commit has gained a ton of steam since the conclusion of (the) 2023 season (and) has had a slew of MLB teams checking in on him over the past several months. Flewelling represented Prep Baseball Canada on multiple occasions at the Best of the Tournament, including the most recent one in early May where he was the main attraction on the positional side and put together a quality tournament on both sides of the ball," said Cam Black-Araujo Assistant Director, Prep Baseball Canada in a press release.
Congratulations rolled in from across the baseball world on Monday for the Central Alberta star, including Sportsnet's Jamie Campbell, who was in Sylvan Lake this past week to watch some local baseball action.
"Congratulations to @NathanFlewelli1on being selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the MLB Draft. Enjoyed watching him play Wednesday and Thursday in the
@wcbleague," Campbell tweeted Monday.
"Congratulations to Nathan and the Flewelling family, we couldn’t be more proud! We wish you every success in this next baseball chapter," said Red Deer Minor Baseball in a tweet.
Flewelling may have forced his way into the draft conversation earlier this year at the MLB combine.
He left his mark by recording the second-best exit velocity of 112.4 out of anyone in the draft. Exit velocity is measured by how hard the ball comes off the bat, a skill he's spent countless hours on.
"Being at the combine was really cool. Just seeing the level of talent that's all over North America is pretty eye-opening. It makes you want to work a little harder," he told the Advocate in late June.
"I'm just trying to be inspiring to other kids that just because you're from Canada doesn't mean you can't go do that."
