Three teenage baseball players from Muenster recently spent a week in Arizona in hopes of playing for Team Saskatchewan at this summer's Baseball Canada Cup.
Brody Frerichs, Bryce Rueve and Nick Anderson were in Mesa for a nine-day identification camp for players 16 and under from all across Saskatchewan. The camp consisted of training, intra-squad and exhibition games. The players were hoping to impress coaches enough to be selected for the Okotoks Prospect Series in May or, even better, to make the roster for the Canada Cup, to be held August 6-11 in Saskatoon.
Anderson and Rueve are both Midget-aged players while Frerichs plays at the Bantam level. According to Chad Hofmann, who has coached all three players through the Muenster Red Sox program, having three players from the area be invited to Arizona is outstanding.
"We're usually lucky if we get one from Muenster," Hofmann said. "This is the first time we've had three go down to Arizona for this and next year we could have quite a few more."
Hofmann attributed the talent boom to an unusually large group of boys between Grades 9 and 12 that are also very good athletes.
"We'll continue to ride the wave for a few years," Hofmann said with a laugh.
At the crest of that wave is Frerichs, who at 15 was one of the youngest players invited to Arizona. While it's unlikely that he would be picked for the Canada Cup roster, the experience of playing against older, better players can be invaluable.
"Maybe one Bantam player is invited to Arizona every year," Hofmann said. "It's pretty unusual, especially because Brody is basically two years younger than the oldest kids there."
While Frerichs and Rueve still play for the Red Sox, Anderson, the oldest of the group, plays for the Saskatoon Cubs. Anderson and Frerichs are pitchers, while Rueve is a catcher.
It's likely that only one or two of the players from Muenster will make the Canada Cup roster, but just being invited down to Arizona shows the current depth of baseball talent in the town.
