Local baseball player Tyler Middleton has accepted a full time pitching position with the Ontario Blue Jays of the Premier Baseball League of Ontario. 

Middleton joined the Development Program of the Ontario Blue Jays in October of this year.  After several successful intrasquad games and a successful appearance at a tournament in Memphis, Tennessee he was offered a full time position with the organization. 

Middleton says “When they offered me a full time position it didn’t take me very long to say yes.  It is comforting knowing that I have a spot on the 17 under team this upcoming summer and potentially a spot on the 18 under team next year.  Now we get into 4 workouts per week, 2 of them at the indoor facility in Mississauga. Over March break we spend a week in Florida working out and playing in a tournament.  Then it is back for about a month before our regular season in the Premier Baseball League starts.”

Middleton started his baseball career with Owen Sound Minor Baseball before moving to Port Elgin and becoming a member of Saugeen Shores Minor Baseball.  “I want to say thanks to my coaches in Owen Sound, in particular Richard Leblanc and Jeff Cooper.  And my coaches in Port Elgin including Mike Kelly”.  In 2010 he was selected as a member of the WOBA Bulls Team that represented Western Ontario at the Ontario Summer Games held in Sudbury.  The team finished with a round robin record of 2 wins and 3 losses, with Middleton finishing the tournament with a record of one win and no losses.  It was only the second WOBA representative to win a game at the Summer Games. 

Middleton says that he has received a lot of financial support as well.  “I have worked in the dressing room of the Owen Sound Attack for the past six years and they were quick to jump on board as my major sponsor.  I also received support from my grandmother Wilda Matzanke of Tara, my grandparents Ed and Sheila Middleton from Leamington, my great aunt and uncle Eddie and Margaret Ann Howe from Wiarton, and my great great aunt Georgina Urbshott also from Wiarton.  Without all of this support I am not sure that I would have had the opportunity to do this.”