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Ontario Blue Jays youth development team

Middleton started his baseball career with Owen Sound Minor Baseball before moving to Port Elgin and becoming a member of Saugeen Shores Minor Baseball.  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.  

Tyler Middleton says “Andy Brown, the head athletic therapist for the Owen Sound Attack was formerly the trainer for the Ontario Blue Jays.  When I told him that I wanted to play baseball at a more competitive level he suggested that I give them a call.  I went for a tryout at the indoor facility in Mississauga and was fortunate enough to be selected for the development program.”  

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.”  

The Ontario Blue Jays program was established in 1996, started in part by the Toronto Blue Jays to foster the development and promotion of Canadian Baseball players.  Over the years the organization has been growing into the year-round program that is now considered one of the top elite

programs in North American amateur baseball.  For more information on the program see the attached recruiting package.

Tyler Middleton will join the Under 17 team for the final tournament of the fall program, the Best/Gameday tournament in Memphis, Tennessee from October 15 to 17.  

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Monday, October 10, 2011