Hall Represents Canada At Under Armour All-America Game

The Great Lakes Canadians have quickly developed into one of the best baseball programs in Canada. With a coaching staff filled with former professional players, the Canadians have begun churning out high-end Division I talent regularly, and they’re producing more and more draft picks.

The next high draft pick to come from the Canadians could be Adam Hall, an infield prospect and an Under Armour All-American. Hall will be the only Canadian prospect to participate in this year’s All-America Game, which will air on MLB Network at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday.

Hall is a Texas A&M recruit, and he’s been well-known among the amateur scouting community for a couple years, having established some track record playing in front of scouts with the Canadians and with the Canadian Junior National Team.

“I’m in,” said one area scout who covers eastern Canada, indicating interest in following Hall through next year’s draft. “I think he’s going to hit.”

Hall has a compact swing with a smooth, subtly downhill bat path that works through the hitting zone, and he shows natural timing at the plate, with the ability to pull pitches on the inner half or go with pitches on the outer half. He was one of the standout performers at the Perfect Game National Showcase back in June.

Hall is preparing for a new experience on Saturday, but he’s had plenty of exposure to high-level competition. While conventional wisdom might suggest that players from Canada don’t see quality competition as often due to the frigid conditions of winter in the Great White North, the opposite is actually the case. Top high school programs such as the Great Lakes Canadians travel often, and young Canadian prospects face college and minor league teams regularly.

“I’ve faced a couple guys who throw upwards of 97 to 100 miles per hour,” Hall said. “And then you have guys who have good offspeed stuff and they know how to locate, so I’ve seen a little bit of it all.”

“When they come in, they’re going to try to throw fastballs by you because they think you’re not up to their level . . . I find it difficult to come back to seeing slower pitching (against high school competition), but overall I think it definitely helps because you’re seeing it before most people are seeing this kind of stuff, getting used to it and getting a chance to deal with it before most guys, so it’s kind of a bit of a head start.”

Hall does have a head start. He’s shown well with the bat this summer and could endear him to professional scouts further over the coming weeks. He credits GLC coaches Adam Stern, Chris Robinson and Jamie Romak with much of his success.

“Whether it’s on-field, physical stuff, or a lot of the mental stuff and that kind of thing,” Hall said the GLC staff has it covered. Stern, Robinson and Romak all played in the major leagues and they each hail from London, Ontario—Hall’s hometown. Hall says that that the trio also provides unique guidance for Canadians players through the recruiting process, a service that not all programs are able to provide.

But the development of the Canadians’ program isn’t the only boon to the career of a prospect like Hall. He’s also had the benefit of seeing players around him succeed and develop into high draft picks in recent years, with players like Gareth Morgan (Mariners), Josh Naylor (Marlins), Miles Gordon (Reds) and Demi Orimoloye (Brewers) emerging from Canada over the past few years.

“I think it’s good to see first-, second-round talent around you,” Hall said. “You can kind of gauge where you are and say ‘I’ve got a shot to do the same thing as well.’ It’s good to have them around, to see what their strengths are, see what you have to work on, to see what you can improve.”

Obviously it’s too early to predict whether Hall can follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, but like he said, he’s got a bit of a head start in doing so.