Ontario - Yours to discover

A useless bit on camps is that there's always one kid that seems to impress me more than the others. Last year, for Spring Training, it was Alexi Cassilla. Last fall for Instructional League, it was Danny Valencia.

This year, for Extended, it's Jon Waltenbury.

"Walt" or "Wally" is from Whitby, Ontario, Canada, which I will have to ask to have placed on the map for me as they do not have a professional hockey team (or a junior major team, for that matter).

He was the Twins 7th round draft pick in the 2006 entry draft (216th overall). He played with the Ontario Blue Jays and Canadian National Junior team and was scouted by the Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis and the Red Sox as well as the Twins.

The Twins have a pretty good record for signing their draft picks, Waltenbury had a ride for Connors State College in Oklahoma that he passed up to play pro.

Getting him here however, was a bit from a problem as he should have played last season but was delayed by visa issues, putting in his first appearance at Instructional League in the fall.

His down side, per his draft report, was moderate athletism (duely noted) and a fringe average arm. The arm strength is not to much of a concern at first base, but may prove difficult later as the Twins seem to have a number of hard hitting batters at first.

(Enough so that Erik Lis, as a stand out for Beloit last year, was moved back to the outfield this year in High A Fort Myers.)

He shows a lot of confidence around the plate though, with above-average bat speed and a good extention on a nice swing. He can hit for power...he reported hitting a few of the press box in the Metrodom...and can use the entire field.

In fact my response to his playing has been "You're too good for this program, Mr. Waltenbury, you will be going to be Elizabethton, I think."

He says he's not hitting as well as he'd like, he thinks he's "only" hitting in the low 300s through camp. Only? What does he normally hit? The stats for the games I've seen have him hitting well over .600, but granted, those are far from complete. He's show the ability to draw walks as well, something that a lot of the kids have problems with early on.

Now, if you've started thinking about American League MVP Justin Morneau...perhaps in terms of the Justin Morneau of the future, don't stop. There are some similarities (although in all honesty, I've viewed and still do view Chris Parmelee as the "next Morneau" as it were).

The amusing bit was that Walt knows Justin from Baseball Canada, so when Walt showed up in March for his first Spring Training, Justin had a gift for him - a gift of equipment - bats and cleats to get him started.

Much like Morneau and a number of other Canadian ballplayers, he sports a lefty bat. There is some speculation this is because most of the Canadians played hockey prior to starting baseball (Walt was a center) and because your stronger hand goes on top of the hockey stick when you're shooting right - and Waltenbury was a right-handed shot - so that once you start batting, it's more natural to bat left.

I was at an extended game Saturday, and the other guys were giving him a hard time about his accent, which, honestly, isn't bad. It's a standard Ontario accent, you get the "aboot" instead of "about". Big deal. I think the more amusing bit was when I was talking to Tyler and I said "And I've never, ever said a bad thing about you."

"You say bad things about us?" Waltenbury asks. Only if you deserve it, which to this point, he hasn't. (Just keep hitting those balls Mr. Waltenbury...) "I'm going to have to start reading that..."

I actually like him better than Henry Sanchez. While Sanchez might have the ability to hit for more power, he doesn't seem to have the ability that Waltenbury has shown to simpley hit. And if Waltenbury's downside is his athletisim, Sanchez's is much worse.

He also plays better defensively than Sanchez, who always struck me as playing the position backwards, and he's actually seen a curveball, something Jim Rantz reportedly said that Sanchez had never experienced before.

Anyway, I thought I was done talking to him, when all of the sudden he's like "Wait! I want to show you my new glove!"

"Did Justin give you that glove?"

"No," he says, "Justin didn't give me any gloves, just bats and cleats."

(Yes, it's a nice glove, Mr. Waltenbury.)

He was sidelined briefly at camp with a slightly twisted ankle and was out for about a week or so, but that didn't seem to slow him down any, as he hit 2-for-3 during Sunday's 8-3 pasting of the Orioles.

I've been asked for video of him...I will work on that, although there's a fairly good selection of still photos up from the April 1, April 29, and May 12 games.

If the E-Town girls want to get excited now, great. Start getting excited (he's 19, 6'3", 220 lbs according the roster and he's an April Fool). I know I will miss watching him. The E-Town fans on the other hand, won't.