Albers represents Saskatchewan at World Baseball Classic

Although Team Canada has been officially eliminated from the World Baseball Classic (WBC), Saskatchewan was well-represented.

Left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers from North Battleford made his third appearance for Canada at the international tournament.

Albers has spent parts of five seasons in the majors playing for the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays, and four seasons in Korean and Japanese professional leagues.

Even though Canada fell short of making it into the next round at the 2023 WBC, Albers said it was a great learning experience for some of the newer players to the team.

“A lot of those guys are going to be a big part of Team Canada going forward, so it’s nothing but positive things,” he said. “I thought our young guys did a great job competing even if it didn’t go great for them.

“And that’s always encouraging; that’s what you look for. The future of baseball in Canada is in really bright hands with a lot of young talent on this team, which was fun to watch.”

This year, Albers was the only player from Saskatchewan on the roster, as Dustin Molleken from Regina was unable to make it to the tournament.

While many of the star Canadian players in MLB come from Ontario, B.C., or Quebec, it gives Albers a bit of extra motivation coming from the Prairies.

“It’s certainly something that I take great pride in and I’ve been very fortuante to get the opportunity to play on a lot of these teams and represent Saskatchewan,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ve got some young talent coming up — and we do have some young talent coming up from the province that can hopefully take my place as I kind of phase my way out here and that we can still be represented on this national team.”

Some of those younger players have more access to resources and tools to help accelerate their careers in reaching higher levels of baseball compared to when Albers was growing up in North Battleford.

He was coached by his dad all the way through high school, but didn’t play at the highest level in the province due to the small size of the city.

Albers said his dad gave him most of his pitching tips in his early days. Albers was able to go to a couple of camps and play for Team Saskatchewan at the Canada Cup where he got to make a few more connections.

“I was blessed with enough arm talent, with that coaching (on Team Sask) and with my father bringing me up like that, I was able to go down to the University of Kentucky and probably had the best pitching coach of my career. And I don’t have the career that I’ve had without Gary Henderson,” said Albers, who spent four years in Kentucky from 2004-08.

He said he was able to take advantage of a few breaks during his career which helped him reach the majors, but he never forgets about the base he had growing up.

“It all started at home with my dad and I was fortunate enough to have someone to play catch with and give me some guidance from an early age. I certainly don’t have the career I have without him either,” Albers added.

What also didn’t hurt was having some Canadians play in the majors when he was growing up and he found himself right beside them in the dugout during the WBC.

“It was guys like Larry Walker, Paul Quantrill — who’s on our staff right now — and Chris Reitsma and guys like that that I got to watch growing up that were Canadians and had pretty good careers,” Albers said.

There was some good representation of Canadian MLB players among the roster and staff of this year’s team, including Freddie Freeman, Tyler O’Neill, Bo Naylor, Cal Quantrill, Otto Lopez and Russell Martin.

With the amount of talent from Canada, Albers says he’s proof that even if you come from a small town, you can make it to the majors.

“Even if you’re from the Prairies like I am or you happen to be from Ontario or B.C., it’s feasible — you can get there. There’s enough programs in Canada that are good enough that there’s a chance. I’m not saying it’s a good one because by no stretch of the imagination is it,” Albers said.

Albers is currently a free agent and not associated with any team; his last action in the majors was in 2021 with the Mariners.

So what’s next for him? He’s recovering from elbow surgery in 2021, but has felt like he’s getting back up to speed after preparing to pitch in the WBC.

But he says he’ll re-evaluate things in a couple of days as it’s much different to be ready for a week of baseball compared to an entire season.