Congratulations to former Mets 16U coach and father of Connor and Ryan Panas for being selected as the "athlete of the week" by CityNews.

Congratulations to 18U Mets P/OF Michael Foster, C Jake Hillier, P Adam McBride, P Jeremy Newton and P Andrew Simonetti, all of whom played a role this week at the national midget championships in London, Ontario.

Foster, Hillier, McBride and Newton all won GOLD with the Ontario representative (Tecumseh Thunder).  Foster hit .364 for the tourney including the game-winning bases loaded triple in the gold medal game.  He led the team in RBI's and also threw 6 1/3 of shutout ball in the semi-final game vs. London.  McBride & Newton threw 2/3 of an inning with Adam picking Michael Foster up in the semi-final nailing down the save.  C Jake Hillier played in 2 games and was as always, consistent in helping manage the pitching staff.

Simonetti was picked up by the host team London and didn't disappoint.  He started 2 games, winning them both (including throwing a complete game in the bronze medal game).  He finished the championships 2-0, 11IP, 3ER, 8K with a 1.95 ERA.

Congratulations to all that participated.

Mets Alumni and LHP Jake Eliopoulos will attend St. Petersburg Junior College this fall.  Jake was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2010 MLB draft but has decided not to sign and continue to attend school.  Good Luck!

Mets 18U P Andrew Simonetti posted the win today at the Midget Nationals for London on the 1st day of competition.  Simonetti started the game and pitched 4 Innings, allowing only 1 hit with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. 

In total there are 5 Mets competing in the Nationals for London and Tecumseh as pick ups. 

Congratulations to Michael Foster on being named to the Junior National Team.  Michael joins a long list of Mets alumni in making the Team and will immediately start getting ready for a trip to Florida in October.

Michael was also the only Met chosen for the Ontario Youth Team that represented Ontario at the Canada Cup this past week in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.  Michael pitched in 2 games and did not render an earned run over 10 innings and also contributed with his bat.  Ontario made it to the finals and won silver vs British Columbia.

Congratulations Michael.  What a season!

Congratulations to Toronto Mets 18U LHP Brian Smith who has signed a professional contract with the Chicao Cubs.  Brian was drafted in the 40th round in this summer's draft.   He was a part of Junior National Team that finished 5th at the World Junior Championships and pitched well.  He made two appearances without giving up a run and earned the win vs. South Korea. 

Brian will next report to Arizona, congratulations!

Congratulations to 16U/18U P Jesse Hardwick who was named to the NABF World Series All-Star team.  The 16U Mets competed in the Junior NABF World Series in July.  Jesse pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball in helping the Mets win 2-1.   Congratulations Jesse!

Congratulations to the following 18U players who have been called-up to play in the AAA Midget National Championship in London.

• Michael Foster (Ontario)
• Jake Hillier (Ontario)
• Adam Mcbride (Ontario)
• Jeremy Newton (Ontario)
• Andrew Simonetti (London)

Good luck!

Five Toronto Mets players from the 18U team have been chosen to participate in the final evaluation camp for the 2010 Ontario Youth Team. The final cut of 20 players will be made after the final evaluation camp and will represent Ontario in Saskatchewan at the Baseball Canada Cup. Congratulations and good luck to:

• SS / OF / RHP - Michael Foster
• C / 2B - Jake Hiller
• 3B / 1B - Gabe Mark
• P - Adam McBride
• SS / 1B - Connor Panas

Mets Alumni RHP Jordan Glover will play for the Edenton Steamers of the Coastal Plains league during the summer of 2010.  Jordan currently is a sophomore starting pitcher for Division I Eastern Michigan.  The Coastal Plains league is a developmental summer league for Division 1 ball players and has developed such players as Justin Verlander, Ryan Zimmerman and Kevin Youklis.  Jordan was part of the Mets organization in 2007-2008.  Good Luck Jordan!

Graduating 18U Mets OF Owen Laing, LHP Brian Smith, C Nick Studer, OF Sean Sutton and RHP Bryan Vardzel will be participating in a showcase for Blue Jays scouts at Rogers Centre on Wednesday morning April 28th.  In a game set up with the help of the Toronto Blue Jays and the ABC, a group of PBLO graduating 18s will play a DH vs the L'Academie de Baseball Canada.  This will provide all players wtih the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of Canada's Major League Baseball team as the 2010 Entry Draft nears.

In addition to the above named players, Mets Alumni Matt Jebb (U of Maine, D1), Leslie Williams (U of Northeastern, D1), Sammie Starr (UBC, NAIA) & Jake Eliopoulos are all eligible for the draft once again.

Mets Alumni Maxx Tissenbaum was named the America East Player of the week over the past weekend.  Maxx hit .750 for the weekend and currently is hitting .319 for the season.  Congratulations!

http://www.americaeast.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=204932605&DB_OEM_ID=14000

Mets Alumni 1B Brett Sanders has signed an early letter of intent to play at Southeastern Iowa Community college for the 2010-2011 Season.  Brett played for the Mets from 2006-2008 and helped the Mets win back to back Midget National Championships during his time.  Brett was also selected to be a part of the Canadian National Junior Program and represented Canada in the International Power Showcase held at Tropicana Field in 2008-2009.  He will reunite with another Mets Alumni Skye Irwin who is a Freshman there this year.

Congratuations

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Mets 18U C Nick Studer has verbally committed to Western Texas Junior College for the 2010-2011 baseball season.  With the help of a showcase run through Prospects North and Pro Teach (where the Mets train indoors), Nick was able to secure his scholarship with the school.  Nick has been a part of the Mets organization for 3 years, making the Ontario Youth Team in 2009 as a C.  His next goal is to be prepared for the MLB draft in June. 

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Toronto Mets 18U RHP/OF Michael Foster won Gold in the 2010 Provincial Swimming Championships held last weekend in Etobicoke.  Michael won the 16 year old 50m freestyle on Thursday in 23.42, more than half a second better than the silver medalist.   In addition, he also placed 2nd in the 100m butterfly and won a bronze in the 200m IM relay.  He is currently ranked 3rd in Canada in the 50 and 4th in the butterfly.

Great Work!

Mets 18U LHP Brian Smith was selected to participate with the Canadian National Junior Team as they host a camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports at the end of April.  Smith, who is entering his third season as a Toronto Met, has been a part of the National Junior Program since last April.  He will be one of the pitchers vying for a spot on Team Canada heading to the World Junior Baseball Championships at the end of July in Thunder Bay. 

Congratulations to Brian and good luck

The PBLO held it's annual General Meeting at the Rogers Centre on Saturday Dec 5th. There were a number of significant changes made including a couple of surprises.

As expected the agreement in principle between the PBLO and Baseball Ontario was ratified. PBLO teams and players will be classified as OBA AAAA (quadruple A). The most significant result of this agreement is that PBLO players (age 17 and under) will continue to be eligible to play for the Ontario Youth Team at the Canada Cup.

Another expected development is the entrance of the Windsor Selects to the PBLO. The addition of this succesful and historic organization now means the PBLO has all the best teams in southern Ontario from border to border. Although all PBLO teams have until Feb 1st to declare the numbers of teams they will operate, the Windsor group has given prliminary indication they will operate 16U, 17U and 18U.

There were two surprise developments at the meeting. (surprising because they were not on the original agenda)

1) The PBLO has approved the use of aluminum bats for both 16U and 18U divisions in 2010

2) The 18U roster limit has been increased from 21 to 24

ORLANDO, Florida – In what was a well played pitcher’s duel, only a pair of sacrifice flies was what produced runs in this game as the Junior National Team dropped a tightly fought contest to the Houston Astros by a score of 2-0 at the Fall Instructional League Camp.

Mets Alumni OF Skye Irwin has signed to play with the Southeaster Iowa Blackhawks (NJCAA Division 1) for the 2009-2010 season.  Irwin was a member of the Mets program from 2006-2008 and was a big part in the back to back National Championships the Mets won.  Good Luck!

The 2010 18U Mets are heading to Long Island this week to play in the Blue Chip Prospects tournament.  After a 2-2 finish by the 16U team last weekend, the 18U Mets will look to better that record.  On tap is an exhibition game at Division I Stonybrook University vs the Terriers Thursday September 24th, followed by tournament games over the weekend at Baseball Heaven.  Good Luck

The new Toronto Mets 16U team started their Fall Season on a strong note as they went 4-1 and reached the finals of the tournament hosted by the Terriers.  The new group beat the Oakville Royals, Ontario Prospects, Team Ontario Black and the Terriers before falling in the finals to an older Team Ontario Red team.  Great Job and good luck next week in Long Island for the Blue Chip Showcase tournament.

After a year (2009) in which new entrants to the METS programme were dominated by graduating Etobicoke  bantam players, the 2010 Mets 16U team will have a distinctive "eastern" flavour. Five graduating Scarborough Stingers bantam players will suit up in Mets colours for the new season, the most of any bantam team this year, and the most Stingers in the 6 year history of the METS.The Stingers advanced all the way to Sunday in the bantam OBA's before being eliminated by Riverside. They won't get much time off as the NEW look 2010 METS will get their first taste of 16U baseball this weekend at the Terriers Brawl in the Fall tournament.

The 2010 Mets 16U team:

• Johnny Caputo
• Jack Lang
• Yugi Suzuki
• Mitch Triolo
• Zakk Morgan
• Ryan McDougall
• Wes Hardwick
• Jack Dennis
• Jordan Giller
• David Marcus
• Conor Ledger
• Ryan Debi
• James Park
• Tyler Whealy
• Adam Raithby
• Brendan Keys
• Fabio Rodrigues

The Toronto Mets 18U won a share of the Midget AAA Ontario Provincial Championships this past weekend.  After Friday was washed out because of the rain, the Mets won their first five games of the tournament (Kitchener, Mississauga North, Thornhill, London & Windsor Selects) to reach the finals as the only undefeated team Sunday afternoon.  After a hard fought 5-1 loss to the National Champions London Badgers, it was declared that both the Toronto Mets and London Badgers would share the championships as both teams would have been playing their 4th game of the day.  Congratulations to all the 18U AND 16U Mets that were a part of this championship.

Mets Alumni Greg Densem (C), Josh Wood (LHP), Sean Pisarski (OF), Jordan Glover (RHP), Quinn Cummings (OF) and Kristopher Muccilli (RHP) are representing Ontario at the Summer Games in Prince Edward Island.  This tournament represents the national championships for all players 19U.  Managing the Summer Games team is Mets 18U Manager Jason Chee-Aloy.  Congratulations and Good Luck.

To follow along you can goto http://www.baseball.ca/games/index_eng.cfm?content=schedule

Mets 18U LHP Brian Smith & C/1B Nick Studer who were selected to represent Ontario at the Baseball Canada Cup next week in Kindersley, SK.  This tournament is for the best 17U players.

Met 16U RHP/OF Michael Foster was also one of only two players born in 1993 to be selected as well.

In all, seven Toronto Mets players were selected to participate in the final evaluation camp (Smith, Studer, Foster, OF Sean Sutton, OF Owen Laing, RHP Alex Johnson, 16U SS Connor Panas)

Congratulations and Good Luck

Mets LHP Brian Smith was named the NABF Junior Regional Tournament's Best Pitcher over this past weekend.  Smith had a dominating performance vs the host Astro Falcons.  He threw a complete game giving up only 1 hit, 2 walks while striking out 17 hitters. 

Brian will now compete with 6 other Toronto Mets this week for spots for Ontario at the upcoming Baseball Canada Cup.

Congratulations to Mets 18U LHP Scott Donnelly who has signed a letter of intent to play at Division 1 school Coppin State University.   Coppin State is part of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and is located in Baltimore, MD.

Mets Alumni Greg Densem and Sammie Starr are currently both in Prince George representing Team Canada at the World Baseball Challenge.  The World Baseball Challenge consists of teams from USA, Germany, Bahamas and 2 teams from British Columbia in this University aged tournament.   Follow the tournament at www.baseball.ca

The Toronto Mets organization is pleased to announce Jim Eliopoulos has rejoined the Toronto Mets staff as a roving instructor.

Jim was a coach with both the 16U Mets and the 18U Mets in 2007 and 2008. Jim is a former player/coach of the Intercounty Baseball League Toronto Maple Leafs and managed the Leaside Hurricanes senior team. Jim was a catcher on the 1984 Canadian Olympic Baseball Team and played pro ball in the Toronto Blue Jays system.

Jim will work with players on both Mets teams as well as with our winter development program. His wealth of baseball experience and ability to teach young players further enhances the METS unparalleled commitment to player development.

Toronto Mets 18U SS and Toronto Blue Jays Draft Pick Maxx Tissenbaum was named to the Toronto Star High School All-Star Team for 2009.  He joins former Mets Alumni Ryan Panas, Skye Irwin, Greg Densem, Sean Pisarski, Brian & Jarrod Ivan as being honoured as one of the best High School Players in Toronto.  Congratulations

Toronto Mets 18U LHP Brian Smith has been selected to participate in the National Junior Team Training camp taking place in North Carolina and Cuba.  This will be Brian's 3rd trip with Team Canada.  Congratulations!

Toronto Mets 18U SS Maxx Tissenbaum was drafted in the 43rd round of the MLB 1st Year Player draft today.  Maxx was the 1300th player taken in the draft.  Maxx has been a Toronto Met since 2005 and was a part of two National Championships with the Mets and participated with both the Ontario Youth Team and the Canadian National Junior Program.   Congratulations and good luck!

Six (6) Toronto Mets players have been chosen to participate in the final evaluation camp for the 2009 Ontario Youth Team.  The final camp will happen during the July 20th week and the final cut of 20 players will be made after that week to represent Ontario in Saskatchewan at the Baseball Canada Cup.  Congratulations and good luck to:  

• RHP / OF / IF- Michael Foster
• IF / P - Connor Panas
• RHP/1B- Alex Johnson
• OF - Owen Laing
• LHP - Brian Smith
• C / 1B - Nick Studer

Congratulations to Toronto METS 18U IF and National Junior Team Member Brian Ivan for signing a letter of intent to play for Division I Binghamton University Bearcats.