Ontario Expos

london and surrounding areas..12U and 14U; looks like the badgers have some competition. Mostly US tourneys, maybe they will hook up with the ECPL or Bullets league in Niagara.

John Owens had an illustrious pitching career with the London majors; Mendham was an MLB scout and has a local wood bat company.

Good for them, although hopefully the fees will be more reasonable than some other organizations. With all the travel it will add up.

Thanks for the info liner

I've never heard of the "boys of summer" league in Ontario,are you referring to the one based out of NY?

I had no idea they played out of there, I'd be interested in hearing the comparison as well.

pretty much ecpl level, actually I think they are members at 14U.

the 18 u division is all ecpl type teams. younger divisions have more US/Buffalo presence. From what I have seen over the years the buffalo teams are very similar to ontario ecpl teams talent wise. A slight edge to Ontario. PBLO still better.

the 14u expos beat the oakville little league world series hopefuls 20-4.

Thanks for the info liner

you have a pm...

Any thoughts to where ball is going in Ontario? ECPL, PBLO, Fergie Jenkins, OBA.  Where is the best ball being played u14, u16, u18?Is oba still the route at younger ages?

The Fergie Jenkins league is brand new, it joined two league's together one of which was the ECPL I thought. I know someone whose son is playing in the one age group in this league. He seems to be happy with how it's going so far.

The PBLO I think is still the premier league in Ontario. This is based solely off of my own personal observations of the amount of kids going onto to American Colleges and getting selected in the amateur draft.

Also to be honest I don't really see a need to be playing in those leagues at the 13U level and lower. A lot can happen around the ages of 12-14 both physically and mentally for kids in regards to Baseball, and that's a pretty good chunk of change to be "investing" in a kids development that really at that point in time is a cr*p shoot.

Again just my own thinking and observations.

Forgot to add I wouldn't be surprised to see the PBLO and Fergie league to eventually merge together.

Thanks for the reply. That is my thinking too in regards to playing u13 and paying big$, driving etc. When they are 16+ it seems a player has to go to PBLO if they want to play ball at a higher level though, would you agree? Playing OBA only takes one so far is what i gather, especially in small centers. Do you agree?

Not necessarily....

You can play OBA in smaller communities and still have a chance, it's kind of like Legion Ball vs Travel in the U.S. in some places Legion Ball is the only or slightly stronger option, especially in the rural or more isolated places.

You can play OBA only, it will make it difficult to get in front of Coaches, Recruiters, Scouts etc. but that is where Showcases like PG, Stanford, Headfirst etc come into play. If you can show up to a Showcase and proove you can flat out play then you'll get some attention.

Thanks very much  for your insight. I never heard of the showcases. I will google them.

The Ontario Expos are a great organization for teaching baseball, respect and competition to young men and ball players.  I would highly recommend the program.  They have some top notch instructors coming in for 2014 (Jamie Romak, Adam Stern, Chris Robinson etc).  My son plays for the 12u program and they have won one tournament and finished 2nd in two others in their first threetournaments of the season so they also put a great team together.

Thanks for the info. Where will they be based out of in regards to practices next season? Are they running more than one u12 and u13 or just one for each age group? Would the level of ball be equal to AAA/ Badgers?

Thx

The 12u program will be based out of London in 2014.  The 13u, 14u, 15u, 16u programs will be primarily based out of the region that most players are closest to on that team, so it is kind of up in the air at the moment until try outs are complete, but they will remain in the south western Ontario area for sure.  London, Guelph, Cambridge, Brantford, Woodstock etc are all possibilities at this time.

 

The teams would be AAA level in OBA classification standards, and yes, they are comparable to the badgers, and in some age groups, are better than the badgers and other similar programs like ontario prospects, fieldhouse pirates, ontario nationals etc.

 

The Expos are also looking at getting their own facility, so it is a program that is young but very up and coming. 

It's my pleasure.  You can feel free to email me directly if you have any other questions. 

c.gouthro@ontarioexpos.com