By Andrew Seymour
The untimely end of Ottawa’s first competitive amateur baseball team has set off a debate over the level of talented young baseball players in the region.
According to team officials, various factors led to the decision in mid-November to fold the Ottawa Nationals.
Two reasons cited were the high cost of running a team and time demands put on the coaches.
Another main concern was a lack of talented players in the region and the aggressive recruiting tactics by other teams, which the Nationals couldn’t match.
“What’s happening is there are so many teams and the number of talented players has dropped dramatically in the region,” says the Nationals former general manager Bill Walsh.
“The really good players are being solicited by several different teams and from our perspective, that’s not good for the players,” Walsh says.
“The dilemma is that with fewer talented players everybody is out there trying to recruit who they can find for their teams. We’ve never really offered it that way,” he adds.
The team was the first of its kind when it started in 1990.
The Nationals were committed to developing young baseball talent between the ages of 16 and 18 from the Ottawa area. They played mostly in tournaments in the United States and southern Ontario to expose Canadian players to U.S. colleges and major league scouts.
But by 1995, many similar teams developed, including the Ottawa Bases Capitals, the Nepean Knights and the Ottawa White Sox.
Capitals general manager Jack Lasne disagrees with Walsh’s assessment the talent level of Ottawa-area ball players is dropping.
“I don’t agree with what the (the Nationals) said at all. There’s a very, very high number of kids between the ages of 15 and 17 with a lot of talent,” Lasne says.
He says the talent level is high enough to support one or two more teams in the region.
Lasne already runs two teams at different age levels out of the Bases Baseball and Softball Training Facility in Ottawa, which he co-owns. He says he plans to add a third team of 14- and 15-year-olds for the coming season.
Lasne says the Nationals failed to recruit in advance and develop a feeder system where young players are developed from within.
“We started with a bantam team of 14- and 15-year olds and developed a quality program,” he says. “Those kids stayed with us when they reached 17 and 18.
“The Nationals built from the top down and never went to the base. That’s where their failure was, not that there wasn’t enough talent,” Lasne says.
Lyle Anderson, general manager of the Ottawa White Sox, agrees there isn’t a lack of talent in the Ottawa area.
Anderson speculates the Nationals folded for an entirely different reason.
“The Nationals had a monopoly on the elite baseball players in the region up until two and a half years ago, when other teams started to form,” he says.
“Now that there’s competition, obviously they aren’t as competitive as they used to be.”
Anderson says the region’s richly talented teams will be stronger than ever next year.
“I see the kids coming through the ranks, and there is talent below us,” says Anderson.
“We’re going to have a tough time picking our team next year.”
Walsh says the Nationals could no longer offer the same quality program as in years past, increasing the desire to fold.
“If you’re going to do it, you want to do it really well. We felt as the number of players diminished it was harder to do things as well as we would like,” he says.
“We thought it was time to back away and let the other programs take over”.
Walsh says one of the team’s original objectives was to increase opportunities for baseball players, adding this has been achieved.
“When we started out there was no alternative to recreational baseball. Now there’s lots of alternatives, so in a way we’re saying were satisfied the goal has been accomplished,” says Walsh.
The Nationals coaching staff plans to stay in the baseball scene next year, by holding baseball clinics for Little League baseball players.
Walsh says this will give coaches a chance to stay close to the grass roots while avoiding the grueling travel and practice schedule the Nationals required.
While it will be strange not having the Nationals playing, Walsh says he’s confident the other teams can provide top-notch training and players will continue to succeed in U.S. college baseball and beyond.
The baseball file
The issue: Level of competitive amateur baseball in the Ottawa region.
What’s new: The Ottawa Nationals ceased operations after 9 seasons in mid-November.
What’s next: There will be one less competitive baseball team in Ottawa next season.
What it means: Talented baseball players will have one less team to play on