CARNDUFF - This year was a highlight reel for Carter Beck’s young baseball career.
It included unique opportunities, great success and led to the proverbial pot of gold.
Beck lives in Carnduff and played baseball out of Estevan. His season began in April at an evaluation tournament in Florida as a member of Team Saskatchewan, made up of the top under-18 players. From there,
Team Saskatchewan took a squad to Kamloops, B.C., at the start of May. Beck’s success there opened doors for further baseball firsts for him. One was in Texas. For two weeks, Beck played for a Texas team in a Nate Trosky tournament featuring Texas teams. Quincy Winkler, Beck’s father’s cousin, had sent a tweet of Carter playing ball in Canada, and that led to the invitation to play in Texas. Along with receiving excellent coaching, Beck was able to showcase his skills in front of many American college scouts.
Then it was time for the regular season with the South East Performance Pump U18 AAA Twins. His play earned him two recognitions. He was named the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League MVP and was selected as Saskatchewan’s Hitter of the Year. His team entered provincials in Saskatoon and reached the semifinal round.
That filled June and July. August was his busiest month. First up, it was back to Saskatoon to attend an assessment camp sponsored by the Toronto Blue Jays. Beck was chosen to move to the next step, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Canadian Futures Showcase in September. But August wasn’t finished yet.
There were the Canada Summer Games in Niagara Falls. Beck played for Team Saskatchewan and came home with Saskatchewan’s first-ever bronze medal. He played a significant role in the medal-winning game.
Next, it was off to the western championship in Regina. The Twins didn’t qualify because of their finish at provincials, but he was picked up by the provincial finalists, the Muenster East Central Red Sox. The Red Sox ended up with a 2-3 record and just missed the playoffs.
Then came the icing on the cake of a very memorable baseball year, the Futures Canadian Showcase. Originally scheduled for the Rogers Centre in Toronto, it was bumped by The Weeknd’s concert and moved to Ottawa. Beck was one of four players from Saskatchewan and one of 140 from across Canada to attend the five-day event.
On the first day, players showcased their skills. Beck impressed on a couple of fronts. First, he hit a ball that had an exit velocity of 100 miles per hour and then he threw a ball from right field to third base at a speed of 93 miles per hour, impressively clocking the fastest recorded throw of the day. He also ran a 60-yard dash in 6.92 seconds.
The next three days were spent playing prospect games in front of team and college scouts. Beck played outfield for Team Light Blue. His performance from those first four days impressed the scouts enough that he was selected to play in the all-star game on the final day.
Beck played right field and batted second, and although he went hitless, he did hit the ball hard, unfortunately right at the fielders. However, he did get a walk. One of his enjoyments of that game was batting before Myles Naylor, another prospect who has two older brothers playing in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Guardians.
“It was cool to meet all the junior national players from across Canada,” Beck says. “It was cool to be surrounded by so much major league experience.”
What was the pot of gold all this led to? Recently Beck was offered a four-year partial scholarship to play for the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. That begins in the fall of 2023, upon completion of Grade 12.
The accolades keep coming. Two weeks ago, he received a trophy for being Baseball Saskatchewan’s Player of the Year, an award acknowledging an outstanding season.
As Beck looks back over the past months, he concludes, “This whole summer was a great experience, meeting so many people from all over.”
Three trophies and one bronze medal serve as a constant reminder of just how good it was.
