BC Premier Baseball League To MLB

Growing up in the lower mainland for most, means we can play some sports year round, which is a huge bonus.

Golf or Baseball are two that come to mind and in today’s world schools and/or Universities have programs set up to focus on the sport of choice.

If you work hard, listen to your coaches, attend practices and “go beyond” what is expected, the end result pays dividends.

One such player is UBC’s Curtis Taylor (6’6”, 225 lb) from Port Coquitlam who specialized in Kinesiology who not only excelled in school, but on the diamond.

Taylor attended a pre-draft workout session in Arizona for the D-Backs as well as one for the Mariners in Seattle.

Interesting to note that during the trip for the “Birds” to Lawrenceville Georgia for the NAIA playoffs in mid-may a Scout for the D-Backs asked to chat with him.

Can’t hurt that the D-Backs scouting staff includes Doug Mathieson who just happens to run the Langley Blaze program in the area.

Since coming to UBC from the Coquitlam Reds of the BC Premier Baseball League, Taylor has continuously pushed himself to improve, which finally paid off.

Taylor played for the Coquitlam Reds in the BC Premier Baseball League and was selected in the MLB draft in the 4^th round receiving a significant signing bonus.

The D-Backs Single “A” affiliate is the Hillsboro Hops in the Northwest League, so we could see him take to the mound at the “Nat”.

Earlier this year at UBC’s annual scout day approximately 30 scouts were in attendance, all holding up radar guns to see what “heat” he could deliver.

To the surprise of some he delivered a 92 mph followed by 94 mph then finally a 95 fastball.

He consistently delivered pitches in the low to mid-90s and obviously never looked out of place even when the pressure was on.

He was named to the NAIA All-American Honorable Mention team while he was pitching mostly out of the bullpen.

He had 24 appearances with the ‘Birds managing a 1.02 ERA along with 51/16 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 53 innings pitched.

He limited hitters to a .153 batting average against him, allowing just five extra-base hits and recording a WHIP of 0.75 and this past September, he was also named to the NAIA Preseason All-America Team.

In addition to his fastball, Taylor throws a hard slider with bite and is working to develop his circle change.

He gives full credit to his Dad (Wes Taylor) in his success as his driving force every day.

Notable that former T-Birds player Brooks McNiven has also played a key role in his development as a successful pitcher.

New UBC Head Coach Chris Pritchett is excited about what he’s seen from his team after taking over from Terry McKaig, who now acts as the program’s director.

Pritchett expects Taylor to be a key part of UBC’s starting rotation this year, as he joins a veteran crew that includes 2015 San Diego draft pick Alex Webb (Surrey) and senior Jeremy Newton (Toronto) both of whom logged over 87 innings last year.

A state-of-the-art baseball training facility opened in September (2016) drastically enhances off-season training capabilities.

At the end of the 2017 season the field will be flipped and stadium seating will be added.

The focus remains on the upcoming season with UBC attempting to make it back to the NAIA World Series for the first time since 2006.