The path to international baseball stardom is closer for some in the area, with the Israel Baseball Prospect Camp taking over Athletic Kulture Stadium Tuesday.
Youth baseball players aged 13 to 18 years old (high school classes of 2025-2028) came to the ballpark for a chance to make their name known to scouts for the Israeli national baseball team, led by former major league pitcher Jon Moscot.
Moscot's official role with Israel Baseball is as director of technology, but he's had previous coaching experience as a pitching coach within the Cincinnati Reds organization at the triple-A level.
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According to the Law of Return, Jews, people with one or more Jewish grandparent, and their spouses have the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship.
חוק השבות
"Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh."
Canada is home to nearly 400,000 Jewish people, meaning they were born to a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism and are not members of another religion.
"We're here to evaluate athletes and talent for the national team, former major league pitcher Moscot told Barrie360. "We could potentially pull in kids from this to the national team to play all over the world."
Upon arrival, many of the players checked in wearing gear from their respective baseball program. They include Team Ontario Astros and Fieldhouse Pirates. Players were given Israel Baseball gear to wear during the event.
"There's varying skill sets and age ranges, but we take that into consideration," Moscot added.
Moscot, from Santa Monica, Calif., was a fourth-round pick by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2012 MLB Draft out of Pepperdine He eventually made eight major-league starts for Cincinnati between 2015 and 2016.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery, he missed both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. But, ht used his recovery time to get involved with Israel baseball at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
"I learned the importance of being a part of this organization. It means so much to people more than just baseball," he said. "There's a large network of people that want to be a part and want to help with this organization, and that's really promising and really exciting for the future."
In 2018, he became a dual Israeli citizen, taking after his Jewish father, and his mother who converted to Judaism.
He did it in part to help the Israeli national baseball team. He pitched for the nation in the 2019 European Championships, and later that year in an Olympic qualification event.
Israel won the qualification tournament, and Moscot was the opening-game starter for the country in the 2020 Olympic Games.
"It was an incredible experience, something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life, to be able to wear Israel across your chest," he said. "It's hard to put it into words how special of a moment it was."
However, wearing the Star of David and the Israeli name comes with a price. A hostile climate regarding the practice of Judaism and the country as a whole has escalated considerably in North America. Especially since the beginning of the Middle Eastern crisis.
"There's both positives and negatives," he says. "Experiencing that firsthand was very eye-opening for me."
Earlier in this showcase tour, officials were pestered by protesters supporting a Palestinian state. In particular, protesters interrupted their itinerary at an event in Vancouver and posed a security risk to the kids involved.
Nonetheless, it isn't stopping Moscot from trying to find the next potential stars to represent the nation in future editions of the World Baseball Classic or the Olympic Games.
"Israel baseball is the biggest blessing of my life," he said while addressing the players before the activities started. "It offered the opportunity to represent not what's on the back of your jersey, but what's on the front of your jersey... and I say that playing on big league teams; that brotherhood is not there."
The theme of the day from Moscot was for the players to have fun and to represent something greater than themselves.
Moscot flew out from Los Angeles, where Israel Baseball Americas is based, to run Tuesday's program. The organization is almost completely run by Israel baseball alumni and those with major league experience in a variety of roles.
Tuesday's showcase itinerary included:
- Player check-in
- Players receive a numbered camp shirt and other gear; have a headshot taken and profile created
- Opening remarks followed by dynamic warm-up
- Mobility testing
- Broad jump, 30-yard dash, 5-10-5-yard shuttle run
- Defensive evaluations
- Offensive evaluations (batting practice)
- Controlled scrimmage and situational drills
- Closing remarks, overview of Israel Baseball program
Data is collected from the showcases and added to the players' profiles. Players are then encouraged to come back to the camp annually to show improvements stay in touch.
I hope that you guys take this for what it is and continue in this journey of your baseball careers and have this opportunity, Moscot said in his address to the players. "This is step one."
