Powell River’s Austin Brown will be staying with his Parksville baseball teammates this year.
The 15-year-old pitcher with an 85-mile per hour fastball has been in the spotlight recently, gaining the attention of major league scouts.
Austin’s mother Jen said scouts have been watching her son and having chats about his plans.
“It’s just crazy to have this already,” she said. “Everybody just wants to make sure that we’re not making the wrong choice.”
She has also had a number of calls from retired Canadian major league scouts who are offering Austin advice.
The scouts’ concerns revolved around making decisions that do not limit the pitcher’s development, she said.
Austin had plans to play ball in the United States this fall, but changed his mind.
This summer he was asked to join the Cloverdale Spurs, a powerhouse team which has a long history of dominating the provincial qualifying round, and play for them in Baseball Canada’s 15U Boys National Championship after his team, the North Island Royals, failed to qualify.
Austin and his Cloverdale teammates returned from the championship in Ontario with a bronze medal.
While he was at the tournament, Jen said he received an invitation to try out for the Blue Jays Academy team, the youngest player to be invited.
Austin turns 16 in April, and while there is a lot of interest in him right now, the young pitcher plans to stay with his triple A team this year. Jen added that in January he will be moving to Vancouver Island to be closer to the Royals.
