If the Blue Jays need more right-handed power, they only have to look down the other end of Bremner Boulevard to Zack MacEwen’s stall at Scotiabank Arena.
MacEwen was the talk of the Maple Leafs’ training session Friday at Rogers Centre, where for extra fun they went to the plate and he knocked the most pitching machine fastballs at or around 400 feet over the fence.
“That was a dream of mine.” MacEwen gushed Saturday before the Leafs took on the Edmonton Oilers. “It was unreal (clearing the wall). It was all I wanted to do that day. They were talking about us using the batting cages, but I was hoping they’d let us (on the field) and try to hit a few. It was like riding a bike for me.
“Just a super cool experience. I also love the Jays and my mom was over the moon for me, too. She watches every Jays game.”
What’s MacEwen’s baseball background?
MacEwen played competitive baseball in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, into the 2010s, a catcher, shortstop and sometimes pitcher
“I grew up in a baseball family, my dad played in the Canada Games,” MacEwen said. “He and my mom and had me out on on a ball field since I was young.”
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MacEwen was to be on PEI’s Canada Games ball team himself as an underager, but reluctantly gave it up to concentrate on the Games’ provincial hockey team where he ended up getting cut.
By age 16, he was done in baseball as he turned to a QMJHL career in Moncton, but he still plays slo-pitch in the off-season back home in charity tournaments.
Auston Matthews says he and Zack MacEwen have hit home runs while taking batting practice at Rogers Centre 😭 “A couple of us already hit, I snuck one out. MacEwen put one in the second row, just straight power. I grew up playing baseball, so it’s always fun to get out here.”…
Defenceman Jake McCabe was one of the many Leafs impressed with the tour of their new corporate brethrens’ facility.
“It was fun to see how they operate. They’ve got 60,000 square feet of luxury, you’re talking the Four Seasons,” McCabe said. “Their family room is quite impressive. They have a slide in there for the kids which really made my wife jealous.
“Mac hit the most out, Auston (Matthews) has a nice swing on him and I loved fielding ground balls.”
X: @sunhornby