Yesterday marked the first time that the Pompey brothers shared the field in a competitive baseball game when the Canadian Junior National Team faced off against a split squad of the Toronto Blue Jays. The elder Pompey, Dalton, 22, comes into the 2015 season as the favourite to win the starting center field role for the boys’ hometown team while Tristan, 17, is gearing up for the 2015 draft and either a pro or a college career beyond.
Being the oldest child in a family isn’t easy. Dalton Pompey played baseball, a sport that his father had never played. But when he chose baseball at an early age, his parents, Ken and Valerie, made sure that he would going to do it right. It was only due to his mother’s discovery that switch hitting was something to be developed from a very young age that he made sure to get equal chances hitting both right-and left-handed. Despite the odds of a Canadian kid reaching the major leagues, Dalton Pompey did that, playing travel ball in the Toronto area and then with the Canadian Junior National Team before being drafted by the Blue Jays at the age of 17.
His younger brother, Tristan, is looking to embark on a similar path, playing with the Junior National team this year, his draft year. Tristan is bigger and probably a bit further along his developmental path at the same age that his older brother was when he was drafted. In our interview last year, Ken mentioned that he was learning the game right along with Dalton and he then applied that knowledge when Tristan was growing up, coaching his teams. Those factors, plus his big league bloodlines, will only bring more attention by pro teams to the younger Pompey.
Dalton was drafted in the 16th round of the 2010 draft but will Tristan do better? While Tristan has had some injuries slow his development, he’s a bigger version of his brother: standing at 6-foot-4, Tristan also switch hits, runs well and plays excellent defense in the outfield but could he have more power potential than his speedy, savvy older brother?
The scouts were out in force yesterday as they were watching some of Canada’s other top young players like Josh Naylor and Demi Orimoloye but I’m sure that there were eyes on both Pompey brothers as well. With a good showing with the Canadian Junior National Team, Tristan Pompey could very well be selected higher in the 2015 draft than his brother was in the 2010 draft. Thanks to the Pompey name already established by his big brother, he’s not as much of an unknown commodity and can look towards the summer to make a challenging decision.
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