He has averaged 68 runs scored, 22 doubles, 54 RBI, 19 stolen bases, and 59 walks per 162 games during his seven-year professional career.
Not bad for a Canadian kid who played on the same high school baseball team as Chicago White Sox second baseman Brett Lawrie. Then again, Darvill was a terrific athlete growing up.
“ I played baseball, basketball, football and a little bit of soccer growing up,” he said.“ I played hockey with my buddies, but never played organized hockey. My buddy down the street would freeze over his tennis courts in the winter. I played basketball until Grade 10 and I then just played baseball.”
And did he ever play. One of the best high school and junior players in the country, he caught the eye of Canada’ s national team program early in his career.
“ I played for the Langley Blaze( of the highly-regarded British Columbia Premier Baseball League), an awesome organization with great coaching,” said Darvill.“ Then I played for Greg Hamilton on the junior national team with a lot of great coaches and great players there. I got lots of exposure there and it was fun playing. It was like a pro atmosphere there. I was drafted by the Cubs right of high school( fifth round in 2009).”
This season, Forney signed four Canadians – Darvill, catcher Justin Marra from Toronto and pitchers Dylan Reault from Sudbury and Eric Sim from Abbotsford, B. C. All four looked solid at Saturday’ s training camp opener.
Although Marra played independent baseball in Ottawa last season, the other three are Inday Ball rookies. Darvill is excited to play on a team that is playing to win, not teaching
young players how to play the game.“ I’ ve never had an independent baseball experience before,” he said.“ This is my first time and I’ m looking forward to it. I’ m excited about playing on a team of professionals who go out to win every game.”
He’ s also excited about playing in Winnipeg, a city he’ s experiencing for the first time.
“ I’ ve never been to Winnipeg before,” Darvill said with a laugh.“ It was a great drive coming here from Langley. Came down through the Rocky Mountains to Calgary then across Saskatchewan with all the big tractors. It was quite an experience. I actually liked it a lot. It was a cool drive.
“ Winnipeg is a great place to be and we have a great group of guys here I’ ve met most of them and I think it’ s going to be a really fun year.” •
Photography by Jeff and Tara Miller 204-430-5522 www. SportsLife. life
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