Profile of Brewers' Canadian Scout Marty Lehn

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Baseball scout has keen eye for talent

Daniel Chalcraft

Special to the Peace Arch News (British Columbia, CN)

 

The baseball season may be long since over, with young ballplayers putting away their gloves, bats, and cleats for the winter, in exchange for sticks and pucks, but for one man - longtime pro baseball scout Marty Lehn - the season never really ends.

 

In fact, though there was snow on the ground as recently as a few weeks ago, the Peninsula resident is as focused on baseball as ever - whether it's working as a scout with Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers or running his Big League Experience summer camps, which he's held in Oliver since 1997.

 

For Lehn, a former infielder whose playing career ended after he suffered injuries while attending Southeastern Lousiana University, the chance to still make a career out of the sport he loves makes all the effort worthwhile.

 

"Talent stopped my (playing) dreams," Lehn said, who parlayed his scholarship into a master's degree in exercise science.

 

"It was disappointing, but that disappointment was short-lived as I was able to find another way to stay in the game through coaching."

 

Growing up, soccer was the sport of choice in Lehn's family until, at age 13, Lehn was introduced to Dale Parker, former owner of the Okanagan Major League Baseball camp.

 

"He really took me under his wing, and life in the baseball world began," Lehn said.

 

Since that meeting with Parker, it's been all baseball for Lehn, whether it was playing pickup games with his pals at Burnaby's Springer Park, or putting on the Canadian uniform as a coach at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg or at the Olympic Games in Athens.

 

The Olympics, he said, was an "unbelievable" experience, rivaled only by the Winnipeg games where the team entered the stadium in front of 50,000 screaming Canadian fans.

 

"Putting on the uniform and wearing our country's colours was probably the greatest thrill," said Lehn, a Peninsula resident since 2000.

 

Having worked with the national program since 1991, doors opened for Lehn to get his feet wet at the professional level too - he was a spring training guest coach for both the Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays before signing on with Milwaukee as the team's Western scout.

 

His job with the Brewers dovetails nicely with his Big League camps - spending the summers in Oliver gives him an opportunity to watch some of the province's top young players. In addition to holding camps for individual players, Lehn's program also hosts tournaments which routinely attract top all-star squads from B.C. and the United States.

 

Over the past five years, the Brewers have been among the most active Major League teams when it comes to drafting British Columbian talent. In 2006, the team drafted White Rock native Ricky Alvernaz (%0th round, unsigned), and last season they made a much bigger splash, taking Langley's Brett Lawrie in the first round.

 

The team also counts Vancouver Island infielder Taylor Green and former White Rock Triton Kyle Dhanani among its top prospects. It doesn't hurt that two of the Brewers' top front office men - Gord Ash and Doug Melvin - are Canadian.

 

"I am another set of eyes that believes in the talent north of the 49th, who has no problem sitting down in the board room and flaunting our talent," said Lehn.

 

"Being able to... hopefully push some Canadian talent into professional baseball, eventually major league baseball, seems to appeal to me."

 

Lehn's eye for talent is earning him praise outside of the Milwaukee organization, too. In a recent story written for the Toronto Star, Bob Elliott writes that the selection of Lawrie in last year's draft is "a credit to Brewers' scouts Marty Lehn and Jay Lapp."

 

"No one does a better job scouting Canada than the Brewers," he concluded.

 

With baseball off the field - and most sports fans' radar - until the spring, Lehn will spend the rest of the winter preparing for his Big League Experience camps, as well as keeping tabs on what local prospects are up to.

 

Next month, he will again hold his Opening Day Super Clinic at Southridge School, Jan. 30-31.

 

At the skills camp, Lehn will be aided by a bevy of other instructors, including former Major Leaguers Chris Reitsma, Bob Didier and Chris Pritchett.

 

The camp runs each day from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.bigleagueexperience.com.

 

Marty Lehn (left) coaches third base for Canada at the Pan-American Games in 1999. The Peninsula resident counts the '99 Games as a career highlight.

Contributed photo

 

http://media.bclocalnews.com/images/400*281/76425whiterockLehn-02.jpg

[battlekow]

Best of the West turning into scouts' dream

Mark Hunter/Kamloops Daily News

Marty Lehn calls it a “one-stop shop.”

Whatever you call it,

the Best of the West showcase baseball tournament is turning into a

premier event for Major-League scouts to see some of Canada’s top

prospects.

Around 30 scouts representing 15 big-league clubs were

seen around NorBrock Stadium and Canada Games Field during the four-day

Best of the West. Lehn, a Milwaukee Brewers scout and a tournament

organizer, isn’t surprised that so many showed up to the event, which

was comprised of 12 premier teams.

“I started it up for that

reason — to make it a premier, No. 1 scouted event,” said Lehn, who runs

Big League Experience baseball camps. “The mindset was to make this a

premier tournament in Canada and a one-stop shop for scouts.”

Although

the Best of the West has had a pretty short history — it started in

2007 — the tournament has churned out a few solid draft picks. Among

them were Langley Blaze infielder Brett Lawrie, who competed here in

2008 and was drafted in the first round, 16th overall, by the Brewers

that same summer, and shortstop Wes Darvill, whom the Chicago Cubs

selected in the fifth round of the 2009 draft.

Lehn, who coached

Canada’s entry at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, said the timing of

the Best in the West makes it optimal for scouts.

“It’s a perfect

time to hold this tournament if you want to get scouting directors in

here,” said Lehn, who was joined this weekend by two fellow Brewers

scouts. “Once you get closer to the draft, it tends to get more

difficult to get them up here.”

This year’s tournament featured 10

or so prospects, including Langley catcher Kellin Deglan, who is ranked

No. 66 on Baseball America’s top 100 high school prospects list.

“He’s

going to be going down to Orlando in the middle of April with a junior

national team,” Lehn said. “If he continues to do what he does . . .

he’ll probably be the first Canadian guy to go.”

In previous

years, the Best of the West featured 12 or 13 teams, with one division

featuring AAA teams, including the host Kamloops RiverDogs.

There

was no local entry this year — instead, organizers decided to go with

all premier teams, and even drew a select team from Ontario, the

Terriers.

“I think you’re going to see more and more Ontario teams

and more Ontario prospects coming out,” Lehn said. “We want to get the

best talent from Western Canada, but also get some from Ontario, too.”

But,

even with increased interest from teams and scouts alike, Lehn doesn’t

see the tournament getting any bigger than its 12-team draw. For one,

there is a limited number of midget-size fields in Kamloops, not to

mention that it’s already a four-day tournament.

But, more

importantly, Lehn likes the tournament the way it is.

“I might

just want to keep it at 12,” he said. “I don’t know if we need more than

12 teams. Those teams that don’t get into the tournament, their better

prospects get picked up by other teams, so we see most of the best

players off all the teams.”