One of the best hitters ever to emerge from the local baseball ranks, Sault native Aaron Fera has his sights set on securing a berth on the Canadian Olympic baseball team.
Fera, a former Select player in the Soo Minor Baseball Association, will continue to play and wait until July when the final roster is selected for this summer's games in Athens. With no formal tryouts, the team will be picked on needs and performance.
Fera, who is listed on the Canadian depth chart, was one of two players chasing Olympic dreams featured in an article by Mike Loftus in New England's The Patriot Ledger newspaper on Wednesday.
On the positive side, the fact that Fera is a right-handed power hitter is plus considering the country is blessed with talented hitters from the left side of the plate.
Meanwhile, Fera will play this season for the Brockton Sox, which opens the season on Thursday, of the professional independent Northeast Baseball League. Last year, Fera toiled for St. Paul of the independent Northern Baseball League.
Fera is no stranger to international competition. During the off season, Fera ripped the cover off the ball with a .381 batting average for Canada at the World Cup in Cuba in October.
"If I do well here this season, and if they're looking for a guy to come in off the bench against a lefthanded pitcher in a difficult situation, I could probably be that guy. It just depends on what the team is looking for, and what they saw when I played in Cuba," Fera told the Ledger.
"I wouldn't expect to start, but I wouldn't care. Maybe I'd just get one at-bat, or two at-bats in key situations. Who knows? Maybe I could be a hero."
Few have made headway in professional ball locally, but Fera may have what it takes to becomes the Sault's and possibly Canada's Olympic baseball hero.
The read the complete story from The Patriot Ledger, click here.