REGINA, Saskatchewan — On July 31, the Texas Rangers selected Regina-born pitcher Thomas Ireland in the Major League Baseball draft in the 13th round and 374th overall.

Prior to this shocking but exciting opportunity, Thomas was on the Regina Red Sox’s 2021 roster and slated to play with his teammates this summer. The leftie’s previous teams include Team Saskatchewan, Inside Pitch prospects, Martin Academy and the Regina Buffalos.

Thomas Liam Kai Ireland was born on June 27, 2002, in his hometown, Regina. Baseball Saskatchewan’s young but ambitious product has had several coaches throughout his career, including Greg Brons, Justin Eiswirth, Morgan Reiter, Rob Cherspuchak, and, most recently, Al Corbeil. Both past and present coaches have made their mark and helped him get to this point in his career.

He has awe-inspiring statistics to show for all the training he has received right from the onset of his career as a baseball player.

Ireland’s best batting stats were earned in the game against GBG NW Marucci on January 21, 2019, where he recorded three at-bats, one hit, one total base, and one stolen base. His best pitching stats, where he excels, revealed he pitched  2.0 innings while only allowing two runs, two earned runs and three hits in the game against Trosky National Team 2020 on January 20, 2019. Finally, he made his best strikeouts (2) and walked allowed (3) in the game against New Level Prep on January 18, 2019.

Recently, the Regina-born pitcher played with Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla. and earned a 6-4 record with an ERA of 5.37 and 85 strikeouts in 16 starts.

He has been on the radar of many scouts for a while now.

Ireland, along with four other players from Saskatchewan, were chosen as some of the best 140 Canadian amateur baseball players to perform at the Rogers Center while scouts from different parts of Canada and the U.S. watched. 

While the freshman represented Regina at the Blue Jays Baseball Academy Tournament 12, Hall-of-Famer Roberto Alomar was also present to watch him play. At the time, the left-handed pitcher had just started Grade 12 but could throw from 84 to 87 miles an hour. The annual Tournament 12 has helped many young baseball talents get college scholarships or get drafted by Major League Baseball organizations, and it has been operating since 2013.

It certainly did the same for Ireland.

When he returned from Toronto, he continued pursuing his goal of making the Canadian Junior National team, even after being offered a scholarship to study at Polk State College. According to him, “Just being drafted by that team would be a dream come true.”

And dreams do come true!

This 6-foot-1, 170-pounds southpaw signing the $125,000 contract with the Texas Rangers was a dream come true for him and his father.

It was an emotional moment when the 19-year-old heard his name called out while watching the online live stream. For someone who had pursued this goal since he joined the North Regina Little League, his reaction was one of shock. He spoke about how it had always been his goal to play college baseball as well as “to have the chance to play professionally.”

Thomas Ireland still has some big dreams as he looks forward to becoming “a household name in MLB one day.”

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