NORTH VANCOUVER, British Columbia — When Ryan Engel tore his anterior cruciate ligament playing basketball with his high school team, he thought his time in baseball was over. His injury occurred after a remarkable grade 8 season with the Vancouver’s North Shore Twins in which he proved to be a dominant high frame left-handed pitcher (Engel is now 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds) and caught the attention of the British Columbia Premier Baseball League.

Due to the severity of his injury, Engel required surgery and had to skip his grade 9 season. And then the pandemic hit, so he missed his grade 10 season as well.

“I kind of thought that was it, honestly,” Engel said.

Taking a look backward, he now acknowledges the amount of hard work and determination that were necessary to get back on track and end up achieving his dream of joining a college baseball team.

“I just worked super hard and now I don’t even notice it (the discomfort),” Engel recalled. “I had my doubts, but I was determined to do something related to baseball and I stuck with it. This is going to be my first year back actually healthy. It is going to be a super exciting year.”

Engel got back to the mound for the grade 11 season (2021) and set out to make up for the lost time. He posted a video on Twitter that showed him pitching and the Everett CC Trojans baseball coaches contacted him. They told Engel that they liked what they saw. Then, they continued talking and invited him to join Everett’s program this fall.

“It is a blessing to commit to playing college baseball, especially with COVID-19,” Engel said. “It was super hard to get recruited because coaches and scouts were not allowed to come to Vancouver or cross the border. It was super hard to get recognized.”

Engel, who will play his grade 12 season with the Twins before enrolling with the Trojans, is looking forward to joining his new team.

“Trojans head coach, Parker Guinn, has some serious experience in D1 baseball in the U.S. and the pitching coach Keith Hessler was an MLB pitcher,” Engel said. “That is a great place to go.”

The lefty has been told that he will play a major role with Everett.

The Everett Trojans head coach Parker Guinn said the Trojans are really excited to help Ryan develop his potential.

“Being a starter is very achievable, especially with the help of our pitching coach (Hessler),” Guinn said. “He is a big lefty as well (6-foot-4), so he knows what he is talking about.”

Guinn is excited about Engel’s potential.

“He has a very big frame and is left-handed,” Guinn said. “After he gets in here and gets involved with the way we work on a daily basis and gets to be around the high-level pitchers we have in our coaching staff, he is going to continue to take some significant strides in a hurry and will have the opportunity to be a very impactful arm for us.”

Even though the coach with several years of experience in Division I baseball in the United States, (Utah, Edwardsville and Washington) cannot predict the role Engel could play with the team, he would like Engel to be part of the starting rotation if he continues his development.

“Since Everett is a two-year school, its program is different from others,” Guinn explained. “We are going to need a freshman like Ryan to come in and step in in a high-level role for that 2022-23 season. He has a very good chance of pitching a lot for us.

“If we could have someone like him, with his big frame, in our rotation, it could be impactful. We’ll see how he progresses. We will stay with the North Shore Twins coaching staff in touch so Ryan’s transition from high school to college is smooth.”

Last year, Engel’s fastball was hitting 84 miles per hour, but he has not checked his main pitch speed recently (he is still developing his secondary pitches: slider, 2-seam and change-up). He is hoping to hit the high 80s the next time his velocity is measured.

“Hopefully, I will touch 90,” Engel said.

The North Shore Twins pitching coach and former San Francisco Giants prospect Brooks McNiven has seen Engel pitching since the young lefty played Little League baseball in North Vancouver.

“He has not even come close to reach his potential as a pitcher,” McNiven stated before reciting Engel’s strengths. “He is pretty good at locating his fastball in the strike zone. His fastball is not overpowering at this point. He does not walk many guys, is around the zone and challenges hitters. We are all excited to watch what is to come. He has a lot of room for improvement this season with us and the next two seasons with Everett.”

McNiven believes that Engel will keep getting opportunities and attention based on his size.

“It’ll all depends on how everything comes together over the next couple of years,” McNiven said. “I spoke with Everett’s pitching coach and he sounds very passionate about developing players. He seems very excited to have his hands on and shape Ryan into a draftable player.”

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