The fun part is over.
Now, comes the wait.
After a tour that took him to three major-league parks in three states, two countries and four tryouts camps before countless pairs of eyes, Whitby's Jonathan Waltenbury awaits tomorrow's annual baseball draft of collegians and high schoolers.
Waltenbury, an outfielder and first baseman with the Ontario Blue Jays and the Canadian junior team, is expected to be the top local player selected.
He has had such a good season that either he or Kyle Orr, an outfielder with the Victoria Mariners, will be the top Canuck, likely to be picked be around the fifth round.
The rest of the Canadian top five is expected to be: third baseman Shayne Willson of South Surrey, B.C., and the Langley Blaze; outfielder/first baseman Jimmy Van Ostrand of Richmond, B.C., and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo University; and Mississauga's Jonathan Baksh, an outfielder with Florida Tech.
Waltenbury, a 6-foot-4, 210-pounder, worked out at the Rogers Centre for Blue Jays scouts last week. He also has been at the Metrodome hitting before the Minnesota Twins; in Bridgewater, N.J., for a St. Louis Cardinals tryout camp; and at Fenway Park for Boston Red Sox scouts.
"I did real well in Minnesota," Waltenbury said. "I hit some balls off the (football) press box in right and one under the cement facade of the upper deck. I hit a few around the Pesky pole in right in Boston."
Sox scout Ray Fagnant introduced Waltenbury to general manager Theo Epstein and toured the fabled ball park.
"Fenway was phenomenal," he said.
Like most Canadians, Waltenbury is a left-handed hitter. He began playing at the T-ball level in Whitby and won an OBA double-A major peewee title with coach Jim Jennings.
"Dan Bleiwas and Sean Travers helped me the most over the years," he said of his Ontario Jays coaches. "Dan with my overall ability and Sean runs our player development."
Waltenbury's best game with the Jays was last fall when he went 5-for-5 against the Duquesne University Dukes in Pittsburgh, hitting for the cycle, adding a double and driving in six runs.
He hit .444 with five doubles and a homer when Team Canada went to Florida in April. Combined with last fall and this spring's Florida trips, he has had 49 plate appearances against pro pitching at extended spring with only seven strikeouts.
"I keep saying I won't listen (to the draft) on the Internet, but I probably will," said Waltenbury, who will have shortstop Kyle Gilligan (his Ontario teammate and another prospect) his coaches and friends to his mom's house.
If Waltenbury does not sign with whomever drafts him, he will attend Connors State College in Oklahoma.
