Jalen Harris of Canada's junior national baseball team practices in Thunder Bay on Tuesday.
Canada's national junior baseball team has its first ever member with no use for an alarm clock.
Jalen Harris, who was born deaf and relies on his roommate to give him a shake in the morning before practice, is one of 20 young men representing Canada in the IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship this week in Thunder Bay, Ont.
The 18-year-old Toronto native hears through a cochlear implant, which means the sounds of a baseball game - the crack of the bat, the umpire and the crowd - meld into a mud pie of noise. Despite this challenge, and in some ways because of it, Mr. Harris is known for his soft hands, sure arm, and keen eye on the playing field.
"Jalen's fielding is very good, his hands work real well, he's got a real true arm that works real easy," the team's coach, Greg Hamilton, said in an interview Tuesday, hours before the team's game against Panama. "He's got a real athletic sense of the game. When he's out there, he makes good decisions and good choices and he plays the game under control."
Mr. Harris was one of about 65 players invited to try out for the junior team over the course of four training camps and two years. The competition was stiff, and after dozens of cuts and thousands of kilometres in travel, the remaining players are close.
The team "no longer ask me about it. They all know I am deaf, and help me whenever I need it," said Mr. Harris, who plays first base.
"Jalen plays a position where communication matters and he has to be able to hear what's being asked of him, or what's being called out," said Mr. Hamilton.
Sometimes that means that team mates repeat a call from the coach, or make sure Mr. Harris understands a drill, or just deliver an early morning wake-up call.
Their co-operation is paying off: On Sunday, the team beat two-time defending champion Korea 5-4. Mr. Hamilton is hopeful Canada will be among the final four teams who will compete for bronze, silver or gold this weekend.
Mr. Harris, who is about to start Grade 12 in the deaf and hard of hearing program at Northern Secondary School in Toronto, is hopeful he'll be scouted by a Major League Baseball team, or win a scholarship to a major U.S. university.
He says maybe then his dad will finally say he's old enough to have a girlfriend.