‘Crazy to say’: Possibility of fulfilling MLB dream in reach for Sask.’s Carter Beck

Southeastern Saskatchewan baseball prospect Carter Beck is taking the next step toward a professional career, the MLB. Donovan Maess reports.

Even as he prepares for the upcoming combine, Saskatchewan ballplayer Carter Beck says he still can’t believe he could hear his name get called during the upcoming MLB Amateur Draft.

“The first time I kind of realized [being drafted] was possible was the end of the spring last season,” Beck told CTV News Monday.

“Our coach in exit meetings, I’m talking to him and he’s he goes, ‘Well, if you don’t get drafted next year we’ll have a problem.’ I didn’t really realize that; it seemed like such a foreign thing.”

Growing up in Carnduff, Sask. you could always find Beck with either a hockey stick or a baseball bat in hand at any given time.

“I first started playing organized baseball – I think I was five or six, and when I was that age, I probably started as a bat boy for my dad’s senior baseball team,” he reminisced.

“Whether it was being around my dad for baseball games or going over to my grandpa’s and him hitting me pop flies with [a] tennis racket and stuff, just kind of always been [playing baseball].”

Passionate for both sports, Beck was indeed a good hockey player in his own right, playing for the U18 AA Estevan Bruins through high school.

However, he realized during the pandemic baseball was the love he was going to stay with.

Now choosing that path could lead him to the sport’s highest level.

“The first thing was my goal of playing Division 1 baseball, which is pretty cool,” Beck said. “I moved up there, got here, had a good year and then things kept progressing. Now all of a sudden, I’m here and it’s kind of crazy.”

Draft preparations

Beck is coming off his junior season at Indiana State University, in which he became just the second Sycamore player to earn the Joe Carter Player of the Year award as the Missouri Valley Conference’s best player.

The outfielder finished the season among the Missouri Valley leaders in batting average (.346), hits (82), RBIs (59), runs scored (62), doubles (17), home runs (16), on-base percentage (.446), slugging percentage (.637), and stolen bases (12).

He also recorded a team-high 28 multi-hit games and 16 multi-RBI contests over the 2026 season and has reached base safely in 55 of the team’s 57 games played.

Describing his preparation for the upcoming draft, Beck says he’s been busy working out and doing interviews with Major League teams.

“I’m getting phone calls left and right from scouts and whatnot, and doing a bunch of interviews,” Beck added.

“I kept progressing and figured I’d be in a good spot coming into the season and I did everything I could do to put myself into an even better spot.”

Beck spent the past two summers with the Western Canadian Baseball League’s (WCBL) Saskatoon Berries, which he was the 2024 Rookie of the Year and Top Canadian.

There, he batted to a .379 avg., going 142/237 with 19 doubles, five triples, 20 home runs and 81 RBIs. He worked an on base percentage of .473 and slugged .616 with 32 stolen bases in 94 games over two seasons.

Beck was a large contributor to Saskatoon’s stellar 2025 season, in which it set the WCBL single season record for wins with 46 in 55 games.

He would add a 1st Team All-Star nod as well by finishing in the top five in avg. (.385), walks (37), OBP (.491), SLG (.651) and OPS (1.142).

Speaking to CTV News about his former centre fielder, Berries’ head coach Joe Carnahan sang Beck’s praises without even mentioning his performance on the field.

“He just loves the game, works hard, and it is refreshing to see this day and age that [he] doesn’t get caught up in social media or anything like that,” Carnahan said.

“He just focuses on, number one, being a good person – which he is – and coming in every day to work hard, put in extra work and becoming the best baseball player in general.”

Carnahan remembered back to Beck’s first year with the Berries when he most embodied that hard working mentality.

“He was working in construction and he’d show up for early workouts at noon or 1:00, still in steel -toed boots,” the coach recalled. “He’d get out there, get his reps in the outfield, in the cage and take every fly ball live. That was every day.”

Beck explained that he was in his freshman year still paying for school at the time.

“I still needed to make some money somehow. So I went to work in the mornings and then headed from work to the field and to play games,” he added.

Near zero per cent

It is a rare feat for a player from Saskatchewan to be selected in the MLB Amateur Draft.

According to Baseball Sask, just 24 players from the province have been drafted by MLB teams; a list which includes North Battleford’s Andrew Albers and Regina’s Dustin Molleken.

Most recently, Biggar, Sask.-born Garrett Hawkins and Regina product Thomas Ireland were both picked in the 2021 MLB Draft by San Diego and Texas, respectively.

Even less common is reaching the Majors, as just nine ballplayers from Saskatchewan have played a major league game.

Baseball Reference says 23,678 players have played at least one MLB game, meaning 0.03 per cent have come from our province.

“It’s been crazy. As you get better and continue on, the goals have to keep shifting,” said Beck. “I’m more thinking the MLB isn’t the dream necessarily, it’s more of a goal now. Which is crazy to say, but in two, three, four years – hopefully that’s my reality.”

His former coach says it’s a reality that’s well within reach.

“He has a relentless work ethic,” Carnahan added. “His mindset is he has goals, and he’s going to do everything in his power to achieve those goals. So far he has.”

When asked what five-year-old Carter Beck would have thought about his future self potentially being drafted by an MLB team, Beck could not even imagine it.

“[He’d] probably be like, ‘No way.’ When I was five, I probably thought I was going to be an NHL player more than an MLB player,” he said. “I don’t even know if I’d hardly watched MLB yet when I was five.”

“I would have been ecstatic for sure,” Beck added.

The 2026 MLB Draft Combine process from June 22-27 will feature many of the top high school and college prospects in the country and includes athletic testing, medical evaluations and interviews with major league clubs.

Participants will have the opportunity to take part in medical and performance assessments, educational programming and a pro-style showcase workout, along with strength and conditioning and Prospect Development Pipeline performance evaluations.

The event serves as a key step leading up to the 2026 MLB Draft, which is scheduled for July 11-13 during MLB All-Star Week in Philadelphia.