Brighton resident and NCAA/OCAA pitcher Shaine O'Keefe is running a development baseball camp to help area youth on Aug. 13 and 14. There will be a special guest appearance by former Toronto Blue Jays and World Series Champ Rob Butler on the first day of the camp. /Sarah Hyatt/MBC
After returning home from playing college ball the last three years in Mississippi, NCAA/OCAA pitcher Shaine O’Keefe is sharing his love for the game and learnings with Brighton and Northumberland area youth, and at a development baseball camp next week, he’ll have a special guest helping out.
The Keefer Baseball Camp will be at King Edward Park in Brighton next Tuesday, Aug. 13 and Wednesday, Aug. 14, with a special guest appearance by former Toronto Blue Jays and World Series Champ Rob Butler, who O’Keefe met when he was just 11 years old.
Butler would go on to coach O’Keefe through his time in elite travel baseball with the Ontario Prospects until O’Keefe was 18 years old – and O’Keefe would also later in life go on to coach with the Prospects.
O’Keefe credits Butler and his dad Shawn O’Keefe for his development as a pitcher and a man.
“Both (of them), they developed me to be who I am today, the man I am today and the baseball player I am today. I have both of them to thank,” said O’Keefe.
It was dad who put O’Keefe into baseball when he was little after a mishap with a maraca that led to dad getting a black eye. O’Keefe was swinging it around and accidentally hit dad with it.
“And funny enough, he didn’t get too mad about it, but he’s like, ‘You know what, we’re going to put you in baseball and see how you do with that swing …’”
“It was never my intention, though, to be a pitcher growing up, it just kind of developed the way it (did.)”
The 23-year-old pitcher grew up in Scarborough playing for the Stingers but would later come to call Brighton home. He just finished up playing college ball in Mississippi earlier this year and studying sports management.
Before this, O’Keefe was at Humber College for about a year-and-a-half year, where he also played ball, winning the OCAA championship as a freshman, noted his proud dad.
He ended up making the jump to Southwest Mississippi Community College after a full scholarship offer to play there and couldn’t pass on the chance to play ball year-round and develop as a player.
“… That was always my dream, just to be able to play somewhere south in the warm – to be able to play baseball every single day,” said O’Keefe.
After attending Southwest junior college for a year, he’d go on to play at Blue Mountain College for the last two years, where his team went the furthest it ever had in history at the regional level this past year, shared the pitcher.
Now, he’s looking to pay it forward and help area youth.
“I’ve had a (lot) of college experience down in the south as well, so tons of different, really, really good coaches all over the place and I have consumed all this baseball knowledge that I just found there was a need for that out here,” continued O’Keefe.
Looking back on the opportunities O’Keefe had when he was younger and how those experiences shaped him and wanting to improve accessibility to the sport locally, O’Keefe has been running baseball camps and pitching clinics this summer.
In Canada, often the focus is on hockey, and it can be tough to find a good baseball coach, noted O’Keefe.
“I’m trying my best and I hope that I can eventually one day become a really good baseball coach and send some of these kids on to college to get a scholarship down in the states or whatever, maybe even do better than what I did and go play pro somewhere.”
And while next week’s camp is likely going to be one of the last camps for this year – and one of the biggest – O’Keefe anticipates it’s going to be an incredible time for the kids.
In between work in Cobourg, the camps/clinics in Brighton and Colborne, O’Keefe also does some one-on-one lessons.
It’s been pretty remarkable to see the improvements with some of the kids pitching already this summer, said O’Keefe, adding some have already gained 10 miles per hour, which is a huge jump. It just goes to show they have the capability, the strength – it’s just coaching when it comes to pitching mechanics, hitting, fielding, et cetera, explained O’Keefe.
Years down the line, O’Keefe would also like to open his own indoor baseball facility, so kids have a place to build on their passion for the game and develop through winter.
The camps next week are on Tuesday and Wednesday running from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on both days. Butler will be at the camp on Tuesday to meet with young ball players, sign some autographs and the like. He’s also bringing his World Series ring to the camp.
For more information on camps/clinics, email Keeferbaseball23@gmail.com.
(Written by: Sarah Hyatt)
