A former major leaguer, Nigel Wilson brings that kind of expertise to the Ontario Yankees as the Director of Baseball Operations and one of the coaches of the 18U and 16U teams. Here is his story.
In 1987, Wilson was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays at the age of 17. After 2 mediocre seasons, Wilson really found his power stroke in the upcoming seasons. With a promotion to AA in 1992, he had his most successful season to date hitting 26 HR with an .841 OPS.
After 5 years in the minors with the Blue Jays, his success caught the eye of the Florida Marlins, the newest franchise to the MLB. In the 1992 MLB Expansion Draft, Wilson was chosen in the 1st round by the Marlins to play the outfield. In AAA that year, he improved on basically every aspect of his game leading to a .292/.351/.538 with 17 HR. Wilson earned a spot with the big league club.
At the Major League level, Wilson played parts of 3 seasons with the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, and the Cleveland Indians.
In 1997, Wilson decided to play professional baseball in Japan for the Nippon Ham Fighters. He had incredible success as he led the league hitting 37 HR, including a HR in 4 straight games. In his 6 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, Wilson was a 2-time Best Nine Award winner.
All these years later, Nigel Wilson is one of the main components of the Ontario Yankees franchise. He gets to directly influence the younger generation of baseball players in hopes of getting them to post-secondary. Every young player needs a mentor that they can look up to, and Nigel Wilson is as good of one as a kid can find.