Zarowny grows with Dawgs

A brotherly connection laid the groundwork for Kaden Zarowny making the transition into the Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Academy.
Growing up in the Strathmore Minor Baseball Association with the AA Reds program, Zarowny was becoming one of the top players in the program.
Last summer, he, along with Colby Tanton, was named to the Zone 2 team for the U15 Alberta Amateur Baseball Council Zone Championship last August in St. Albert.
That’s when a handful of Dawgs Academy coaches got their first real look at the right-handed slugger.
“We saw an athletic kid with many of the same attributes that his brother had,” said Dawgs Academy Coach Bretton Gouthro, who played with Kaden’s older brother Tyson in the summer of 2012 with the Lethbridge Bulls of the Western Major Baseball League. “We saw the tools for a solid catcher and a pretty good hitter, so we reached out and tried to bring him in.”
Once Zarowny was brought in for a visit, the convincing didn’t seem that difficult.
“I was blown away by the facilities they have there. The fields are unreal, and they have a field-house which is pretty much a mini diamond indoors that we got to play and practise on all winter,” said Zarowny. “They also have two clubhouses and a weight room.
“At the same time, it was a very hard decision to leave the Reds. I have a lot of friends in the program and won a lot of games with those teams over the years. I just think that playing for the Dawgs will help me out the most in getting to the next level.”
Wasting no time, Zarowny signed with the Dawgs in September and began making the daily commute to Okotoks for practice.
“It has been a lot of driving. Every day, either my mom or dad drives me out,” said Zarowny. “Sometimes I ducked out of school early to get to practice. It has been a huge time commitment for me and my family.”
The local product’s commitment isn’t going unnoticed by the Dawgs.
“Speaking from experience, I know how long Kaden is spending in the car. When I was with the academy, I travelled from north Calgary every day. Those are a lot of hours and he’s spending a lot on gas,” said Gouthro. “He’s made a big commitment and we respect that. The commitment has definitely paid off, too; he’s really come along.”
Gouthro mentioned that Zarowny was buried in the depth chart when he arrived at the Duvernay Fieldhouse and wasn’t sure if he was going to get playing time on any of the three midget programs.
Zarowny was able to climb up the depth charts over the winter by coming in each day and working with Jordan Procyshen, a catcher who spent time recently with the Boston Red Sox at spring training.
“(Procyshen) is really intense and he pushes all of us hard, but he’s an awesome guy and I have learned so much from him,” said Zarowny.
When the spring rolled around and the midget program shuffled into three teams, Zarowny found himself on the Red team, an intermediate midget program mixed with younger and older players.
The Red team is also a travel club and doesn’t play in the traditional Baseball Alberta league. Instead, the Dawgs Red have travelled to Langley, Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer. Their biggest tournament is a week-long event in Seattle, which runs July 17 to 24.
“Not playing in a league was a big change for me,” said Zarowny. “I’ve been with the Reds since mosquito and always had provincials to play for at the end of the season. I’ll definitely miss that competition.”
One of the main reasons the Dawgs chose to travel to tournaments and play collegiate teams was to increase exposure for their players. The Dawgs Academy is all about getting players either drafted or having them earn a scholarship to a post-secondary program.
“This year one of the older kids on the Black team got drafted and that’s still my goal,” said Zarowny. “I’ve always wanted to play professional ball. At the same time, earning a scholarship would also be pretty cool, but I am still a few years away from thinking about that.”