Penner excited for professional baseball career

By Lethbridge Herald on July 25, 2022.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge baseball player Ty Penner’s dream came true of playing pro baseball after the completion of last week’s MLB draft, as the Philadelphia Phillies signed him to a free-agent deal.

“You know what, it’s crazy every time I hear somebody say that,” said Penner.

“Like it  still hasn’t sunk in but it feels amazing to be honest. It’s always been my dream to play professional baseball. So it feels really amazing to get to sign that contract with the Phillies.”

The contract is still awaiting to be signed until Penner gets blood work complete, as it’s only been a verbal agreement and handshakes so far.

“They flew me down to Florida right away basically after I verbally signed and then you run through a physical, some blood work and some range-of-motion testing, just so they can make sure that you’re fully medically clear and then they sign you after that,” he said.

The Phillies were one of many teams that had interest in Penner while he was playing at UBC.

“I dealt with the same scout pretty much for the entire process of the draft and since they really saw me play for the first time,” said Penner

 And then after the draft — once I actually didn’t get selected — I got another call probably ten minutes after the draft from the same scout for  the Phillies that I had always been talking to and they’re wondering if I’d be interested in a free agent deal. So, I had known for a while but it was always just phone calls back and forth.”

Penner did not think the dream would come true until his second or third year at UBC, where he got attention from scouts.

“And my coach, (we)sort of talked about how I was maybe ready for that next step,” he said.

“I just had to put up the numbers and everything to prove that.”

Penner began a two-week mini camp on Monday and after that will get placed on of the Phillies minor league teams.

Penner went through the baseball ranks in Lethbridge having played in the Little League system, the American Legion system, a two-year stint at Vauxhall Academy after that and three years at University of British Columbia and a couple of seasons with the Lethbridge Bull  before his big-league contract.

“I’ve played a lot of years of baseball,” he said.

“But it’s all led to here and I’m really thankful for that.”

“I’m definitely proud to be from Lethbridge,” he said.

“And I definitely owe a lot of people in Lethbridge and the Lethbridge community a lot of thanks.”

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