It’s certain no other baseball playing country has a national program quite like Canada’s when it comes to unity, career loyalty and patriotism. On Saturday at a downtown hotel at the Rogers Centre, Baseball Canada staged its annual fund-raising banquet, with starry alumni past and present in attendance.

This year, there was a special feeling in the room. It’s a World Baseball Classic spring and Canada, despite all the burgeoning talent this country has to offer, has yet to make it to the WBC’s second round in three previous attempts.

There are interesting twists surrounding the projected Canadian roster, which will not officially be announced until Feb. 6 on the MLB Network. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had been campaigning to join the Canadian team because both his parents were born in Canada, will be part of the 28-man roster following Joey Votto’s decision not to participate.

Retired right-hander Ryan Dempster, now 39, will be a member of Canada’s pitching staff. He will be seriously considered for a key start on the tournament’s opening weekend in Miami, March 9-12. There is a 65-pitch limit in Round 1.

Blue Jays free-agent right fielder Michael Saunders truly wants to perform for his country, but will not participate unless he has a contract signed, sealed and delivered by the time rosters are submitted. Saunders — an all-star in 2016 with the Jays, but with a disappointing second half that he attributes to the fatigue of missing most of 2015 with a meniscus tear and its aftermath — has been talking to the Blue Jays regarding a new contract. Toronto is his first choice, but nothing is in place.

Saunders made a mark as MVP of the first weekend of the 2013 WBC, even though Canada did not advance.

Meanwhile, the biggest news is that Jays catcher Russell Martin will play for Canada, but as the starting shortstop. Canada’s starting catcher will be George Kottaras, a career backup who was last in the majors in 2014. Martin has had a handful of appearances at second and third base the past two seasons. The Montreal native was a teammate of Jose Bautista’s at Chipola College in Florida — as an infielder.

“It’s like riding a bike, probably,” Martin suggested hopefully. “The thing that’s probably going to change is the speed of the game. As far as knowing where to be and positioning and all that stuff. Things have changed since the last time I played that position with the shifts and everything, so there’s going to be some adjustments. In a short amount of time can I play shortstop? Yes. Put me wherever you want and I’ll give you everything I’ve got.”

“The dream as a kid for me was to be a shortstop in the big leagues. I grew up playing shortstop. Ozzie Smith was my favourite. Roberto Alomar was another one of my favourites. I had to learn how to catch. A lot of the things that I’m good at behind the plate was because I was an infielder. I had to work on the quick hands, transferring balls, footwork a little bit. But it’s what I learned first.”

Martin painfully recalls the 2013 WBC when he took a lot of heat, almost to the point of being called a traitor, for not playing for his country. At the time he was in his first season with the Pirates, learning a new staff, plus he had suggested playing the infield instead of catching. Nobody took him seriously. He finds it ironic that this time it was Baseball Canada’s Greg Hamilton that called to ask him to play shortstop.

“I’m playing with Canada’s team right now,” Martin said defiantly. “So if there’s an issue that comes up where I can’t play for Team Canada, at least people aren’t going to get quite as mad as last time when I wasn’t playing.

“What people think about me doesn’t really matter. People get over things after a while. If they don’t get over it, they should probably focus on things that they need to fix in their life rather than concentrating on what they think of me and what I do as a baseball player. I’m pretty sure everybody in their own life can focus on things that they need to take care of before they think about opinions of me.”

The biggest change in the format for the WBC this year is the implementation of what amounts to a 10-man taxi-squad of pitchers that are allowed to be moved in and out at the start of each round. Hamilton said that Canada is not even thinking about it. The rule seems to have been introduced to help the U.S., meaning that if the Americans reach the finals on the West Coast, they could possibly slide ringers like Clayton Kershaw or Madison Bumgarner into medal games.

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“We’re taking a little different approach,” Hamilton said of submitting 28 players and staying with them. “I understand why the tournament is allowing guys to do it. But I think, for us, we’re going to be successful as a team. We’re not going to be successful with everybody dropping in and dropping out.”

The big question may be why has Canada been historically unsuccessful in developing major-league middle infielders, especially shortstops? There are a couple of Canadian shortstops expected to go high in the 2017 draft, but of all the Canadians invited to all-star games, there have been seven pitchers, five outfielders, two first basemen and one catcher. Martin’s backup at shortstop in the WBC will be Jonathan Malo, a 33-year-old with the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am Association.

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