SPORTS FLASHBACK 1996: Sproule shows stuff at Goldeyes spring camp

He’s big. Very big. At six-feet, four-inches and 220 pounds, Giroux native Dean Sproule is the largest pitcher at the Winnipeg Goldeyes 1996 spring training camp.

The 22-year-old hurler is one of 13 pitchers at the main camp trying to earn a spot with the defending Northern League champions. Sproule knows it’s a long shot, but is thrilled with the opportunity to show his stuff to manager Hal Lanier and pitching coach Bob Kipper.

Lanier is the former National League Manager of the Year with the Houston Astros, and Kipper had an eight-year pitching career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Eleven of the pitchers in camp received previous invitations to attend spring training. The other two, Sproule and 19-year-old Rodney Spek of Gladstone caught Lanier’s attention at a one-day open camp on May 11 at Winnipeg Stadium, the Goldeyes home field. These two were picked out of seven pitchers to attend the two-week main camp.

Sproule attended the same one-day camp last year and says the coaches showed some interest at that time, but it did not materialize into an invitation to the main camp.

Goldeyes general manager John Hindle says Lanier was impressed with Sproule’s pitching at the one-day open camp.

“He threw strikes and was clocked in the mid-80’s. Hal liked what he saw; he wants to take a better look.”

Hindle says whether Sproule makes the team or not, “it is an opportunity for him to work out with professional baseball players and to gain from that experience.”

The hard-throwing Sproule has spent the past three years pitching at United States colleges. The past two years in North Dakota at Valley City State University and before that he spent a year at Southwestern Community College in Iowa.

During the summers he spent pitching for the Carillon Jr Sultans and last year with the St Boniface Native Sons of the Manitoba Senior Baseball League.

A physical education student at Valley City, Sproule played all his bantam and midget baseball at Friedensfeld in the Carillon Minor Baseball League.

Sproule will be returning to Valley City in the fall to continue working towards his physical education degree.