Tate Shimao of the Victoria HarbourCats is as comfortable on a surfboard as he is on a baseball diamond. That’s understandable for a kid from Hawaii. So perhaps it’s only fitting that he should be playing summer ball on an Island known as the surfing capital of Canada and which has produced this nation’s first Olympian.
While Sanoa Dempfle-Olin of Tofino prepares this month for the waves of Tahiti in the Paris Olympics, Shimao prepares to cross the smaller Pacific waves for the West Coast League all-star game in Bellingham on Wednesday night.
Shimao credits the ingrained hang-loose attitude of the Hawaiian islands, mixed with an innate inner drive, for combining to create much of his success this season with the HarbourCats.
“I am not letting one or two bad at-bats affect my next at-bat. I play hard but have fun. I go all-out every day. I want to improve myself this summer and have fun playing ball.”
As well as surfing, Shimao also grew up playing football, and made varsity quarterback in high school. But he realized it was on the diamond where his talents would be best used. He is more than proving that this year with a .366 batting average, 17 runs scored, 20 RBIs, two homers, two triples and four doubles in 18 games going into Saturday night’s game against the Edmonton Riverhawks at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. He certainly made the WCL all-star game selectors sit up and take notice, and they did.
“I have learned to be more consistent here in summer ball in Victoria,” he said.
Shimao was originally recruited to the USC Trojans, instead playing at Cal-Poly, and is now with the home-state NCAA Division 1 University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.
“It’s sort of come full circle for me in that way,” he said.
Shimao is heading into his junior season at Hawaii, which is an MLB draft year. There will be no shortage of pro scouts out watching the WCL all-star game this week in Bellingham.
“Every kid dreams of MLB,” said Shimao.
“That’s the dream. But you try not to focus on that. You can only focus on improving every day and going out and playing hard every day.”
A very small percentage will make it to pro ball, of course. You go out and give it your all and whatever happens will happen. You just have to enjoy the journey, which Shimao certainly is doing this summer at Royal Athletic Park.
“I love the fans here. When they get going, it’s pretty cool,” he said.
“I just wish we had given them more wins this season. In some games, we have not done what we are capable of doing. But I know we are capable of making a push to the end of the second half of the season.”
ON THE DIAMOND: The HarbourCats (17-18) were playing the Riverhawks (22-13) on Saturday night at Royal Athletic Park after winning 6-5 on Friday night. Saturday’s score was 10-4 in favour of Edmonton. The three-game series concludes with a matinee today at RAP followed by the WCL all-star break.
