The White Sox used the minor league rule five draft to pluck Cole Armstrong out of the Atlanta Braves system. Armstrong was a catcher and a goaltender growing up in British Columbia, Canada. I first saw the big lefthanded hitting catcher in Fall Ball a few months ago in Arizona.
Growing up in Canada, Armstrong, like most of his baseball-playing compatriots, saw some national team action, playing for the Junior squad from 1999-2001. In fact, he caught while Martin manned third base. But this year’s selection to the provisional roster is the first time since ’01 that Armstrong has been tabbed for Team Canada.
“It’s a huge honor anytime you get asked to play for your country, but especially now with Canada having so many big-name guys,” he said. “It would be a really neat opportunity to get to play with some of them. And I haven’t had the chance to play in front of 50,000 people, so that would be a nice experience too.
Talking to some of the guys who were on the Olympic team or the qualifying team, they say it’s definitely like you come back together. Everyone knows each other. Even if you never actually played together, you know the same people. That was something I really wasn’t expecting. From day one since the White Sox picked me up in the Rule 5 Draft, they have been such an incredible organization and have given me so many opportunities that I probably wouldn’t have gotten with other organizations.”
The White Sox plan to send him to the recent Rookie Career Development Program, an honor saved for an organization’s top “big league-ready” prospects. Chicago decided not to re-sign Toby Hall, so there is an open spot on the big league roster as a backup catcher.