Vaughan Vikings HPP Skills Combine: Creating Our Own Opportunities

Over the past several years, the Vaughan Vikings High Performance Program has continued to establish itself as a competitive baseball organization, with teams across multiple age groups demonstrating their ability to compete and succeed on the field.

But while winning games and championships is important, there is another responsibility that comes with developing young athletes. We need to provide them with opportunities that extend beyond the baseball field.

On Saturday, October 10, the Vaughan Vikings HPP held its 2026 Fall Skills Combine at Concord 1, bringing together our 15U (2012) and 16U (2011) players for an afternoon of showcase-style testing and competition.

Our original plan was to include all four HPP age groups. However, our 14U and 17U teams had games scheduled that day, and we weren't able to reschedule their testing before the outdoor season ended. Those players will complete their combines once we transition into indoor training, ensuring that every age group has the same opportunity.

Rather than bringing in an outside organization to conduct the evaluations, our coaching staff organized and ran the entire event ourselves. With many of our athletes recently completing their recruiting profiles, we wanted to provide measurable information they could use while establishing a starting point for offseason development.

Bringing Showcase-Style Testing to Vaughan HPP

The combine featured five testing categories commonly used at baseball showcases: the 60-yard dash, position-player throwing velocity, pitching velocity, catcher pop times and exit velocity.

Throughout the afternoon, there were some impressive individual performances.

E. Cutillo recorded the fastest 60-yard dash at 7.00 seconds, while B. Davidson reached 76 mph from the outfield and 75 mph from the infield.

Behind the plate, G. Mariani recorded a 1.95-second pop time, with K. Jacobs close behind at 1.97 seconds. During exit velocity testing, M. Cunha led the recorded performances at 86 mph, followed by M. Pileggi at 80 mph.

While these were some of the standout results, the combine wasn't intended to rank players or determine who had the most potential. Every athlete received an opportunity to establish individual measurements that could be used to evaluate progress throughout their development.

As a coach, I also believe it's important to recognize the limitations of measurable testing. A radar gun or stopwatch can provide valuable information, but it doesn't tell you everything about a baseball player. Understanding how an athlete produces those results and what adjustments will help them improve is where coaching becomes important.

Collecting numbers is easy. Knowing what to do with them is what separates evaluation from development.

The Accuracy Challenge: Putting Baseball Skills to the Test

Along with the traditional combine testing, we wanted to introduce something that would challenge players to execute baseball skills in a competitive environment.

So we created a three-part Accuracy Challenge.

We started with the Outfield Accuracy Challenge, where players received three throws from center field toward a target at home plate. Next came the Infield Accuracy Challenge. Players fielded three ground balls at shortstop and attempted to hit a target at first base, with bonus points available for hitting the bullseye. The final event was the Bunting Challenge, where players received four attempts to place the baseball inside a designated area marked by cones.

What made these challenges enjoyable was watching how quickly the atmosphere changed once players realized their attempts counted toward an overall score. There was plenty of encouragement, friendly competition and excitement as players challenged one another. Skills that players regularly practice suddenly became much more interesting when there was a target, a limited number of attempts and a leaderboard.

And unlike the traditional combine measurements, these challenges weren't about physical tools. They were about execution.

A Bullseye Decides the Championship

After all three challenges were completed, two players finished tied at the top of the leaderboard with nine points.

E. Zarzour (16U) collected two points in outfield accuracy, three in infield accuracy and four in bunting. L. Legaspi (15U) earned one point in outfield accuracy, five in infield accuracy and three in bunting. Both players finished with nine points, but Legaspi's bullseye during the infield throwing challenge provided the deciding tiebreaker.

Building Toward the 2027 Season

With our outdoor fall training completed, our players will transition into offseason indoor training in November.

The measurements collected during the combine provide a starting point as we continue working on their physical and baseball-specific development. As we continue developing this initiative, the goal is to make these evaluations a consistent part of the Vaughan HPP experience across all age groups.

What started as an idea to finish our outdoor fall training became an experience that we can continue building upon across the Vaughan HPP organization.

The combine demonstrated what can happen when coaches work together to create opportunities for their athletes. Our success as an organization will always involve more than the games we win. It will also be reflected in the players we develop and the opportunities we provide along the way.

You can talk about player development all you want. At some point, you have to show what you're actually doing to develop players.

The 2026 Vaughan Vikings HPP Skills Combine was another example of putting that philosophy into action.