The Okotoks Dawgs 2016 awards banquet was the official halfway point to the new WMBL season on Saturday night, and plenty of excitement was directed towards what is expected to be a strong summer of baseball in Okotoks.

Headlining the night was guest speaker Gregg Zaun, a 16 year MLB veteran turned baseball analyst on Rogers Sportsnet for Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts.

The sometimes controversial former catcher says during his time in Okotoks he was blown away by the facilities the Dawgs program has to offer.  

"It's really inspiring because I grew up in southern California and it was easy for me to walk outside and play baseball and I always got to play outdoors, but you really feel the passion and the love for the game here in Alberta with how hard people work, how creative they are and it's just an amazing place to be," he says.

Zaun believes with the sport of baseball well on the rise, especially in the Foothills, you could see a few more Canadians putting their stamp on the MLB.

"I think to myself there's absolutely no reason why there can't be more Canadians from all over Canada in the big leagues, not just from B.C. and Ontario," he says. "It's clear it's a priority and with the facilities that are popping up and the coaching that's available I don't see any reason why you're not going to see a population explosion of Canadians in the big leagues."

After covering the 2015 Blue Jays season that saw them reach the post-season for the first time since 1993, Zaun says that particular run will see an even bigger spike in baseball fans and players for years to come.

"You watch 18-20 years from now, you're going to see an explosion population-wise of professional baseball players from Canada. You can't avoid that this is Canada's team in Toronto, there's no denying it, and the new fans that were generated by that run were awesome."

Zaun won the crowd with a speech that told stories of his time in majors, working with former manager Jim Leyland and encouraging those in the academy to keep following their passions and couldn't say enough about how one small town in Alberta could generate quite the buzz for the game of baseball.

The banquet celebrated the graduating Midget Academy players, receiving 19 scholarships to Div. 1 NCAA schools and the inductions of Doc Seaman and former Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine into the Seaman Stadium Hall of Fame.