The one knock against the crop of Canadian talent available in Monday’s 2017 MLB Draft is that it’s lacking star power.

Each of the past two drafts have seen at least one Canadian go in the first round, but that isn’t expected to be the case this year. Port Hope, Ont., right-hander Cal Quantrill went eighth overall to the San Diego Padres last June, while first baseman Josh Naylor, a Mississauga, Ont., product, and right-hander Mike Soroka, a Calgary native, heard their names called at pick Nos. 12 and 28, respectively, in 2015.

While there isn’t a high-end prospect for Canadian baseball to hang their hat on this year, the overall draft class of Canucks isn’t lacking in depth. It may be a stretch for a Canadian to find a home on the first day of the draft – the first two rounds go Monday, followed by Rounds 3-10 on Tuesday and Rounds 11-40 on Wednesday – but there’s a consensus group of four players who might not have to wait long on Day 2.

RHP LANDON LEACH

A projectable right-hander out of Pickering, Ont., Leach already has a plus fastball at the age of 17, topping out around 95 mph, and has all the makings of a plus slider to eventually supplement that heat.

“He’s 6-foot-4 and about 215 [pounds] and he pitches - I don’t say he throws, he pitches - at 95 and he holds his velocity real well,” said Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada’s director of national teams. “You’ll see him in the fourth or fifth inning and he’ll still be throwing 94 or 95. For a high school pitcher, that’s pretty good. It’s an easy arm and it’s a power arm.”

A good bet to add even more velocity as his body matures over the years, Leach, who has a commitment to the University of Texas, is ranked 101st on MLB Pipeline’s top 200 list and checks in at No. 86 on Baseball America’s ranking of the top 500 draft prospects.

INF ADAM HALL

Hamilton freely admits there’s a dearth of middle infielders throughout Canadian baseball, but there are a couple of good reasons for that.

The first is that they’re tough positions to play proficiently. The second is simply the amount of high-end up-the-middle talent elsewhere in the world.

“We just got back from our Dominican trip and it gives you a pretty good reference point as to why,” Hamilton said. “There are a lot of middle infielders on the island and it’s a tough position to play as a Canadian high school player and to be able to compete against the competition, which is pretty deep.”

Hall, a London, Ont., product by way of Bermuda, could buck that trend. Ranked at No. 100 by Baseball America and No. 115 by MLB Pipeline, Hall doesn’t have much flash to his game, but he’s the type of player every manager seems to love.

“I’ve always said Adam is a sum of the parts,” Hamilton explains. “When you put everything together, he’s a really good baseball player. His tools across the board, they all grade out as good. When you put them all together, he’s real good.

“He can play multiple positions. He can play short, he can play second, he can play third, he can play the outfield, and he can hit.”

That’s why Texas A&M is hoping to get its hands on him if he decides not to sign.

OF CLAYTON KEYES

The Toronto Blue Jays thought enough of Keyes, a Calgary product who’s come up through the burgeoning Okotoks Dawgs pipeline, to select him in the 17th round of last year’s draft.

Only 17 at the time, Keyes decided not to sign, making the right-handed hitter eligible once again this year at the same age as most of his high school peers.

“Everything’s timing, in all aspects of life,” Hamilton said. “I think in Clayton’s case you can make a pretty strong argument that the timing wasn’t right for him to go out in pro ball last year. I think he would concur. I just don’t think he was ready for the day in, day out grind of professional baseball and the challenges that come with that, and I don’t think he was ready for the day in, day out competitive challenges of major Division I college baseball.”

That’s all changed a year later.

Depending on where he lands in this year’s draft, the athletic, 6-foot-1, 215-pound outfielder also has an offer on the table to head to Central Arizona College.

RHP ZACH POP

The only college player on this list, Pop leads the Canadian contingent on the MLB Pipeline rankings, checking in at No. 95.

The Brampton, Ont., product was selected by the Blue Jays in the 23rd round of the 2014 draft, but in the end decided to head to the University of Kentucky, where he’s produced a 4.56 ERA over three seasons.

This spring, the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder appeared in 21 games for the Wildcats out of the bullpen, striking out 20 in 20.2 innings and posting a 3.48 ERA. 

After making eight combined starts over his first two NCAA seasons, Pop was used strictly out of the bullpen in 2017 due to command issues.

Pop’s fastball has touched 99 mph, in short stints, and he combines that pitch with a slider that could form a devastating combo out of the bullpen with some minor-league seasoning.