How a Canadian kid traded his skates and stick for a bat and glove, now everything is paying off
Growing up, hockey was always the number one sports played between Owen Constantineau and his friends. While playing baseball in the summer, he realized that he loved playing baseball more than he loved playing hockey, and he also believed he was better at baseball than hockey
Now, Constantineau is about to leave his amateur status in the dust in this upcoming season with the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers in the Canadian Baseball League as the league enters its first year as a pro baseball league. While Constantineau’s route is unorthodox for a 21-year-old, he is grateful for the opportunities he has received.
Going into Constantineau’s high school graduating year, he had zero collegiate scholarships. By the second semester of that academic year, Constantineau had attained over five partial scholarships and one full scholarship to play baseball at the Division 1 junior college level.
At just 17 years old, Constantineau moved away from the nation’s capital to St. Louis, Mo., to play at St. Louis Community College. He played two years at the school before coming back to Canada and attending Carleton University, playing for the Ravens.
Jenn Constantineau, his mother, talked about how him going to school in the United States was one of the most difficult things she had to face as a mother. “Letting him go was probably the most difficult thing I had to do, not only to a different country, to a city that has the highest crime rate but he’s never lived on his own, he was only 17 and at times I felt hopeless because I was phone call away, not physically there.”
In 2024, Constantineau played for the Ravens and achieved everything you could possibly achieve as an individual player across Canadian Universities. The Ravens during that season made the Canadian National University Tournament and ending up winning the National Championship. Constantineau drove the game winning run in with a double. Following the game he received, Player of the Game, MVP of Tournament and Team MVP.
Constantineau believed that this was going to be his last game of competitive baseball, but the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers approached him after watching his performance.
He sealed the deal on playing another summer of competitive baseball with the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers in the Intercounty Baseball League. He was the youngest player to be rostered to a team at 20 years old.
During his off season, Constantineau plays beer league hockey to stay in shape and says “it’s a different vibe for sure. Baseball is a lot more mental, where hockey’s more tiring and uses a lot of different muscles. You need more cardio for hockey than you do for baseball, it keeps me in shape and it’s nice to play a sport too where it’s just light, you don’t have to worry about the competitive side of things. You can just kind of take it easy and just have fun.”
He also goes to Gladiator training, a prominent trainer that has sent multiple hockey players to the NHL, OHL, NCAA Division 1 and playing hockey overseas. Constantineau claims that without the help of trainer Greg Pollock he wouldn’t be where he is today.
His goal is to play competitive baseball for as long as possible and keep that kid inside him alive. His goal after this season to move up a league and play with the Ottawa Titans in the Frontier League that is affiliated with the MLB.
Only time will tell what is next for Constantineau and his baseball goals.