He’s not Curtis Pride, who was an established major leaguer, but Vancouver (Canada) native Tyson Gillies, who has a hearing loss of 35% in one ear and 50% in the other ear, is making his case to become the next Curtis Pride. He wears hearing aids.

Gillies plays for the High Desert Mavericks based in Adelanto, California, a single-A ball team hitting a consistent .322 with 66 R.B.I.’s and a speedy 25 stolen bases.

He is only 20 years old and already making noises catching Major League Baseball’s attention. The Mavericks are a farm team of the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB).

The Mariners, where Japanese product Ichiro Suzuki is a batting champion and an icon, drafted Gillies in the 25th round of the First-Year Player Draft after he graduated from high school in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also spent the 2007 season playing for Iowa Western Community College.

Will he connect with the deaf community and become fluent in ASL?

Let’s hope he has the best of both worlds, Major League Baseball and the adoring deaf community.