Zij Mina – Baseball Success Journey

Zij Mina: From Overlooked to One of Canada’s Top Hitters

Zij Mina’s baseball journey is built on consistency, sacrifice, and the determination to prove himself. Once a 250-pound young athlete struggling with mobility, speed, and strength, Zij was repeatedly encouraged to become a pitcher instead of pursuing the role he believed was right for him. Rather than giving up, he committed himself to changing his game. Years of focused training at LPS Athletic helped him transform physically and mentally, eventually becoming one of the country’s top hitters and earning a commitment to Vernon College in Texas.

Video Chapters

00:00 Meet Zij Mina
00:29 Athletic Background
01:28 Being Told to Pitch
01:47 Finding LPS Athletic
02:07 First Day & Assessment
02:49 Clance’s Help & Weight Loss
03:38 The Commute & Sacrifice
04:34 Strength Improvements
05:30 Speed Improvements
05:56 Exit Velocity & Hitting
06:23 Consistency Over Motivation
07:18 Training with Better Athletes
08:14 Overcoming the Low Point
08:58 Rising to the Top
09:31 Coaches & Mobility Focus
10:16 Final Advice: Just Start

Starting From the Bottom

Zij began playing baseball around age 10 or 11 and gradually progressed from house league to Select, AA, and AAA. But by his mid-teens, his size and athletic limitations were holding him back. After struggling for playing time and being told more than once that pitching might be his best option, Zij reached a point where he had to decide what he truly wanted from baseball.

He knew he wanted to be a hitter, and he was determined to prove he could become one.

The Turning Point at LPS

At 16, Zij came to LPS Athletic after a recommendation from his coach, Sean Travers. Instead of playing summer baseball, he spent three months training four days a week and working on his hitting.

His first assessment showed just how much work was ahead. His mobility was limited, his body was tight, and his strength needed significant development. With guidance from Clance and the LPS team, Zij committed to the process. During that first summer, he dropped from over 250 pounds to approximately 212 pounds and began rebuilding himself as an athlete.

Building Strength, Speed, and Power

Zij’s progress continued well beyond that first summer. His squat developed from around 80 kg to a 160 kg front squat, while his power clean increased from roughly 60 kg to 120 kg.

His improvements also translated directly to baseball. His 60-yard dash dropped from the eight-second range to 7 seconds and eventually to 6.7 seconds. His exit velocity climbed above 100 mph — a number he once never imagined reaching.

For Zij, those results came from years of improving mobility, mastering technique, and building strength one step at a time.

Consistency Over Motivation

One of the biggest lessons Zij has learned is that progress cannot depend on feeling motivated every day. There will always be days when an athlete is tired, sore, or simply doesn’t want to train.

What matters is showing up anyway.

That consistency helped Zij go from feeling like he was at the bottom of the pack to competing alongside some of the country’s top players. Training around accomplished athletes also showed him the level of work required to keep progressing.

The Road Ahead

Zij is now committed to Vernon College, a junior college in Texas, after playing with Mississauga Tigers HP. But despite how far he has come, he doesn’t see his college commitment or current success as the finish line.

His mindset remains focused on the next goal. At only 19, he knows there is still plenty of room to become stronger, faster, and better.

Reflection on the Journey

Zij Mina’s transformation shows what can happen when an athlete refuses to let his starting point define his future. From struggling physically and questioning whether baseball was still for him to becoming one of Canada’s top hitters and earning a college opportunity, his journey has been built through years of sacrifice and consistent work.

His advice to athletes facing their own challenges is simple: No matter how low you start, just start. Keep showing up, keep putting in the work, and let the small steps add up.

>> Watch more of our athlete success stories here.

TRANSCRIPTION:

I’m Zij Mina. I’m committed to Vernon College. It’s a JuCo in Texas and this year I played on Mississauga Tigers HP. So at a really young age, um, I was playing basketball. That’s why that was my first real like, okay. Yeah. I started taking it serious. But then, um, I think it was ten or eleven, a little later than usual than when people start baseball. But, um, that’s when I started playing like, just like house league with my friends grade, like five or six or whatever. And then after that year, I played, I moved actually that year, I played another year of house league, and then I started moving up a little bit, select double a, triple A throughout the years. And then, um, my fourteen year, I played with the Toronto Mets and Richmond Hill, my fourteen and fifteen year, um, they wanted me to be a pitcher actually. Um, just because I was like, I was a fourteen year old kid, two hundred and fifty pounds. Like I was huge. You can’t really do anything with that in baseball, especially at that age just because it’s so unathletic. And so there’s just like, you can’t really do anything in any sport. I’m not even baseball if you’re that big at that age. So, um, yeah, they wanted me to be a pitcher. I said no, um, so that fifteen year I left, I went to Team Ontario. I was there for one year, the sixteen year, um, after that year, they also wanted me to be a pitcher just because I didn’t play at all. And I had a really bad year when I did play, which was I understood it, but I just in my heart, I knew I wasn’t going to be a pitcher. That’s not what I was destined to be. And then that summer, that sixteen to seventeen year summer is when I first came to LPs. So the year I came to LPs, I heard, um, my new coach, because that was the year I went to HBP. Um, Sean Travers he recommended I come here for the summer because I knew that team, I wasn’t going to play, so I didn’t play summer ball that year at all. Um, I think it was like in like May, June and July. I didn’t play baseball at all. I just came here four days a week, put my head down and got to work the first day. I remember the first day I got here, it was all because in the summer, that’s when all the hockey players come, because all the football players are in their season and stuff, and all the baseball players. So all the hockey players, all these like ski. What I thought was skinny guys didn’t look that strong. Just moving crazy weight music bumping everyone, yelling, weight slamming on the ground. It was crazy. And then I did my assessment that day. This kid, I think I was like, maybe six foot two over two fifty. Yeah, I couldn’t I remember doing the assessment. I could not do anything in that assessment. My mobility was terrible, I was weak, everything was tight in my body. It was just it was it was a really bad day. But I talked to Clance and he said, if I want to get through this stage, he will help me. And that’s exactly what he did. So he put me on a low carb meal plan for those three months that I was here in the summer. I got to work. I got all the way down to two twelve for my seventeen year, just in that summer, in those three months. Um, and then, yeah, I just really locked in. Um, I was hitting every day because I wasn’t traveling like everyone else. So I was just treating it like an off season, just really trying to tone down on my skills and get to work and prove to everyone that I’m not a pitcher and that everyone who said that, just trying to prove them wrong. So LPs is in North York and I live in Wasaga Beach, so that’s like an hour and a half, no traffic. So coming in and with traffic like our forty five hour fifty, sometimes two in the winter time, insane, insane. So, um, that alone just driving that far like four hours there and back every day of the week, you, you kind of have to get better at that point. You know what I mean? Being in this environment, being in that, in that kind of state, knowing how much people are sacrificing for you, like you have to just get it in your mind. Like, because I was sixteen at the time, I’m not driving. My parents are driving me back and forth. So not doing it for them. I’m doing it for myself, obviously, but knowing that their work is paying off, I think kind of in their minds, gave them a little bit of peace of mind to say, yeah, like it’s worth what we’re doing this for. So when I came here, I was maybe squatting Max eighty kilos. My clean was at like sixty, the two blues. And then today, actually I just hit a front squat of one sixty and then a power clean of one twenty. So it’s really just learning the technique, getting that mobility. And then after you get to that stage, then you can start building up strength slowly and slowly. And I’ve been here for like four years, so four years straight of just working up slowly, slowly, slowly. And it can only just keep going higher. Honestly, because I’m only nineteen, like I have so much time. So I feel like just to keep getting those little, little goals that I have, um, will be huge for me. So, um, physically, um, my speed because in baseball we run in high school, you run sixty yard dashes. In that sixteen year that I came here, it was like I was in the eights like terrible. No one even if you run a eight sixty, you’re way down there. So, um, and then that year I got it down to a seven. So I went down one whole second in that year. And then now I run a six seven. So yeah, I just keep, like I said, just keep hitting those little goals physically. Um, also my exit velocity hitting the ball just shot. I’m in the hundreds. Now. If you told me that three years ago, I would have told you were crazy. I never thought I’d be hitting the ball over one hundred miles an hour. So, uh, yeah, that’s pretty cool, going from no one even caring about who I was. Just. Oh, that little fat kids just out in the pack. And now there’s one of the top hitters in the country. So just going from that huge jump was it was really good for my mental, but it’s also being up here, but then being able to be like, okay, we’re here, but the job’s not finished. We’re not where we want to be yet, but it’s a good step to where I’m trying to go. I wouldn’t say, um, motivation keeps me going because there’s days where you come in, you feel terrible, you’re sore, you’re tight, whatever it is, and everything is just telling you, oh, I just I don’t want to be here. I’m not motivated. But it’s just no matter how terrible you’re feeling that day, it’s just getting up and doing it and doing it and doing it. I think it’s more consistency then motivation. Getting up in the morning like, oh yeah, I feel good. And some days you do have that, but there’s a lot of days I can tell you that you’re slugging, you’re walking to the gym like these. You’re it’s a Wednesday. We all know what happens on Wednesdays. So I feel like training was someone who’s better than you at everything on a consistent basis, you’re bound to get better at whatever it is you’re doing. It can be anything in life, but if you’re doing something with someone that’s better than you at whatever it is, and the more consistent you are with it, training with that person, I think you’re bound to be successful and better in what you do. Watching Denzel. Um, even just in the weight room, I obviously seen him playing on TV. Whatever. Got to keep up with my guy, you know? But, um, just watching him work out, seeing what it takes to get to that MLB level because he grinded his way through the minors through school, like he wasn’t a top end guy until he really got to like, double a triple A, and then he started, you know, getting to that different level above all those guys. So it kind of just, it shows me what I need to do to get there, what I’m willing to do to get there. Being kind of at the bottom of the pack, it messes with you mentally because at one point, I didn’t know if I was going to keep on going with this baseball thing. And, um, I was really, really low point in my life mentally. It was just, I just didn’t know if I could do it, but I just put my head down and said, I’m going to do this and I don’t care who’s in my way. I don’t care what’s going to happen. I’m going to get through it. I’m going to keep on pushing because I know that little voice inside my head. That’s what he would want. So, um, yeah, especially when yeah, when I was at the bottom of the pack, I really felt that as I started going up a bit more, um, like being at events like T12, Blue Jays Academy, playing at Rogers Centre, like just being with those guys who are obviously on the same journey as me, but I feel like everyone’s journey is different because those guys that were there, I’ve known them since I was like thirteen, fourteen because they’ve always been at the top of the pack and now just getting there a couple years ago. I feel like it’s like, well, I’m here now, you know, but it’s always being like, oh, I’m here now, but I’m not. I can always be here. Or when I’m here, I can always be there, you know what I mean? So it’s, it’s always just looking towards that next step, I think, and just never being comfortable with where you’re at. Lance Wayne Allen, all the interns, they, they definitely know what they’re talking about. You know, um, just getting you to that baseline when you’re starting, it’s really, really hard to get out of that. But I feel like once you get out of that in here, out there, you feel that jump and you feel that kind of large step being taken. But yeah, I know just For me, the big thing was mobility. Mobility was absolutely terrible. I think that’s the thing that was holding me back just because I was so big. Um, so that’s what we really worked on those first couple months was using that that broomstick. Man, that gives me PTSD. Um, but yeah, I know it’s really just getting down, breaking it all down and then building it back up. I think they do a really good job of that. Yes. One thing I have to say is no matter how hard and no matter how down you’re feeling, no matter how terrible you feel that morning, you don’t want to come lift. You don’t want to go to practice. You don’t want to get that extra work. Just do it. Because once you get that done, those little steps, I promise you, they just keep adding up. You just keep getting a little bit better every day, and you’re going to get to where you want to go, no matter how low you start. You just got to start. That’s all you got to do. Just start.