An up and down season has come to an end for the Vancouver Canadians faithful, with more downs, than ups. Not to say this year was a ‘wash’ year, because that might be an over-reaction, but it’s safe to say this year won’t go down as the best in Canadians short-season history. Just be thankful we don’t live in Yakima, where an average of 1900 fans show up to each game, and their team wins just 28 games after 76 matches. Yikes.
In the dugout, Manager Rick Magnante returned for his third year with the C’s, and with the help of Jimmy Escalante and JT Stotts, transformed several players from second-rate players, to first-class gentleman. Take David Thomas for example, a guy who probably hadn’t played First Base since High School, who was penciled in one game to take over for Dusty Napoleon. Did he do well? You could say that. But it’d be an under-statement.
In one of the last home games of the season, Thomas dove over the bag, and flipped a double-play from his knees. I have never seen anything like that at the 3 slot, and probably never will again. Thomas, mark my words, will be playing for Oakland by 2012. Easily.
OF Jeremy Barfield went through a bit of a slump over the last two weeks of the season, hitting just .194 over his last 10 games, but still finished the year with a very respectable .271 BA through 69 games. He had three dingers, 17 doubles, and averaged just under a hit per game. Barfield hit just .222 in June, before picking it up, hitting .280 and .290 respectively in July and August. As much as I don’t want to bring up family in a ballplayer, the son of Jesse, and the brother of Josh, it looks like Jeremy might be off to the Majors to be the second, second-generation Barfield to make the Major Leagues.
JD Pruitt ended his NWL season, with a four-game hitting streak, which included a 3-4 season finale against Salem-Keizer, and a 2-4 game on September 1st. Pruitt missed a good chunk of the year with a concussion, but still hit .282 in his sophomore campaign in Vancouver. He legged out 4 doubles and a pair of troubles, as well as knocking out four home-runs.
Pruitt also hit .444 against left-handed hitters, in 27 at-bats. OF Mitch LeVier suffered a few injuries, but still managed to hit .241 on the year, committing no errors in the outfield. LeVier stole four bases, and legged out 7 doubles.
DH Mike Lissman played the outfield on a few occasions, but was better suited as the Designated Hitter. Lissman, in 44 games, hit six home-runs, and five of his home-runs came in July. Lissman drove in 22 runs, and scored 25 times.
Moving to the infield, SS Jason Christian led the pack, offensively and defensively. Christian suffered a few blunders at short early in the year, and committed 18 errors when the year was said and done, but his .291 average, and 16 doubles more than made up for it. Jason also drove in 24 runs, stole a team-high 13 bases, getting caught only once, and walked 39 times, good enough for 2nd on the team.
Jason did strike out 65 times, another team-high, and finished second in team home-runs, with 4.
Christian’s late-season replacement Dusty Coleman sure made a splash, with his first Northwest League hit coming as a walk-off, against the Boise Hawks at home. Coleman played in 19 games, and hit .319 with 8 doubles in that short time. Coleman struck out 26 times in just 72 at-bats, and bobbled just three balls at shortstop.
2B Marcos Luis had some of the coolest walk-up music in the C’s locker room, and also was a hit on the field, picking up a hit, on average, every four at-bats. He batted .250, and despite playing in 38 games, only had 5 errors in the field. Luis was speedy on the base paths, picking up 3 steals, but was also reliable in flipping double plays, diving for ground balls, and doing pirouettes at second base, on one occasion. Unfortunately, it resulted in a injury, he never really recovered from. Luis should be the everyday 2nd baseman in Kane County next year.
Dusty Napoleon’s sophomore campaign with Vancouver went a bit better than his first, and with that second year, came more playing time, at a different position. Napoleon finished third in games played, and legged out 12 doubles, one triple (which was actually an inside the park home-run), and smacked two home-runs. He walked a team-high 41 times, and struck out 41 times as well.
The other infielders, 2B Francisco Tirado and 3B Rodney Rutherford combined bobbled 36 balls, and both hit just above .210. They both had similar seasons, walking the same amount of times (16) and each had 8 extra-base hits.
3B Leo Gil joined the team in late-July but still fared well with the C’s, batting .208 in 25 games. Gil had one home-run in Spokane’s right-field porch, and drove in 8 runs. He had just 4 errors.
Behind the dish, Juan Nunez batted .206 after two separate stints with the C’s this year, while Julio Rivera didn’t quite make the Mendoza Line, despite having a fairly good end to the year, batting .244 in August. Dante Love’s second year in Vancouver was much of the same as the first, and actually Love had a better first year, than his second. Unfortunately, Love’s season was abruptly ended in August, after breaking his nose. He finished the year with a batting average of .151.
One guy who seems to get lost in the offensive shuffle is Jareck West. Now, Jareck played in 59 games this year, and hit .181. Those don’t seem like monster numbers, and I won’t lie, they’re not. Jareck was a pinch runner for 4 of his last 10 games. And did much of the same all year. But you know what? He didn’t complain. Will he be back next year? Probably. Will he be happy? Doubt it. Will he take it in stride? Hell yes. Of Jareck’s 29 hits, 7 were doubles, 4 were triples and two were dingers, which both came in back-to-back at-bats, in two different games in Spokane, including a game-changing Grand Slam late in the game.
Jareck West may not be the star of this team, but if you’re reading this Mr West, be damn proud of yourself, because you’re gonna get far in life, as well as in baseball, if you keep up this attitude. Ladies and Gentleman, he’s for real.
On the hill, Vancouver had a few stars, and looking at the stats it’s easy to tell who.
He might not have had the lowest ERA, but Pedro Figueroa was by far the best pitcher in this C’s staff. Going 2-5, with an ERA of 3.93, ‘Figgy’ started 15 games for the C’s, and struck out 77, which put him tied with Ronny Morla for the team lead. In his second year with Vancouver, Pedro made a name for himself, and will likely move up to Kane County next year.
Ronny Morla started the most games all year, 16 in all, and was 2-6 with an ERA just under 5.00. Morla may find himself wearing a C’s uniform next year, but if not, will likely be in Kane County, with Figueroa.
RHP Shawn ‘Harvard’ Haviland was converted to a starter midway through the year, and excelled, to say the least. His ERA as a reliever was 1.04, and as a starter, 4.62. But don’t let that confuse you, Haviland was dominating on the mound, and didn’t usually get defensive help, even though he’d never admit to that. Haviland struck out 10 in his second-last home game, against Boise after just 4 innings, and also had three games where he struck out 6 or more batters.
‘The Nat’ wasn’t very kind to Haviland, as his ERA was almost 4.00 lower on the road, than at home. He surrendered just 5 earned runs all year on the road, and all five were when he started.
Southpaw Trey Barham was arguably the best left-hander all year, combined with Pedro Figueroa, going 4-4 with an ERA of 3.46, as a reliever/starter. Barham gave up one run or less in four of his 7 starts, and gave up four runs only once. Trey failed to give up a run in day games, including a start, where he battled with Boise, where both teams had a perfect game through 5 innings. Barham struck out 7, in 7 innings, in two games, on Day Games.
The C’s other starter, was RHP Mike Hart who suffered down the stretch, but still had a great year, coming out of the Texas State Baseball program. Hart failed to give up a run after his first three starts, before yielding one on August 16th against Boise. He then gave up three in his final two starts, before an injury prevented him from a start in the last homestand.
Hart’s season ERA finished at a very good 2.52, and finished the year with a WHIP that stood at 1.09, finishing third on the team, and leading all starting pitchers.
LHP Carlos Hernandez made a name for himself in the ranks of minor league baseball this summer, after a less than stellar 2007. Hernandez threw for a trio of teams in less than two months, pitching for Vancouver, Kane County and Stockton, in their playoff run. And for all three teams, he maintained an ERA below 2.30. It’s a much different story than last year, when after a pair of games as a C’s reliever he was sent down after giving up three earned runs in two innings. He headed down to Arizona, worked on a breaking ball, and finished the year with a 6.75 ERA between Vancouver and the AZL A’s.
I have never, seen such a dramatic turn-around, as I have this summer with Carlos. After 7 starts in Vancouver, he gave up just 8 earned runs in 39.2 innings, striking out 38, before getting the call up to Kane County. His ERA was 1.82, and was 2-0. In Illinois, it was much of the same for the 5′11 155lbs southpaw, going 5-0 with an ERA of 2.29. Again, he failed to give up 10 runs, as he surrendered 9 through 35 innings.
This year, pitching for Stockton in the Cal League Playoffs, he was magnificent. In his first outing, in a hitters league, after 6 innings on the mound, he gave up three hits and walked just one batter, while fanning 10. His last, and final appearance of the year, came on Sunday, when in the final game of the Cal League Championship series, his starting performance led the way to a Ports victory. 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and four strikeouts. Not bad for a guy who might have been on the A’s chopping block, 12 months ago. Kudos to both Carlos, and Jimmy Escalante, as well as Craig Lefferts, and everyone else who has turned this kid around, he is one great ballplayer.
Fireballer Hector Garcia didn’t finish the year with Vancouver, but still had respectable numbers when with the C’s. The pitcher who touched 98 here-and-there was 2-4 with an ERA of 4.46. Half of his games were starts, before he got turned to the bullpen in July. Garcia walked 5 more, than he struck out, and gave up the same amount of runs, as K’s.
LHP Fabian "Pick-Me!" Gomez might not have had luck on the field, think in Spokane when a sure inning-ending double play turned into a Leo Gil mental error, as Gil picked up only one out on the play, and thought the inning was over. Of course, Spokane scored another run or two.
Gomez, did, however manage to pick-off a bunch of NWL baserunners. I have the total somewhere, and when I find it, I’ll post it on the site. His 3-2 record and 5.94 ERA suggest he did poorer than he actually did, as being put into tough situations, game-in and game-out don’t always help pitchers.
RHP Ryne Tacker needs to forget. Tacker’s 0-5 record, mixed in with a 10.03 ERA after 8 starts and 6 relief appearances, is something the Texas native needs to put behind him, as he works on regaining his composure. Think Carlos Hernandez, Ryne, you could be in the same situation a year from now.
RHP Matt Fitts and Ken Smalley put up similar numbers this year in Vancouver, but for Fitts, his 1-1 record might be the worst part of his stats. I’m kidding, of course, as Fitts was undefeated in college this year, pitching for the NAIA champion Lewis-Clark State. The loss may not be something Fitts is used to, but his 2.86 ERA more than makes up for that one lone loss. And after 11 games at Nat Bailey this year, 9 as a Canadian, 2 as a Warrior, he is still, undefeated.
Smalley, on the other hand, had never pitched at ‘The Nat’ ahead of this summer, and compelled a 5-1 record, that tags along with his 3.07 ERA. Smalley had one blunder, an error in August, that almost cost the C’s the victory, but threw in the 95mph range all summer, and fooled hitters left and right. Smalley struck out 34 batters in almost 30 innings.
Edgar Tejeda has worn the C’s jersey for two years now, even though last year he only did for about 7 days. After a sizzling season opening performance, where he struck out 9 in 4 innings, Tejeda cooled off, going 1-1 with an ERA of 5.17. The ERA is a career low for Tejeda, since leaving the Dominican Summer League back in 2006. Tejeda struck out 40 batters in 31 innings, and gave up just under a hit an inning.
Lefty Ben Hornbeck’s numbers weren’t fantastic, but could’ve been worse for the Phoenix, Arizona native who shall be right at home come Spring Training. Hornbeck was 3-2 this summer, 2-2 with Vancouver, and 1-0 with Kane County. He was called up in late-August, with Jason Christian, where he helped the Cougars in the post-season. Hornbeck threw 31 innings in Vancouver, gave up 30 hits, and struck out 40, and those are the same numbers as Edgar Tejeda. Spooky.
Dan Thomas had fans looking at the Left Field radar gun every time he threw the ball. In his first game in July, it seemed as though every pitch was hitting 97. Since that time, he was throwing 97 and 98 consistently. Unfortunately for him, opponents were hitting off of him near the end of the year, but of his 13 relief appearances, he gave up runs in only three. He fanned 20 over 18.2 innings of work.
Canadian Mathieu Leblanc Poirier excited fans at the Nat once they knew he was an actual Canadian, and his stats weren’t too shabby either. He went 1-0 with an ERA below 1.00, after joining the club in mid-August. The only run he allowed was in his second-last game, against Eugene.
This baseball team, didn’t have the best record on the field. Some of these players, didn’t have the stats they were hoping for. Some of the management might not have been happy with the crowds on some nights, maybe they were disappointed with the Opening Night turnout, who knows. But this organization, led by Andy Dunn, Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, are on the right track. And let me tell you, in a few years, we’ll be up there with the Sacramento Rivercats as one of the darn finest organizations in all of baseball. And that, C’s fans is why I tip my cap to them.
