One might need to be an extreme pessimist to predict the sa国际传媒-U.S. border will still be closed next 颅summer. It鈥檚 unlikely, but there are no guarantees. It鈥檚 a conundrum faced by all sports leagues, which have teams based on both sides of the border, as they prepare for 2021.
鈥淭he only thing we can plan for is normal and adjust later as the health orders dictate. We can鈥檛 predict for June and July,鈥� said Jim Swanson, GM and managing partner, of the Victoria HarbourCats.
The West Coast League baseball team signed three players this week and all are Canadians. Is it a way to protect the club? A WCL sa国际传媒-only division would be possible with teams in Nanaimo, Kamloops and Edmonton joining the existing Victoria and Kelowna franchises next year.
鈥淚t is certainly something we have talked about. The five Canadians teams could play amongst each other if it came to that,鈥� admitted Swanson.
And Canadian diamond talent is legitimate in its own right. All three HCats signees 鈥� Coquitlam-products Giordano Mezzomo and Steven Moretto with Declan Dutton from 颅Vancouver 鈥� played on the Canadian junior national team and in the sa国际传媒 Premier Baseball League. The BCPBL has produced the likes of current or former MLB players Nick Pivetta from the Victoria Eagles, Rich Harden and Michael Saunders from the 颅Victoria Mariners, James Paxton, Tyler O鈥橬eill, Larry Walker, Ryan Dempster, Jeff Francis, Brett Lawrie, Adam Loewen and Justin Morneau.
The six-foot-four Dutton is a right-handed pitcher, Moretto a junior infielder with NCAA Div. 1 Sacramento State and Mezzomo a two-way player as a pitcher and power-hitter.
鈥淭he baseball talent we are seeing coming out of British Columbia is pretty impressive,鈥� said HarbourCats head coach and former five-season MLB player Todd Haney.
鈥淲e are pleased to lock these three up for 2021.鈥�
Swanson concurs. 鈥淭he reputation of Canadian baseball is strong,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 lot of Canadian players are reaching out to us to come back home to play over the summer. The dumpster fire in the U.S. probably has something to do with it,鈥� added Swanson.
But Canadian WCL teams still need a mix. The HarbourCats have found that mostly with American players but also those from Taiwan, Australia and the Caribbean. 鈥淲e鈥檝e always had good representation of Canadian players,鈥� said Swanson.
鈥淏ut 35 Canadian players doesn鈥檛 win you a baseball championship and we want a championship.鈥�
The HarbourCats have twice reached the league final, including in 2019. The 2020 WCL season, which would have been the club鈥檚 eighth, was cancelled due to the pandemic. The WCL features university players from top NCAA Div. 1 conferences such as the Pac-12 and Big Ten in summer ball. For instance, the HarbourCats and Nanaimo NightOwls previously announced the signing of three players each from the 2018 Big 12 Conference champion Baylor Bears, who made the NCAA tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The calibre is such that five WCL alumni were selected in June鈥檚 颅pandemic-abbreviated five-round MLB draft. Former WCL players have been drafted in the first round in each of the past four years. Ninety alumni or then-current WCL players were selected in the 2019 MLB draft and 73 in 2018.
