The Sportsnet pair of baseball analyst and former major-leaguer Gregg Zaun, and Tim and Sid co-host Sid Seixeiro, are the clear celebrity-name headliners of the second annual HarbourCats Hotstove Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Yates Street Taphouse.
Nick Pivetta, another guest speaker, might look pale next to all that sartorial sporting splashiness, but the emerging 23-year-old Island pitcher provides a compelling note to the festivities.
And with a uniquely fitting angle 鈥� Pivetta was the first starting pitcher in HarbourCats history.
Pivetta was drafted by the Washington Nationals immediately after starting that inaugural game in franchise history in 2013 and going eight innings for the win. The Lambrick Park Secondary graduate, who came up through the Victoria Eagles of the sa国际传媒 Premier League, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2015 for Jonathan Papeelbon.
Pivetta鈥檚 rise has been steady and sure. He was named 2016 team pitching MVP for the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils and selected to the Eastern League all-star game in July in Akron, Ohio. Pivetta ended his season by being called up to make six starts in Triple-A for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs of the International League.
As every baseball type knows, Triple A is just a heartbeat away from the majors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one step at a time. I would like to be in the big leagues next year or the year after,鈥� said Pivetta, a graduate of the Canadian junior national team. 鈥淚 think of all the coaches on the Island who helped guide me along when I was a kid playing baseball 鈥� people like Marty Hall and Gautam Srivastava and then Josh Simpson when I went to junior college.鈥�
His worn jersey from the HarbourCats鈥� inaugural game will be auctioned off tonight.
The six-foot-five, 220-pound Pivetta is primarily a fastball pitcher.
鈥淚 am working on command and lowering the walks total,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y curveball is coming along and I鈥檝e added a slider.鈥�
Ten-season major-leaguer and new HarbourCats head coach Brian McRae also will be introduced to fans tonight as part of the HarbourCats Hotstove.
The function will include a meet-and-greet and then Q&A session with Zaun, Seixeiro, McRae and Pivetta.
Tickets are $50, which includes prizes and one drink. They鈥檙e available at harbourcats.com/packages/harbourcatshotstove or from HarbourCats GM Brad Norris-Jones (250-888-2003) or assistant GM Brittany French (778-265-0327).
The post-baseball season functions continue when Toronto Blue Jays left-fielder and slugger Michael Saunders of Victoria, who was voted by fans into the 2016 MLB all-star game, returns to his hometown for an event next Friday night at the Westin Bear Mountain to raise funds for the Lambrick Park Secondary Baseball Academy.
