A local man will be at the helm of the Vancouver Canadians in 2020.
North Delta, BC native and former North Delta Blue Jay Brent Lavallee indicated on his Twitter account Monday that he has accepted a managing position within the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Noting the Vancouver Canadians Twitter account and 2019 C’s pitching coach Demetre Kokoris liked Lavallee’s tweet, C’s Plus Baseball wondered aloud on Twitter if Lavallee was the man for the managing job in Vancouver. An anonymous but highly reliable source has confirmed that guess to be correct.
Lavallee had spent the last three years as the head coach of the Louisiana State University-Shreveport Pilots and nine seasons overall on the coaching staff, transitioning from a four year-playing career as a Pilots catcher. He was a part of the Louisiana State-Shreverport’s first-ever regular season championship in 2005. As the head coach, Lavallee compiled a record of 126-57 over three years and that led to him earning Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Coach of the Year honours in 2017 and 2019. LSU Shreveport made it to the NAIA Regionals in all three years.
Before going to Louisiana State, Lavallee had a decorated career with the North Delta Blue Jays. He was a First Team BC Premier Baseball League All-Star in 2005 along with current New York Yankees pitcher James Paxton. That year also saw Lavalle named as co-winner of the Justin Morneau Award as the North Delta Blue Jays Most Valuable Player in 2005. Three years earlier, Lavallee won the Gary Moreas Award as the team’s Most Improved Player.
The Lavallee name is a prominent one in North Delta baseball circles as Brett’s brothers Reed and Millan also played in the Blue Jays program before attending Louisiana State and Rivers Thompson College in Kelowna, BC respectively. Brent Lavallee was also listed in Bob Elliott‘s annual Most Influential Canadians in Baseball for 2018.
Lavallee takes over for another local connection at the helm of Monty’s Mounties. Former Montreal Expo Casey Candaele—who grew up in Vancouver—had a tough go of it at the Nat as the Canadians finished with a short-season franchise record 46 losses in 76 games in 2019.
No word yet on who will join Lavallee on the C’s 2020 coaching staff but that announcement should be coming shortly.
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