The identities of the Vancouver Canadians coaching staff may no longer be a secret.
An official announcement has not been made but according to the roster page on CanadiansBaseball.com, nine-year big league outfielder Donnie Murphy is listed as the manager for Mounty’s Mounties for the upcoming campaign. Murphy joined the Toronto Blue Jays organization in 2016 when he was the hitting coach for the Lansing Lugnuts. He had that same job with the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2018 and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2019. He was to take over the managing reigns for Dunedin in 2020 before the coronavirus spoiled that plan as well as many others. Murphy saw time with the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Florida/Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers from 2004-2014.
Again, it’s not official but it appears the rest of the 2020 Dunedin coaching staff will ply their trade with Vancouver for the upcoming season. 2014-2015 Blue Jays first baseman Matt Hague will serve as the hitting coach, Antonio Caceres will be responsible for the pitchers, George Carroll will be the position coach and Taylor Hill will handle development duties.
The roster page on the C’s website also provides an indication as to who might playing for the red and white, including a number of familiar faces. Parentheses indicate the year the pitcher/player was in Vancouver.
Pitchers
- Nick Allgeyer (2018) *
- Brayden Bouchey (2017)
- Maximo Castillo
- Cre Finfrock
- Kyle Johnston
- Sean Rackoski
- Jackson Rees
- Donnie Sellers (2017)
- Simeon Woods Richardson
* lefthander
Catchers
- Chris Bec (2018)
- Andres Guerra
Infielders
- Nick Podkul (2018)
Outfielders
- Reggie Pruitt (2017)
- Chavez Young (2017)
Dunedin Blue Jays Roster
The Dunedin Blue Jays website also has a preliminary 2021 roster listed that include a number of Vancouver Canadians.
Pitchers
- Cobi Johnson (2018)
- Colton Laws (2017)
- Will McAffer (2018)
- Troy Miller (2018)
- Luis Quinones (2019)
- Fitz Stadler (2018)
- Sean Wymer (2018)
Outfielders
- McGregory Contreras (2018-2019)
- Tanner Kirwer (2018)
Dunedin is set to be managed by 2011 Canadians catcher Luis Hurtado while longtime C’s coach Dave Pano will be responsible for the position players.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats Roster
Pitchers
- Mike Ellenbest (2016)
- Luke Gillingham (2019) *
- Zach Logue (2017) *
- Justin Maese (2016)
- Mitch McKown (2018)
- Andy Ravel (2016)
- Marcus Reyes (2017-2018) *
- Brody Rodning (2017) *
Infielders
- Vinny Capra (2018)
- Luis De Los Santos (2019)
- Nash Knight (2016)
Outfielders
- Brock Lundquist (2017)
Former C’s pitching coach Jim Czajkowski will be responsible for the Fisher Cats hurlers in 2021 while 2011 C’s catcher Chris Schaeffer will be the position coach.
Of note, some released players also appear on the Fisher Cats roster so do not take this roster or any of the others as gospel. Pitchers William Ouellette (2017) and Joey Pulido (2019) and outfielder Roemon Fields have been released by the Blue Jays. Clicking on their MiLB player profile pages, the last transaction entries for these three players came in 2019.
Buffalo Bisons Roster
Pitchers
- Jon Harris (2015)
- Connor Law (2017)
- Tim Mayza (2014)
- Jackson McClelland (2015-2016)
- Tayler Saucedo (2015)
- Graham Spraker (2017)
Infielders
- Ronny Brito (2019)
- Cullen Large (2017)
- Samad Taylor (2017)
- Richard Ureña (2014)
- Kevin Vicuña (2017)
- Logan Warmoth (2017)
The Bisons roster page still lists Ken Huckaby as manager even though it has been announced by the Blue Jays that 2019 C’s skipper Casey Candaele will take over the Herd.
These rosters are far from being a done deal as the Blue Jays needed to make administrative or “paper” moves to put the players somewhere for now. For example, remember when Jose Thole was placed on the Bluefield Blue Jays roster one time? These initial rosters at least provide something to think about as the start of the minor league season is approaching.
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