The Vancouver Canadians will have new ownership at the helm as the beginning of the 2023 season approaches.
The Canadians announced Tuesday that Diamond Baseball Holdings will take the ownership reins from Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney. Kerr and Mooney will remain on board with Kerr serving as chair of the Canadians while Mooney will assume the same position with the team’s Baseball Foundation. Along with partner and team president Andy Dunn, team attendance figures skyrocketed from over 3,200 a game in 2006—the year before Kerr and Mooney took over—to over 6,300 in 2017. The 2022 average attendance was 5,135 after there was no baseball in Vancouver in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and the less-than-ideal weather in the early part of the season as the C’s played a full season schedule at Nat Bailey Stadium for the first time since 1999.
Once the agreement is finalized, the C’s will be the 17th club under the Diamond Baseball Holdings umbrella.
- Gwinnett Stripers (Triple A – Atlanta)
- Iowa Cubs (Triple-A – Chicago Cubs)
- Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A – St. Louis)
- Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple-A, Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (Triple-A, New York Yankees)
- St. Paul Saints (Triple-A, Minnesota)
- Midland RockHounds (Double-A, Oakland)
- Mississippi (Double-A, Atlanta)
- Portland Sea Dogs (Double-A, Boston)
- Wichita Wind Surge (Double-A, Minnesota)
- Lansing Lugnuts (High-A, Oakland)
- Rome (High-A, Atlanta)
- San Jose Giants (Low-A, San Francisco)
- Augusta GreenJackets (Low-A, Atlanta)
- Hudson Valley Renegades (High-A, New York Yankees)
- Salem Red Sox (Low A – Boston)
C-Notes
The Vancouver Canadians will have its second-ever preseason game against the UBC Thunderbirds Wednesday evening. The “grudge match” begins at 6:00 p.m. at Nat Bailey Stadium with tickets on sale for $10.00. The C’s will be thirsting for revenge against the T-Birds who are led by former Vancouver Canadians player/hitting coach/colour analyst Chris Pritchett after a 2-0 setback last season. UBC—which competes in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)—has a 21-15 record so far in 2023 and has won its last five in a row.
Two members from last year’s Canadians team were released by the Toronto Blue Jays recently. 2021-2022 pitcher Thomas Ruwe and 2022 first baseman/third baseman Tyler Keenan were let go by Toronto on March 29.
The 27-year-old Ruwe was signed by the Blue Jays as a free agent on November 24, 2020 out of Missouri West State and split time between Dunedin and Vancouver in 2021. The Fremont, Nebraska-born hurler pitched 10-1/3 innings with the C’s that year and recorded a 2.53 earned run average with one save while striking out 17 batters and walking six. The 6-foot-9, 225-pound righty began 2022 with the C’s and tossed 21-1/3 innings with a 2.11 ERA, one save and a 31-11 K/BB total. He earned a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire on June 10 but things did not go as well for the righthander in Manchester as he had an ERA of 8.10 over 13-1/3 innings. Ruwe’s season was cut short due to injury as he was placed on the seven-day injured list on July 29, three days after his last appearance of the season.
The 24-year-old Keenan was acquired by Toronto in a trade with Seattle last June 5 that saw 2014-2015 C’s lefthander Ryan Borucki join Team Trident. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Keenan was drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft by the Mariners out of Mississippi. The lefthanded hitter made his pro debut with the Everett AquaSox in 2021 and played 64 games in which he batted .196/.304/.357 with six home runs and 44 runs batted in. He returned to the Frogs to begin 2022 and batted .250 with a .740 OPS, a 36-point increase from 2021. Even though Keenan missed the last part of June due to injury, he slashed .300/.357/.500 in 15 games in which he racked up seven doubles, a home run and four runs batted in. He earned a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire but had just one hit in 22 at-bats over seven games with the Fisher Cats. Keenan was placed on the seven-day injured list on July 24 before going on the temporarily inactive list on August 18.
All the best to these gentlemen in their future endeavours.
The Vancouver Canadians 2023 roster will be officially unveiled on Wednesday. The team held its media day on Monday and C’s manager Brent Lavallee told C’s Plus Baseball that Adam Macko will get the start on Opening Night against Spokane at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday. Macko and reliever Erik Swanson were acquired by Toronto from Seattle for outfielder Teoscar Hernández back on November 16.
The Canadians begin the season with a nine-game homestand with the first three against Spokane over the weekend. After Friday night’s 7:05 p.m. start, Saturday and Sunday’s games are set for 1:05 p.m. All games are on MiLB.TV and CanadiansBaseball.com with Tyler Zickel on the call.
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