C’s Chat – 2023 Vancouver Canadians LHP #35 Ian Churchill – C's Plus Baseball

2023 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Ian Churchill makes his way to the mound in the latest instalment of C’s Chat.

Churchill’s journey to pro ball started in his hometown of Santa Barbara, California where he attended San Marco High School. Striking out 156 batters and posting an earned run average of 2.51 over three years, Churchill earned first-team All-Conference honours in his senior season.

Churchill attended Santa Barbara City College in 2018 and struck out 65 batters in 66 innings but he really found his stride in summer college ball. He went 7-0 with a 1.55 ERA and had a strikeout-walk total of 44-9 in 40-2/3 innings for the Mat-Su Miners. He was named an Alaska League All-Star and was rated as that circuit’s fourth-best prospect by Baseball America, citing “his feel for pitching and ability to generate swings and misses without electric stuff is what impressed evaluators the most”.

That was the springboard to a banner 2019 season as Churchill won eight of 10 decisions with a 1.96 ERA and one save for the Vaqueros after striking out 98 batters and walking 27 in 82-2/3 innings. That led to Churchill taking home CCCAA (California Community College Athletic Association) Pitcher of the Year award and receiving ABCA (American Baseball Coaches Association) All-America, All-State and All-Southern California honours.

The 2020 season saw Churchill head to Tucson, Arizona join the Arizona Wildcats where he struck out 15 batters over 11-2/3 innings to go along with a 3.09 ERA before the season was cut short by the pandemic. In 2021, Churchill pitched just 13-2/3 innings and struck out 12 batters. He threw a shutout inning against Mississippi in the NCAA Tucson Super Regional and got to pitch against Stanford in the College World Series.

It was back to California for Churchill in 2022 as he transferred to the University of San Diego. He went 3-2 with a 4.17 ERA, a 57-12 K/BB total and four saves in 54 innings for the Toreros. That included six no-hit innings of relief against Loyola Marymount on April 14 and four shutout innings against Vanderbilt over two appearances in the Corvallis Regional on June 3 and 5.

An All-WCC (West Coast Conference) Second-Team All-Star, Churchill got the attention of Toronto Blue Jays scout Jim Lentine and the Jays wound up selecting the lefty in the 10th round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

Churchill’s pro debut came in Dunedin as he struck out a batter in a shutout inning against Tampa on August 10. His next outing saw him contribute a perfect frame in Dunedin’s no-hit effort against Tampa on August 14. The first professional win for Churchill was in Bradenton on August 26 as he stranded a runner and struck out three over 1-2/3 scoreless innings. Other highlights were two whiffs over 2-2/3 innings in Tampa on August 30, back-to-back four strikeout appearances including 2-1/3 shutout stanzas in Palm Beach on September 10. In the postseason, Churchill earned a hold in Game 1 of the Florida State League final against St. Lucie on September 18. For the year, Churchill posted a microscopic ERA and WHIP of 0.75 and 0.92 respectively over 12 innings, striking out 18 and walking five.

it was back to the Florida State League for Churchill in 2023 and that was bad news for opposing batters who hit just .162 against him. He struck out two over two shutout innings for a win at Palm Beach on April 19 and racked up three more whiffs and two spotless stanzas for another victory against the Cardinals on April 23. That was part of a scoreless April who struck out 12 hitters and walked five over 9-1/3 innings that month. Churchill’s record improved to 3-0 when he punched out five batters at Tampa on May 18. He ended his Dunedin tenure with seven scoreless appearances with a 15-3 K/BB mark in 11 innings.

That convinced the Blue Jays brass to promote Churchill to Vancouver on June 10 and he made his debut on June 13 by striking out 2022 Golden Spikes Award winner Ivan Melendez in a perfect frame to finish off a win against Hillsboro. His next outing at the Nat was on June 16 as he stranded two inherited runners and struck out one over 1-1/3 scoreless innings in an eventual victory against the Hops. He hung another zero and struck out a batter to complete a win at Eugene on June 22.

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C’s Plus Baseball caught up with Churchill during the team’s homestand against Hillsboro in mid-June. This interview has been edited for clarity.

C’s Plus Baseball – You’re from California. Did you have a favourite major league team or player growing up?

Ian Churchill – My Dad was a really big Dodgers fan growing up. Believe it or not, I didn’t watch much baseball growing up. I was a huge skateboarder and was really into that. And then once I did start watching baseball, I was more (into) just my favourite players. I loved watching Clayton Kershaw. I loved watching C.C. Sabathia and all these other great lefty starters.

CPB – How did you get started in baseball?

IC – It was one of those things where I always played it growing up and it was funny because I can’t tell you how many times I probably told my Dad I wanted to quit. I did Little League and everything like that. I never made an all-star team or anything like that.
I played right field, and batted pretty low in the lineup. Wasn’t a whole lot for me. It wasn’t a whole lot of love to want to go to the field and stuff like that. But I kind of stuck with it and I think it was around early like high school. I remember I just started just getting better and I think I just started hitting puberty. And I just started getting into it and started to really fall in love with baseball and stuff like that. And it just kind of took off from there and I think I got into it a little late. So I ended up going to junior college.

CPB – As far as skateboarding goes, has that helped you as far as baseball goes?

IC – Gosh, I don’t know. Maybe. Believe it or not, I wasn’t even a good skateboarder. It was just one of those things I always did with my buddies and stuff like that. I skateboarded. I did like BMX. I used to even do downhill longboarding where we had, you know, you had the gloves and you had these pucks on your hands. And I’d go down mountains at like probably upwards to like 60 miles an hour for some reason. I don’t know why I did it. But I wanted to do whatever and I wanted to hang out with my friends. And then one day, everyone starts getting pretty serious about baseball so I decided to too. And that’s just kind of how it happened.

CPB – You go to junior college in Santa Barbara. What was that experience like?

IC – It was awesome. I was really kind of in between where I wanted to go. For most of high school, I don’t even think I thought college baseball was even like an option. I’d always thought I was just going to follow in my brother’s footsteps and go to school. And we have a sheet metal shop in downtown Santa Barbara. And I just thought I was going to do that. And I still remember I had a coach come up to me one day and was like, ‘Hey, you know, you got a shot playing in college. You should go do it.’ And my junior college coach reached out to me. I went and toured and watched a game. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to go and do this.’ So I decided to go there and get to stay at home as well. Stay home and kind of figure it out and decide what I want to do.

CPB – You eventually transferred to Arizona, and go to a College World Series. What was that like being in Arizona?

IC – It was awesome. Arizona was great. I played with some really great players and stuff that are still playing. And it was awesome. Had the whole COVID experience, which kind of blew, but I made the most of it. And to be able to go to the College World Series is pretty awesome with that team. And we had some good games, playing against Vanderbilt, you know, at a night game and having my family be there and stuff was awesome. And then being able to get on the mound and stuff. Omaha was a pretty awesome experience. I feel like I’m pretty lucky to be able to say that I was able to go and do that and participate in that so it was awesome.

CPB – There are a couple of Arizona State guys (with the C’s) in Lyle Lin and Cooper Benson. Is there a bit of a rivalry there?

IC – No, those guys are awesome. Pretty great guys. I haven’t really felt the competitive rivalry or anything like that. It’s cool.

CPB – You eventually transferred to San Diego. Why did you decide to go there?

IC – After I got my bachelor’s degree, I was ready to go and get my master’s and I think I was kind of ready to step away from baseball after that. And I wanted to just kind of get a start on the rest of my life. And I thought San Diego was closer to home and I could kind of finish out that last year, have my family be there and just be surrounded by the family that I also had in San Diego. So it just seemed like a perfect opportunity. And yeah, I just kind of went there and kept going and fell in love with San Diego. I mean, how can you not? And I ended up having the chance to keep on playing.

CPB – And things went really well with the Toreros so much so that you get drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays. Were you expecting that at all?

IC – No, I thought the only way I was going to get drafted was if the planets aligned and the Pope said a special prayer for me. So yeah, I ended up getting super lucky and that happened. But it was awesome, it was really cool. And to be able to share that with my family and all my coaches. Everyone was super excited for me. I think the Blue Jays were really kind of the only team that really talked to me. I sat down with (scout Jim Lentine) in a Starbucks for like three hours and we just talked baseball. And he had an awesome experience of playing. He really just talked about how awesome the Blue Jays organization was. I was sold not only because I just wanted to play, but because it sounded awesome. And then draft day came around. I got a phone call from him and said yes and it just kind of ended up working out. It was awesome.

CPB – You report to Dunedin and they put you through a draft camp. Did that help you get used to the rigours of pro ball?

IC – Yeah, it was awesome. I think at first, obviously you’re kind of looking around and you’re wondering, like ‘Oh, how’s this going to go? Who are all these guys and stuff?’ I feel like the draft class I was in was an awesome group and we all got along immediately. And draft camp was awesome because all the staff and coaches were so nice.
‘Where does this work for you and this and that? And let’s get you settled in before we send you out.’ So it was pretty nice to know that someone was there basically to say, ‘Hey, you know, we have your back and welcome to family’ and stuff like that. And that was really cool. I really enjoyed draft camp and just being able to meet everyone and then being able to come back during spring training and see everyone again. And I had already kind of made some of those relationships. That was awesome.

CPB – Take us what a typical day at draft camp was like.

IC – It felt like it was kind of a new thing every day. One day it was like, ‘Hey, wake up.’ You know? Then it was, ‘Get some breakfast’. They take us through kind of a warm-up thing and then we’ll throw and get introduced to a lifting block or something and how we do it all. And we’ll have a meeting kind of going over, ‘Hey, this is what pro ball entails’ or ‘This is something to look out for when you’re playing this and that. Here’s a couple of cues and stuff like that. So it was cool. We were able to get a little road map on something that’s going to happen that you might not expect, but they can give you just a little bit of a heads up. That was nice. So it was awesome. They did a really good job of kind of preparing the guys for what was to come.

CPB – I’m sure you meet a whole bunch of people when you’re down in Dunedin at first, kind of getting used to everything and everyone. Was there anybody who stood out to you?

IC – Mental coach John Lannan. The guy is just the man. I had a lot of great conversations with him. Just a couple of like-minded individuals. Kind of one of those guys that you want in your foxhole, so to speak. So he’s the man. I liked him a lot. And we were in contact and stuff a lot when he was in Dunedin. He really helped with the transition. And maybe in some of those times when things aren’t going great, he was always there for a laugh or to give you a hug if you needed it. So he’s a guy that means a lot to me.

CPB – When the draft class arrives, things really turn around for the Dunedin Blue Jays as you go all the way to the finals. Talk about that first pro experience and getting to go on that special run.

IC – That was awesome. It was cool. I think it was just to get a lot of guys coming from college that might even be coming off playoffs of their own. It was cool. Just a lot of guys that were eager to play, eager to win. And I think we brought a lot of good energy to that clubhouse. And it was cool to kind of keep going on that run and kind of fell short at the end. But I think we all knew that we kind of gave it our all. And it was kind of one of those things where the ending just happened to be, ‘Hey, that’s just baseball.’ It plays out. Nobody’s fault or anything like that. But it was great. I mean, a great first pro ball experience for sure.

CPB – Was there anything you worked on specifically in the offseason?

IC – I think for me it was just trying to be to see what are all these pro guys do. I think I was just shocked at looking at a lot of these guys and being like, ‘Dang, these guys are all big dudes that are strong. They move fast.’ And it’s like I might have a good arm and stuff, but there are a lot of things I need to work on. So I tried working on getting a little stronger, a little faster. On the pitching side, I tried working on my slider and stuff like that. So it’s kind of one of my goals is to get that a little better. And I feel like I finally cracked that a little bit and I’m throwing that in games now and just kind of overall doing that. And I think also even in the offseason, just kind of resting. And then I was trying to work on finishing up some school, getting my finish my masters.

CPB – Your pitch mix right now, what is it that you are throwing?

IC – Fastball, change up, slider.

CPB – Fastball, four-seam or two seam?

IC – Four-seam. It just moves a lot because I’m left handed.

CPB – I read something that I think it’s through Baseball America. Their initial scouting report was your fastball is in the low 90s. But here (in your first outing with the C’s), you’re up to 93, 95. When did you pick up those extra couple of ticks of velocity? Was it a gradual thing?

IC – I think it was just kind of a gradual thing. Shout out to the boys in Dunedin. We were all trying to gain a couple of ticks. We were just trying to figure out what we could do. And it made a pretty great environment of just trying to chuck a baseball as hard as we could during catch play and stuff. Running and pulling down and stuff like that. And lifting heavy weights and just trying to get psyched up. So I think doing that after a while, we just kind of slowly built up some stuff. So I think a lot of those guys are starting to throw harder over there too, which is cool.

CPB – As far as the slider goes, did anyone teach you a grip or did you figure it out yourself?

IC – Man, spring training was actually kind of tough. I felt like I was working on a new grip every day or week. And it was always trying to find something new and I just couldn’t find anything that clicked. Then when I got into the season, I just kind of was like, ‘Whatever.’ And I went back to fastball and changeup and was having some success.
But then my coach (Cory Riordan) just kind of sat me down and was like, ‘You need to throw it.’ So I worked on it and I finally found something that I wanted. I’ve been throwing it in games and it’s been working.

CPB – The changeup, circle change or split change?

IC – I guess you could say it’s kind of like a circle change. I don’t put a circle or anything. I kind of keep my fingers apart. It’s kind of weird.

CPB – It’s not like a Kevin Gossman special?

IC – No, no. I wish. But no, I haven’t got that one in the bag just yet.

CPB – Spring training, your first one. What was that experience like for you?

IC – It was awesome. It was kind of cool to just be around all these guys. It was all these guys that you hear stories about and stuff. Or guys that already had friendships and stuff and they talked about. I didn’t get to meet them when I was in Dunedin. So it was cool that I got to meet some great guys and met some of the guys on the team here and stuff like that. So that helped because it made the transition here a lot easier.

CPB – In Dunedin, you had a 0.00 ERA for the month of April. And then your last seven appearances with the D-Jays were scoreless. What was the key to your success?

IC – I think just trusting my stuff. I think knowing that I had the stuff to go out there and get guys out. Towards the last couple of outings that I had there too, I just kind of knew that again, the slider. Just knowing that ‘Hey, there’s a good one in there somewhere.’ You just got to go out and throw it. So I’m hoping I can just kind of carry that over here and keep that same mindset.

CPB – You get the call to Vancouver. How did you find out?

IC – We were in Bradenton. I had gotten done with the game. Just kind of getting ready to hop in the shower. I got told to put a shirt on and go in the manager’s office. I sat down, the manager (Donnie Murphy) told me I’m coming up here. He just said, ‘Go and do what you’re doing here. I’m sure you’ll have some success.’ It was awesome. A lot of friends and stuff were really happy for me there.

CPB – So it was pretty straightforward. No joking around?

IC – No. I think there wasn’t too much joking. I think we’d actually lost that night so it was kind of just, ‘Hey, come in, get it over with. Get out of my office’.

CPB – I did see you in Everett on the weekend (Saturday, June 10). So it was the Saturday when you first arrived?

IC – Yeah, I came on Saturday. Six-hour flight, an Uber and I made it. I think I was in my hotel room for like half an hour and then I came to the field. So pretty tired, but yeah, I was ready to go for Sunday if needed. It was cool to meet with the team there. It was actually great. My assistant pitching coach in Arizona (Cameron Ming) is the pitching coach right now for the Everett AquaSox. So I just kind of showed up and I was like, ‘Hey, surprise!’ He was like, ‘Hey.’ I mean, he didn’t even know I was still playing baseball. So he was like, ‘Are you coaching?’ I was like, ‘I’m not that old!’ Yeah, so it was awesome. It was cool. And to be able to call my family and stuff and tell them I was going there is great. Actually, it sucked because they were planning a trip to Dunedin and they couldn’t get their money back from the Airbnb. So they’re actually going there. They’re going to hang out in Dunedin. Good thing Dunedin is a good spot still so they’re going to go have fun there.

CPB – You got to pitch here (Tuesday, June 13). What was the experience like getting your first experience at the Nat under your belt?

IC – A little chilly. A little chilly than Florida. No, but it was great. I mean, obviously tons of fans and stuff like that and exciting. So it’s cool. Just got warmed up and went in and not too many nerves luckily but it was cool. And then to have a good win like that was awesome to be a part of that.

CPB – Final question. The Canadians have five different uniforms. Black, red, white, gray, and the classic blue. I don’t know if you’ve seen them yet, but do you have a favourite one of the bunch?

IC – Ooh, I’ve only worn the red and black so far. So I feel like it’s not fair for me to comment on that yet. I think the blue ones look really, really cool. But right now I think the black ones are also really cool too. I wore that (Tuesday, June 13) so I like that one a lot too.

Ian Churchill File

Born – February 28, 1999 in Santa Barbara, California
Height/Weight – 6-foot-2, 190 pounds
Bats/Throws – Left/Left
Uniform Numbers – Wore numbers 17 and 38 with Santa Barbara in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Wore number 34 with Arizona 2020 and 2021 and with San Diego 2022. Wore number 21 with Dunedin in 2022 and number 27 with Dunedin in 2023.
Instagram – @church2ill
Twitter – @IanChurchill7
Degrees – Earned Associate of Arts degree from Santa Barbara City College and Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in general studies with an emphasis in sports management. Working towards Masters degree in Nonprofit Leadership Management at the University of San Diego.
Fun Fact – Churchill is the first San Diego Toreros pitcher drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays and the third player overall after catcher Bill Pinkham (2nd round, 1981) and former Vancouver Canadians backstop Riley Adams (3rd round, 2017).