C’s Recap – Vancouver Canadians Manager Lavallee Expects “Fundamentally Strong” Club in 2024

It was “Meet the Press” time for Vancouver Canadians manager Brent Lavallee once again.

The North Delta, B.C. native met with the local press on the field at Nat Bailey Stadium during the Canadians annual Media Day on Monday.

The third-year skipper addressed several queries including what will it be like for his players to experience the raising of the 2023 Northwest League Championship banner.

“Yeah, I think the atmosphere in spring training gave them as much of a heads up as they need. And then the stories and everything that the players tell each other, I think these guys are primed and ready to go for that type of atmosphere. And it’s definitely been building all off-season long. And this group’s definitely ready to share in that celebration and excitement.”

Lavallee says he and the players are looking forward to getting the season underway.

“Yeah, definitely. I know personally myself, you can’t replicate opening day and even what leads up to it, the first day at the stadium like today and the first travel day and all that. So we’re really excited for everything that’s coming. And you have the first day of spring training, you have the first day of camps, you have your first game in spring training. So we’ve had a few of those already. But this is definitely a different feel, different atmosphere, and just a whole new experience for the guys.”

When asked about returning to Vancouver for a third straight season, the Delta Blue jay alumni says he is happy to be back.

“This is awesome for me, for my family, for friends, it’s terrific. It is difficult being away from home, but no matter where they send me, I’m usually away from home and my family. But no, this is terrific. There’s no atmosphere like it in the organization or many in professional baseball as well.

Sometimes the ladder for staff doesn’t always point upwards. It’s go where your skills are best utilized and where you can make the biggest impact. So myself and the other staff members, we don’t see going to AA as a promotion or going to Dunedin as a demotion. It’s wherever you can be utilized the best and help these players get to the big leagues and make an impact.”

As for the renovations at Nat Bailey Stadium which includes a temporary clubhouse built outside the third base side of the stadium, Lavallee does not expect any issue in getting used to the new digs.

“No impact at all. This new netting system and the stadium and the field looks beautiful right now, better than we would have anticipated for April 1st. But yeah, the clubhouse, no big deal. I mean, it’s just another hurdle or obstacle or just another thing that we are training ourselves as staff and players just to roll with it and be able to adjust. Just another thing we can take and spin as a good thing and looking forward to those upgrades when they are finished.”

Lavallee says the issue of workers going in and out of the stadium throughout the season will not be an obstacle.

“That doesn’t bother us. (They’re a) part of the family and yeah, all part of the team. So the more the merrier.”

When asked about the type of team he expects the 2024 Canadians to be, Lavallee summed it up in two words.

“Playing hard. It’s still pretty early and during camp, guys are in different clubs throughout camp. So some of these guys we’ve had since early February and some are just kind of coming to the group in the last week. So still getting to know each other as a whole, but I mean, incredible talent in our organization and don’t expect to see much of a change for this group to last year’s.”

As far as players to keep an eye on at the start of the season, Lavallee listed several candidates.

“Oh gosh, I mean, turn around and watch any guy you want. We had a really good draft class last year. I know Nick Goodwin played shortstop for us at the very end, a little bit of infield. He’ll be taking over for Josh Kasevich last year at short. Just so many guys to talk about. Goodwin comes to mind because of the big homer he hit there in game four of the postseason. Jace Bohrofen had a really good season once he was drafted and went to Dunedin. Jaden Rudd is a young kid that we drafted a couple of years ago that’s up here for the first time. Dasan Brown‘s back. Jommer Hernández was an absolutely remarkable catch and throw guy last year behind the plate. He’s back. He’s an absolute weapon.

On the mound, you know, Kendry Rojas is a highly touted prospect for us. Personally, I had him back in ’21 in rookie ball so I’m really excited to see him in 2024. Now he’s a couple years older, a new challenge. But I mean, the talent up and down the lineup is there and it’s just a matter of putting them in the right situations and seeing them succeed.”

Lavallee was then asked to rank winning a championship with seeing a player earning a promotion.

“Climbing the ladder is terrific. You know, it’s an individual reward award. And there’s so many people that go into that, including the player, their family, their college or high school coaches.

Winning a championship is all internal. It comes from the Blue Jays. It comes from the season and the staff and just a tremendous offseason and going back to the complex and hearing everyone call you champ and and realizing that winning is hard. And it might have come a little easier for us last year. But winning in in baseball over 130 games is very hard and so it is two different types of pride. You got the individual and then you have the team pride and that championship is pretty awesome and the field down in Dunedin is pretty cool to be a part of.

The topic of Nat Bailey Stadium being more of a hitter’s park with the short left-field fence was also raised during the press conference with the C’s skipper.

“The (hitters) know the fence here and left is a little bit shorter. We told them it’s a little bit easier on the road at some of those ballparks, though. So they’re looking forward to some of those road trips, especially the lefties (left-handed hitters) to get down to Spokane and then Everett because of those short porches there. But no, it’s just a wonderful experience for everyone involved.”

Lavallee also shared his thoughts on the departure of the team’s longtime president Andy Dunn.

“Andy was terrific. And I know what he’s done for baseball in Vancouver and baseball in B.C., Canada even. And we probably wouldn’t be standing here without him and the work that him and his crew did. So extremely grateful and thankful for everything he did. I know he raised up good people to take over for him and that’s kind of all of our jobs in sports. So we’re very confident with the people he left behind and what they’re ready for and hopefully not a big, big change for us. But I will miss seeing Andy sitting over there behind home plate and having him coming into the clubhouse and all that. But yeah, really looking forward to (general manager) Allan Bailey and his team. I don’t expect any real changes there.”

As for the team’s Opening Day starter, Lavallee says that honour will go to the man who started the clinching Game 4 of the 2023 Northwest League championship.

“Ryan Jennings was with us for two stints last year. He had a successful major league camp. He looks ready to go. So we couldn’t be happier than to give him the ball. And it’s just really the way that the rotation worked out. It’s not that he’s number one over other guys. It’s just the way the days worked out. But just really fitting to have him up there, especially with the playoffs last year.

Coming off injury, we knew he was capped and we were a little skeptical there with the pitch count and not knowing what we were going to be able to get. But you know his stuff and the competitor he is and he’s worked extremely hard to battle back from injury and to get to the point he’s at. So hopefully we’re not putting his name on the lineup card very long and he’ll be a Fisher Cat soon but we’ll look forward to a good outing for him on Friday night.”

As far as the starting rotation goes, Lavallee says it will be a six-man operation once again.

“For now, six man. We’ve got a couple of bulk relievers that if players move or something happens or a guy can’t get out of an inning safely under his pitch count that those bulk guys will take over. I really like who we have out there and then I think our bullpen is going to be pretty strong for our one to two-inning guys as well.”

As for what to expect from the club with the bats, Lavallee believes it will be a good mix.

“Dasan Brown’s with us hopefully for a short amount of time again. He’ll be at the top and Ryan McCarty is an on-base machine who has some power as well. Bohrofen coming out of University of Arkansas is a really nice left-handed hitter with some tools. And I mean, we could go down that whole position player list of 13, but yeah, I’m really, really confident everyone we’re going to roll out there.

I think we’re going to get on base at a high clip and we have some guys that play with different strengths. So some guys are higher slugging percentage guys and some are more speed guys, but it’s just going to be determined by how we put them together and put them in successful spots.”

As far as team defence, Lavallee admits last year’s club set the bar pretty high.

“I think we were absolutely spoiled last year with our defenders. So if we can defend even remotely close to how we did last year, we’ll be in a good spot. That group was very special, especially on the infield. I say that in the outfield as well. And then, you know, I mentioned earlier, Jommer Hernánndez behind the plate. We got Kekai Rios back. He’s more of a veteran, a little bit older guy who’s an absolute presence everywhere and a newer draft pick named Jackson Hornung behind the plate. So I hate to say probably the same, but I think our strengths are, you know, the guys are going to be fundamentally strong. They’re going to be able to play sound and play hard and you never know, like, all these things pop up and guys are learning different positions and playing multiple places. So what’s really good one night, maybe a little bit of a deficit the next night, depending on personnel, but good defence, playing hard to the last pitch and hopefully some fireworks offensively. We should be pretty strong.”

Lavallee was asked about whether the team’s catchers still call their own games.

“Yes, we do. 100%. And the amount of game prep and information and homework that they do is absolutely tremendous. This group is special. I know we’re kind of piloting a few different planning and prep methods this year, but they call their own game. They call it with our backing. We support every pitch that they put down and at the end of the day, our job is to develop pitchers as a catching coach and the catchers. So we’re out there to do what our pitchers do best and then offer support from the catching side and in our decision-making.”

The logistics of preparing for a season and the moving parts involved was also discussed at the press conference by Lavallee.

“You can’t unmeasurable the amount of moving parts. I mean, even in our travels up here (Sunday), the people that go into the travel, the visa process, the lodging, the meals. I mean, the amount of gears that spin and then, and then have reverse effects on other departments. It is a whole team effort. It’s hundreds of people that go into putting this team on the field.”

Another topic is how Lavallee looks at prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays system.

“In my opinion, all of them at this point, they’re still young enough in their professional career that they’re all prospects. Every guy that steps on the field is a prospect. You look at a guy like Davis Schneider two years ago, he was hitting seventh in our order. He was the outfielder that came into pitch and now he’s hitting homers in the big leagues yesterday off of the Tampa Bay Rays. If you look past anyone, it’s a huge mistake. And that’s just tremendous evidence of how fast these guys can impact the big leagues from this point right here. In a year and a half, they could be up there contributing.”

On a lighter note, the Canadians manager was asked about who has the best shoe game on this year’s team.

“Kendry Rojas will win that award. Kendry’s got as they say in Spanish, ‘Mucho Flow’. You’ll always know where Kendry’s at and he’s always going to be well-dressed with some good shoes on. He’ll be my click to pick.”

In his two years at the helm of the C’s, Lavallee has won 144 regular season games and three more in the postseason in his two-year tenure. Another winning campaign would be enough to help him reach the 200-win plateau.

Lavallee will return to the scene of his first game as manager of the C’s when they open the 2024 campaign at Avista Stadium in Spokane. On Opening night in 2022, Monty’s Mounties won an extra-innings come-from-behind thriller. Friday’s opener can be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com with Tyler Zickel beginning at 6:35 p.m on Friday. The home opener for the reigning Northwest League champion Canadians will be played on Tuesday, April 9. First pitch at Nat Bailey Stadium is at 7:05 p.m.