The Vancouver Canadians took two of three from the Tri-City Dust Devils at Gesa Stadium on Opening Weekend.

April 4 – Tri-City 5 Vancouver 4
HR – Pinto (1), 2B – Coffey (1) | Rogers 4IP 1R 5K, Bonds 1.1IP 3K

April 5- Vancouver 3 Tri-City 0
HR – Coffey (1), 2B – Pinto (1), Arias (1), Ward (1) | Wentworth (W, 1-0) 5IP 0R 6K, Miranda 1IP 0R (H, 1), Gallagher (H, 1), Yeager (SV, 1)

April 6 – Vancouver 10 Tri-City 2
HR – Goodwin (1), Harry (1), Nimmala (1) | Todd (W, 1-0) , 2B – Orf (1), Harry (1), SB – Ward (1) | Watts-Brown 4.2IP 0R 10K

C-Changes

C's Changes Roster Notes

The C’s are going to go with a five-man starting rotation to begin the 2025 campaign. Connor O’Halloran will start the series opener at Spokane on Tuesday and will also start the series finale on Sunday. The southpaw from Mississauga, Ontario is the only Canadian-born player on this year’s roster. In between, Fernando Perez will make his Canadians debut on Wednesday and he will be followed by Grant Rogers, Jackson Wentworth and Jauron Watts-Brown.

Vancouver Canadians catcher/outfielder Jackson Hornung and catcher Hayden Gilliland begin the year on the Development List.

Even though there are 20 returnees on the roster, not all of them returned with the same uniform numbers. Irv Carter apparently convinced infielder Jay Harry to give him number 4 instead of the number 28 he sported last year. Carter’s full name is Irv Carter IV and he sports an IC4 necklace. Harry is now wearing number 8. Infielders Nick Goodwin and Adrian Pinto switched numbers as well, with Goodwin taking number 7 and Pinto wearing number 1. Outfielder Victor Arias reduced his number from two 2’s to one 2 and lefty Kai Peterson multiplied his number 3 by 10 to wear number 30. Fellow lefthander JJ Sánchez now has Peterson’s old number 3, changing from 19. Kevin Miranda switched from number 17 to number 9. Cutter Coffey is now wearing number 28 after wearing 21.

Connor O’Halloran is now wearing number 26 as his old number 17 is now the property of manager José Mayorga.

Players opting to stick with their 2024 numbers are outfielders Brennan Orf (15) and Je’Von Ward (24). Catchers Alex Stone (27) and Jackson Hornung (31) and pitchers Aaron Munson (5), Juaron Watts-Brown (10), Pat Gallagher (11) Chay Yeager (20), Bo Bonds (25) and Grant Rogers (40).

Newcomers will their numbers in parentheses are Aaron Parker(6), Carter Cunningham (16), Arjun Nimmala (18), Eddie Micheletti (19), Sean Keys (21), Jacob Wetzel (22), Nate Garkow (23), Jonathan Todd (33), Hayden Gilliland (35), Fernando Perez (37), Jackson Wentworth (41), Julio Ortiz (45).

Hitting coach Ryan Wright still has number 12, bench coach Matt von Roemer is wearing number 13, positioin coach Petr Stříbrcký is donning number 14, pitching coach Eric Yardley has number 29 and bullpen coach Robelin Bautista is wearing number 34.

C-Notes

C's Notes

Congratulations to Arjun Nimmala for his first home run during Sunday’s series finale win. He’s the youngest player to appear for the C’s since Orelvis Martinez during the “Hillsboro Canadians” season of 2021. Nimmala drew a walk in his first Northwest League plate appearance and had a three-hit night on Saturday. He worked the count to ball four twice on Sunday.

Jackson Wentworth scattered just three hits and two walks in his professional debut on Saturday and Juaron Watts-Brown matched the 10 whiffs he recorded in Game 2 of the Northwest League Championship Series against Spokane last season. He threw 53 of 76 pitches for strikes and walked only one batter, finishing an out shy of getting the win. That went to Johnathan Todd instead.

The Vancouver Canadians have matched the Toronto Blue Jays home run total of five and it took them just three games to do it.

2014 Vancouver Canadians outfielder is back in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. The Camden, Arkansas native spent parts of four seasons with the Blue Jays from 2018-2021 and also put in time with the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Miami Marlins. He is now an assistant hitting coach with the Dunedin Blue Jays to help out hitting coach and 2016 utility man Nash Knight. Davis will go down in C’s lore with his three diving catches to help the team win Game 1 of the 2014 Northwest League semi-final against Spokane to back Ryan Borucki and the bullpen to a 1-0 win at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Speaking of 1-0 wins, Congratulations to Brent Lavallee for his first win as skipper of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats as they blanked the visiting Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Sunday. The Union Leader in New Hampshire has a story on the North Delta, BC native. 2023-2024 C’s starter Rafael Sánchez and fellow 2024 righty Ryan Watson combined for the shutout with Sánchez striking out eight over five innings and Watson whiffing five for the four-inning save to put Lavallee in the win column. Here’s to many more.

Vancouver Canadians Sam Ryan

Sam Ryan

It’s nice to see 2022-2023 righthander Sam Ryan back in affiliated ball. The righthander from Virginia was with the New England Knockouts of the independent Frontier League in 2024 before signing as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels. As fate would have it, the 26-year-old Ryan would face his former squad, pitching 1/1-3 scoreless innings for the Dust Devils against the C’s on Saturday.

I can only remember two former C’s pitchers facing the club off the top of my head. I remember 2012-2013 lefty Kyle Anderson pitching for Hillsboro in 2014. Anderson was part of the C’s 2012 and 2013 NWL titles. The other was righthander Bobby Eveld in 2018 after spending part of 2017 with Monty’s Mounties.

It’s not a good time for a pair of former Vancouver Canadians pitcher in Seattle these days. 2015 lefty Tayler Saucedo was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma and 2021 righthander Hagen Danner was designated for assignment for being sent to Tacoma.

A great home run call by C’s announcer Chris Georges on Cutter Coffey‘s home run on Saturday, calling it an ‘Espresso Shot’. That was one expression I failed to squeeze in on my prospect write-up for Coffey for the Batter’s Box Top 30 Blue Jays prospects. You can check out Chris’ work on a story he wrote about C’s shortshop Arjun Nimmala for Blue Jays Nation. You can also hear Chris on The Golden V Podcast with Ben Abel and you’ll get even more Chris Georges on your airwaves as he will be calling all six games of the Canadians series against Spokane on CanadiansBaseball.com beginning Tuesday. Tyler Zickel is on paternity leave but will be back with the club for the home opener next Tuesday against Eugene.

Other features of note include The Bird’s Eye View podcast series as they check in on 2024 righthander Carson Pierce, 2024-2025 lefthander Kai Peterson and 2024 pitching coach Austin Bibens-Dirkx.

Blue Jays Nation also caught up with 2024 and 2025 C’s outfielder Brennan Orf and spoke with 2024 pitcher Chris McElvain.

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C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!

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