Future Blue Jays Newsletter

In this week’s newsletter, I chat with New Hampshire play-by-play voice Chris Jared about the Fisher Cats’ start to the season. Chris is new to the role, but he’s not new to the organization.

DM Fox:  So, Chris - since you started with the Fisher Cats this year, there was something familiar about both our name and your voice.  So I did a little digging, and I see that this is not your first tour of duty in the Blue Jays organization.  Tell us about your background and how you came to land in Manchester.

Chris Jared:   I did a year at Central Michigan early on there, and then two years of baseball and softball play by play. I was heavily involved in the high school athletics there, would do women's basketball every year and then was able to get that sports director spot at WMHW (CMU’s radio station) my final year there.  I became heavily involved in the women's basketball side because our team. and our relationship with the women's basketball team at CMU was so sound. And of course, by that time, I had gotten to know the coaching staff and the players at a really good level.

  So my sports director year, we go to the Sweet 16. The MAAC was loaded. Buffalo was loaded. And we won the conference tournament in Cleveland, went to the NCAAs the first round. The host site was Ohio State. We beat LSU, who was nothing close to the program they have now. They were just in the early days of that.  And then we beat Ohio State.

  So when we go to the Sweet 16 and I was a senior, I failed two classes because, well. college is a lot different now where there's mandatory attendance and, you know, things of that nature where they couldn't really hand out special treatment. And it was the same thing when I was working with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler (voice of the Lansing Lugnuts, a former Blue Jays affiliate). 

   This was back before the minor leagues reconstructed where they would play those Tuesday two o'clock games or whatever it may be. I would get my car and I would leave Mount Pleasant.  And I just kind of took the points deductions on the chin because I was calling minor league baseball. And I was a sophomore. I really couldn't see a world where I'd turn that down.

  But it was a tough relay to the parents to tell them what was going on at the time. But it was worth it. You know, I mean, looking back, I think it all worked out just fine.  I worked with the Muskegon Clippers (a collegiate summer league club) after that Sweet 16 season with the women's team, because really teams are hiring in January, February.  If you're not on board by that point, it could be tough. And also on top of that, they want you there by March or April and the summer, you know, the college season can wrap up around May.  So that's just a tough timeline for outgoing seniors in college. So really the way that it happened with Muskegon actually was they called Central Michigan, and they were trying to get in contact with me. They said, “do you know any younger students that would potentially want to call college wood bat summer baseball? And I said, ’well, I don't know about anyone that I've worked for or has worked for me, but I certainly need something to do.’

  They said, ‘well, great. We'd love to have you.’  Those leagues are so much fun. My host family was the general manager. His brother was the coach and his son in law, you know, the Gokowski's, they run everything over in Muskegon. It's a family operation of how the teams put on. And so I really owe a lot actually to them just because that's how it happened. They reached out and I was able to get a job there.

That led to the following summer of 2019, right before COVID, when the Pioneer League was still active, they had an immediate posting because their initial broadcaster left due to a medical injury.  He just couldn't really do the rest of the summer. And so they had an immediate posting in June.

 I had nothing lined up. I was at home at my parents house and was actually about to go outside and shoot some hoops with my brother and saw the posting. I said, ‘give me one second, I have to really quickly have to apply to this.’ And so I threw them an email and within about a week, we had our introductory phone call. And then they said, ‘can you get out here before July 4th?’  I think the team went on the road and they wanted me to get out and see a couple of home games before we went on the road. So that was Missoula. That was the Missoula Osprey that I was there for a summer, and it was a similar situation to Muskegon - they put me up with the players, which is different, but it was fun. So much fun. And that ended. And then obviously COVID arrived and really no one did anything from a broadcast standpoint.

  So I became a substitute teacher and was. I mean, that's, that's what it was is they, you know, I have friends that their moms are teachers or, you know, they have friends that are teachers and they just kept getting that in my ear of, gosh, there's such a shortage right now. They just need help. They just need people to come and help.

And so that kind of pinballed me around a little bit and I was substitute teaching.

assignments, actually doing kindergarten PE, and then grades one through four

PE,  for about four months.   

  And then the Great Lakes loons job opened up and, um, I knew (play-by-play voice) Brad Tunney, we were familiar with each other. We were both Chippewas, and we knew of guys that knew of each other, and I used to work for the Loons in production in 2016. So I knew the layout, and felt pretty good about applying for that.  And that was a great 2021 summer that led me to Frisco (AA affiliate of the Rangers).  Frisco was really just, it's so awesome. There's so many jobs that you take where the team's great and the coaches are great and the organization's great, but you don't get the satisfaction of winning a championship at the end of the season. It's just how it goes sometimes, you know, the good guys, good coaches,  you just shake hands at the end of the summer and you go, ‘Oh, good season’. That wasn't the case in Frisco. We just really from wire to wire felt like they were the best team. And we won the Texas league that year over Wichita. 

   So, after that, I'm feeling pretty good about what's out there and no one hired in 2023. I think the only lead job that I had seen was the Bradenton Marauders, and that was a seasonal hiring.  I really was kind of at another standstill point.  I would check the NCAA careers page regularly, maybe  just working in college athletic departments, what I could do.  Then I saw an opening for, it wasn't full time, Abilene Christian in Abilene, Texas. The only reason I had ever heard of ACU was they had a March Madness upset over Texas in the tournament that kind of gained them a good amount of notoriety.  I applied for it, got in a great relationship with who would be hiring, and just through a couple of phone calls I was able to get it.  It was a thousand dollars a month, and they paid for housing. They put us up in a student apartment complex with other people that were marketing assistants or people that worked in the department. And that was August of last year.  

  After that, I'm delivering pizzas,  at home, just trying to find something that could work, and that got me to ACU. Um, and then I pretty much the entire time I was in communications with ACU that I wanted to either be full time there or look elsewhere,  and the Fisher Cats,  that dropped first. So that's what's led me here. 

DMF:  What a resume you have, and I think you're a great fit for the organization and already have a little bit of familiarity there. And I think, wow, I think you've got a good spot.

CJ:    The first time that I had met (New Hampshire manager) Cesar (Martin) this year, before that, the first person I called was Jesse.  I just said, tell me what I'm in store for with the coaching staff and we were both reminded that Cesar was in Lansing in 2017. So, when I shook his hand for the first time here in New Hampshire, when the team arrived we were able to, you know, we looked at each other and there was that moment of recognition…..I was only there (Lansing) for two months, but we're looking at each other and we're like, oh, wow, we both stayed at it. He stayed in the Blue Jays system the whole time. And now we're both back here in New Hampshire. 

DMF:  So, looking at the standings, the Fisher Cats are three and a half games out, and they’re fifth in East, but they're not out of it…. they've been playing reasonably well. I think I know what the stories are, but let's start with you. Who are the top stories? Who are the guys who have surprised you the most so far this year?

CJ:  Well, you always want to have your own opinions, but you want to chat with the coaches and see what they think too. And the Rovers (roving instructors) especially, and chatting with guys that have been making their way through, they knew Josh Kasevich was going to have success. I don't really know if they thought he was going to do it consistently.

   Josh from last year to this year told us that what he really wanted to do was get faster and wanted to get stronger. And that's probably the goal of a lot of guys, but watching his work ethic, watching Josh work, he's very, very dedicated to his craft. And it looks like he's very honed in and that's when he's working. He’s one of the more polite young men you'll meet in baseball, just a really solid gentleman.

 When it comes to game time, he flips a switch and he turns into a competitor. And so I think that that kind of surprised them early on. AA is a very difficult challenge for a lot of people, especially for hitters. The pitching that you see is a lot tighter around the zones, and the guys you saw in Single A were like 20 or 21, and then in AA, you can get guys that are 27 or 28, and this is their life that they're fighting for. 

So Josh has been a great surprise, and then it's just a huge added benefit to the type of person he is.  I think on the pitching side, too, there's a name in Trenton Wallace that isn't even a prospect.

DMF:  Yeah, he's awesome. I love Trenton. He has a great low-arm angle. And I message with (pitching coach) Joel Bonnett often, and we've talked about Wallace quite a bit. All he's done is get guys out wherever he's pitched. 

CJ:  Yeah… you mentioned the little bit of a quarter slot that he has.

It just kind of gives you an old-school pitcher vibe to him with the very low stirrups. But that's what he does - he keeps guys off tilt. He kind of mixes his rhythm with how he works.  And for a while, he kind of suffered around where he wasn't really the benefactor of any winning decisions. He was just was trying to get the pitch count down. You know, I'm just pulling up his game log here. He got his first win against Binghamton.

   All he's done in the month of May is fire three quality starts. And there was a no decision in one. He got the win in the other.  Then the last time out, six innings, only three runs, five strikeouts, and he doesn't get a decision. So that's unfortunately been the tale for a lot of New Hampshire pitchers this year. Michael Dominguez, especially.

Not one decision this season in all the innings that he's fired. So there have been very fine pitching performances sometimes that don't get that.

   It's just they don't align where they get back to run support or whatever it may be. But I think if we're talking surprises, I think Trenton Wallace is definitely a candidate. At 25 years old, someone that you look at and go, ‘OK, he definitely looks comfortable at this level.’ Let's see what he's got, and if he keeps moving. 

DMF:  And next would have to be, even though it's a smaller body of work, it's impressive nonetheless, Eric Pardinho. I know from talking with Joel about him, it sounds like he's finally healthy and his head is clear. I know a year ago when I was in Vancouver, they had several rovers in. There was something of an emergency session, I think.  And they talked about body language and everything else. 

  But Eric has just turned things around so much. And his last outing, which I believe was Sunday,  he walked two of the first three guys. And a year ago, that would have been a meltdown. I know that's kind of been his history throughout the organization. But he  got the ball back. He stepped off the mound. Took a couple of breaths, regrouped, and came back. And the next inning, he’s out of the inning, and in the next one he struck out Spencer Jones, and he got Jasson Dominguez out. 

CJ:  This is a guy, when we played Somerset, we met a gentleman by the name of Jordan Groshans, and I was looking back through the top 30 prospects in Toronto's system, trying to find where Jordan fell in that. And I see a name of Eric Pardinho. A number of years ago, where he was very high.  He was top 10 on the list at a time. And, you know, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this is Eric Pardinho that's on the Fisher Cats right now.  Eric is someone that, that he just does not give up earned runs is really the biggest thing. 

  I was going back through and refilling out a box score from the Binghamton series.

Because I, this is a complete side story, but I had a misprint in my scorebook. So I had to order a new one. This was three games into the season. So I'm going back through and refilling out my box score.  And in Binghamton, his very first pitch of the season goes over the wall. And he gave up a home run. And that is one of, that's one of three earned runs that he's allowed this season.

   So Eric hasn't given up an earned run since April 21st. I mean, he's, and so he's just very solid. And then to go back about the mental game, he just seems very steadfast and determined on the field.  A lot of times if he misses, he just seems like it's his miss. Nothing is really outside of what he can control, which is hard to do a lot of times.  But he just has a really sound feel for the strike zone. And it's really a splitter that he throws. That is one of the stronger pitches that he relies on.

   Last night in Akron, they needed him. And he came in and gave up a hit, but struck a guy out.  What the Fisher Cats do is have a lot of guys where they can be back end or guys  in-between, you know, Boyer and Burnett, and Pardinos is definitely in that mix as well. So it's been great to see him at just 23 years old - an only child from Brazil…. talking to him about family, he said, “I really didn't have a family.

Baseball was really my family. I left home and kind of just submitted myself to the academy of baseball that they had there.” 

   And, you know, the story of him on the international stage is really cool too.

But he always a smile on his face too. He that can speak, speak English fairly well. And he's just a really solid dude too. Again, this roster has a lot of good guys.

DMF: That's definitely, I think the biggest feel good story on the team this year, just to see that turn around. 

CJ:  You know, we, I won't say too much about it because my assistant right now is working on a feature piece on Trevor Clifton.  But this is a guy that was pitching in Indy ball last year. He's 29 years old. And so he's been making his way through too. And there's definitely, when you look at guys, there's, there's some feel good stories too.

  The good part about those is they don't take away from anyone else. They all have their stories in their own aspect, but, Pardinho's story is a really solid one too. And again, the ups and downs that you go through. 

DMF: And then a similar story is, is CJ Van Eyk, who is finally healthy.

I think once again, finally getting some innings, had a bit of a rough April, but what four of his last five starts have been really good. He took a no hitter into…was it the fifth or sixth last night? I watched a little bit of it this morning and it looks just like he's in complete command out there. 

CJ:  What I really like about CJ from what I've seen is that there's a lot of guys sometimes that, you know, they can come back and they feel good, but just things might be different or the struggle of trying to get back into a rhythm of things.  CJ is always comfortable….. we had a moment at home where I think there was music playing in between when a batter had stepped out or something like that. And he's out of the mound with his hand in his glove and he's, he's dancing like this and he's just staying loose. 

   Just from just looking at him, he seems like a guy that definitely knows that he has the talent and is capable of being here.  It’s just so good to see a guy who was a high draft pick who has gone through quite a lengthy Tommy John surgery really starting to put things together.

DMF:   I hope you don’t mind, but I want to put you on the spot a little bit. I know you're not a scout. I don't know if you were a pitcher pitcher or not. I feel like his curveball is hisis best pitch.  I’ve had a  couple people say to me, well, he throws 95, but without a lot of movement on it,  while I'm thinking if your curveball is your best pitch, that really doesn't matter. 

CJ:  Correct. Yeah.  And, those are the things too, that early on you want to talk to those guys and figure the things out. For example, I think Adam Macko's curveball is, is outstanding. If you can mix the fastball in as well with the, with the curve ball, it's, you said it perfectly that it's one's gonna compliment the other perfectly.But it's the rhythm that he's been able to find….his pitch counts are so low. He turned three.

double plays in Hartford the other week. That's what makes CJ dangerous. I think it's just because he attacks the zone, but he gets guys rolling over a lot, and that goes very well with how sharp New Hampshire has been defensively.

 I say that, and we've, I think we've had two, three error games in the last span of a week, which is just, it's insane for this bunch that what we've seen, but it all bodes together really well when you can compliment the guys behind you with what you throw.

DMF:  The Hartford guys are saying last week that the Fisher Cats had the second best team fielding percentage in the Eastern league.

CJ:  We've been combating I think with, I believe with Portland, but there have been some sharp defensive teams, but I think from the start of the season until now, it's pretty regularly been New Hampshire up there going into the Somerset game before we had, we had three errors on Sunday.

  They do play good, clean baseball, the run-ins that we have come into sometimes are non-competitive pitches and guys walking guys. And it just happens at times for some of these guys. But again, if you're not allowing a whole lot of runs to come in

and you have sound defense behind you, you can work yourself out of that. 

DMF:  You mentioned Macko. Always good to talk about a Canadian kid. I think every start but one this year has been really good. And then he had his first quality start on the weekend.  He’s a guy you can pencil in every six days. Don't know if he's gone to five yet or not. And it looks like he's getting lengthened out a little bit. I don't want to say we take him for granted, but man, every time he takes the mound, you guys have a chance to win.

CJ:  Macko is just a plus left arm and has a plus curveball as well. You know, those things go really well. We’re starting to see him become a little bit more aggressive. Chatted with him in Somerset after that Somerset game.  And again, it's Somerset - when you look at the time they had led all of AA in slugging percentage and Home Runs.  And you would think the strikeouts would follow that, but they were one of the bottom teams in terms of total strikeouts. So that is a very tough assignment. And, you know, it's still a learning process for him.

 Just hearing it from him, talking about one guy in a two-strike count is completely different from someone else in a two-strike count. They could be looking to do totally different things.  And where you lean to be aggressive in those situations.

 You know, looking back at his AA debut in Binghamton, I know I keep bringing up the Binghamton series, but he scuffled around a bit in the first inning and you could see a lot of first pitch or second pitch misses of the zone on the road. And it was, I mean, it's probably 30 degrees when we're playing ball in Binghamton, New York. It's windy.

Maybe things that he's not totally foreign to weather-wise and obviously pitching in Vancouver, like a lot of these guys played in last year. But he ended up finishing that game, retiring every batter faced (10 in a row)  after the first inning….. they had to pull him in the fourth with pitch count. But he’s starting to find that comfort really in himself and then just in what he's able to do. Chatted with him too about the curveball

and he said he was watching... It was Justin Verlander that he's watching that true north-south curveball. And he said, “I'm watching Justin Verlander at a younger age and said, man, I can't do it now, but I want to throw a curveball like that someday”.

And I said, was it “Justin Verlander? Is that really the inspiration?” He says, “Without a doubt.” Absolutely. 

   Baseball America gave him the best curveball in the organization. And so it's been very fun to watch him work, especially from the left side. And yeah, just from the start of the season, New Hampshire would win games big and they would lose them tight. And so if you do have a pitching performance where guys are doing their job of keeping the lid on, but runs aren't following you on the other end, we've come into a lot of no decisions. A la CJ last night. 

FBJ:  Devontae Brown is a guy... I've asked numerous people in the organization,  why he wasn't drafted - I know given his age, given COVID, everything else perhaps why he wasn’t,  but whenever I say to people,  how did he go undrafted? They say -  I don't know. He does strike out more than we would like to see from a leadoff hitter. But man, I love his tools - I’d like to see some more contact.

CJ:  Yeah, and you know, I think just from my opinion, striking out, he's seeing the pitches that he likes. There's not a lot of times he swings and misses on pitches that are bad ones to go after.  There are pitches in the zone that he knows that the light bulb's turning on, that those are pitches he can go after and try and get contact. But maybe he's behind or what other factors could be at play, you can ask him.

But really just a humble guy to talk to and hear the things from him. And yeah, it is definitely a nice surprise to look at when you see non-drafted free agent and then seeing the things that he's doing.

 I think the power is definitely, I say power, two of his four home runs have been inside the parkers where he's been able to wheel around the bases. So he obviously has great speed. He does range the outfield tremendously well and can cover a lot of ground and gets a lot of good jumps. Really doesn't have a lot of bad runs to anything. So it all bodes together with the sharp fielding percentage. And we do have a good, good batch of outfielders.

 We haven't even mentioned Alan Roden and Garrett Spain in there too. Both of those guys have, you know, both of those guys have really plus arms. So, and I think with Devonte he just, he seems like a guy talking to him, he's very humble. He used to be a football player. Knows his role really well and just wants to set the table for guys. And then last night decides to jump on the first pitch of the game and swats it over the wall.

DMF:  And you nicely segue into Roden, who's the last guy on my list, but certainly not least.  He modified his batting stance. I had a really good conversation with him, but I haven't had a chance just to talk about the adjustments that he's made with his stance and approach, but he's obviously still getting comfortable with that stance. It looks like of late that maybe things are starting to come together for him.

CJ:  Yeah. And you know, it's, I think as well, what he's able to do is he just simplifies things. Seeing him play the outfield position, really well. This is a lineup too, that he can oftentimes just lean on other guys.

 Last year, seeing the on base threat, he was great when he got promoted to AA New Hampshire and he came in with something to prove. Now it's an adjusting role where you're looked at as someone who's got some leadership here, where after you've been here for a summer and definitely someone that when he's in the cage, he takes that very seriously. You know, oftentimes he's really not talking with guys, not to say,

he's standoffish in any way like that, but he's very locked in to when it comes to getting better at what he does. 

  So he’s an incredibly smart guy and probably the sharpest mind just from what we've been able to gather, on the team. And so I do think with the home runs that he's been able to hit, he loves playing at home with that porch. He loves the video board in right field. As we found out - we've had to make a few repairs here already so far this year. So I think you're right.

  I think really it was something where it's when you just go through the ups and downs, what you're not seeing is a lot of strikeouts. He's putting the ball in play. Guys are aligning themselves accurately on them.  So unfortunately you get to see that a lot as the talent bar raises. But no doubt someone that will continue to just go through the ups and downs of baseball and figure things out. 

DMF:  You know, both of his parents are college profs  he told me that if not for baseball, if he didn't decide to pursue it, he was going to get a PhD in physics

CJ:    We had astronomy night the other night and yeah, my assistant Ian was talking to him about that and he said that he wanted to, to go after a profession in a similar business outside of baseball, if his baseball days come to a close, we’re probably not going to be done seeing his name professionally somewhere. 

  I spoke with Delta Cleary Jr, who's one of the coaches on our team.  He used to be a minor leaguer himself. I think his last minor league team was Harrisburg actually in the Eastern league.  He said, ‘I wonder if I could do what I did today with how much

information is available and how different guys are looking at the analytics and coaches sitting down with them with iPads and, and, you know, they're looking at stuff, and you're graded so differently now…. there's so much now that they dive into but then there's that on one hand but the other hand is not is trying to keep it simple for them to understand and not really cloud their brain.  I do think someone like Alan Roden has the mind to understand that but when you look at a broad spectrum trying to have all this information and relay it to guys in a in a positive and constructive way …..it can be tough sometimes.

DMF:  Ok, so we’ve talked about the guys I know my readers want to know about, but tell me some guys who have been under the radar, and impressive in their own right.

CJ:  We’re starting to see Miguel Hiraldo and Rainer Nunez start to find their way here a little bit….Miguel's a guy  - you know,  we talk about analytics - Miguel had the best BABIP on last year's team, but he hasn’t had the same kind of success this season until recently.  

 Rainer has just come so far defensively, and the bat is starting to come around.  I think we’ll see some big things from him in the second half.  

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To read more about Trevor Clifton’s story: https://www.milb.com/news/clifton-feature.

Next week’s newsletter will be an Ask Me Anything format. Send your questions about the Blue Jays farm system to me at [email protected], or tweet them @DMFox705. I’ll sit down over the weekend and answer them.