Vancouver Canadians 2022 Wrap Up

   Recently, we had a chance to catch up with Vancouver Canadians broadcasting and media relations manager Tyler Zickel about the C’s 2022 campaign, their first in the cozy confines of venerable Nat Bailey Stadium since 2019.  Perhaps in order to get himself ready for the season, Tyler spoke to us from the broadcast booth at The Nat.  He needed the help of a portable heater to keep warm, but we talked for a good half-hour plus.

DM Fox:  Tell me how the dorm arrangements went this year for the players. For the first time, the team had access to the residence rooms at the University of British Columbia. I know they were in a dorm situation last year (when the C’s played in Hillsboro, OR) as well……how was that for the players this year?

Tyler Zickel:  I think overall really it was well received and appreciated. The Blue Jays went out of their way to find some really nice accommodations. Each player essentially had their own studio apartments, or if they were living with somebody else, not quite sure if there were any roommates, but all things considered all the amenities were new. The location itself had a lot of stuff around it. I guess the only bugaboo was that it was about a 20 minute bus ride, where they're staying to the ballpark each day and then after the game too, so there'd be two buses before, early bus late bus and then there'd be an early bus late bus after the game and while you know I'm sure guys would prefer to have a little more agency in their ability to get home after games, especially in July. For what it was all of the guys are really appreciative of the digs last year,

DMF: and the UBC campus is beautiful.

TZ:  Yeah, I went and visited a couple of times, hung out with a couple of the guys on the off day and really,  just to be able to walk through some of those gardens and be able to see a little water, see mountains, and just the campus itself is so great.

DMF:  And then just tell me tell me just in general…. how cool was it to be back in Vancouver, for you to see firsthand the experience, the reception that the team got even moving up to full season?  I was really impressed with how well the team was supported in the community and how great was that for you? How great was that for the players in the staff?

TZ: You know that kind of tired phrase, don't meet your heroes?  This was the opposite of that where I’ve heard so much about The Nat, I've heard so much about the city and about the fan base up here that supports the Canadians every season. Obviously in Hillsboro, that wasn't the case, but it was still like, “when we get back, it’s going to be incredible,” and it far exceeded my expectations. I mean, the building itself, you know, is an incredibly historic building. Yes, it's got its fair share of blemishes but when you have a 70 plus year old building, that's going to just be part of the charm.  I've been to Fenway Park, but this has a lot of that Fenway Park mythos and energy on a little bit of a smaller scale, but then speaking of energy - you get the 6400 people here on a Friday at 1pm, and this place is rocking. It is goosebump inducing. And certainly the best place I've ever broadcast from in what will now be my ninth season - it is far and away…. the overall vantage point selfishly from the home radio booth, the crowd noise, to the just where you get all these clear sightlines from the press spot looking out from the press box backwards, Vancouver and the mountains beyond.

DMF:  That is my favorite view - when I'm stepping across those stones to leave the press box that might be one of the best views of the city, believe it or not, having been there numerous times.  And  you guys on the West Coast, you can watch the Jays game, and then when it’s over you can watch the C’s. That's what my family in the suburbs of Vancouver does.

TZ:  It’s a good setup.  We're on Sportsnet just like the Jays are, and so sometimes if the games are overlapping, we start on the alternate stream and then when the Jays are done, we just go right on to 650 which is great. I mean, that's how it should be. We have the Future Jays here.

DMF:  Awesome. You know, we were worried two seasons ago about where things were going with the affiliation.  I was wondering myself, given Vancouver's spotty performance with full season in the past, but I think smarter heads prevailed and realized that, whether it was at the Rogers corporate level or the Blue Jays themselves realizing that connection is really important. I say to my friends who are diehard Jays fans and want to make that trip to Seattle, I say fly to Vancouver, spend a day and watch the C’s first and then drive down to Seattle. 

Tell me about the coaching staff.  For Brent Lavallee, it must have been awesome to be waking up in his own bed every morning when you were home. And you've got a nice addition to your staff this year. 

TZ:  Brent was phenomenal. What a great guy off the field of course, and then on the field led the team to some great success, especially in the second half. This is a guy who is so passionate about the game. But beyond that, he is very much a players-first manager he understands. Much like John Schneider understands, in this day and age, the way to manage these athletes, it’s not going to be you know all x's and o's all the time, and it's certainly not going to be that grizzled old school baseball mentality that just doesn't fly anymore. We live in a different time. We live in a different culture regardless of what country you're from. And Brent has a lot of that new school while - he firmly had that foundation in the old school and the basics of the game, we didn't do a whole lot of bunting this past season, but certainly there was some. So to be at the helm, and then the staff that was assembled around him, I was very impressed with how Brent led the staff, which I think is actually an underappreciated part of a manager's job in the minor leagues, because now we might have 13 people on our staff here in 2023….That's a lot of people, let alone the players. That's a lot of people you have to make sure are getting their reports done, and all the player emails and things like that. So the administrative side as well, seemed like he had a great handle on that, especially in just his second year coaching in pro ball, and then Ashley Stevenson, that this is going to be one heck of a journey this year and journey in the best possible way, because we bring someone who is certainly the most decorated female based baseball player in Canadian history, and now you want to expand that out, including her university hockey days. Where are you going to find somebody in the affiliated coaching ranks male, female or otherwise, who has this resume? This track record of success? I mean, really, I don't know if you're going to find anybody else in the Blue Jays organization right now who has won as much as she has….  although you, Doug, you of all people do it. You could find that person. Bringing her resume and bringing her past experience and her know-how to win, and what it takes to work as a team to win, just with a little bit of reading that I've done since it was announced, that’s going to be an X factor, I think for the season. 

DMF:  I'll be interested to talk to you maybe after the season's over and get your perspective on it, and the player’s reaction and everything else. So, now we have a female coach in Vancouver, and a female manager (Rachel Gajowink at Hillsboro) in your league.  It’s a complete culture shift for the game.

TZ:  It's a great time to be a part of it too, because I think it's a great opportunity for the game of baseball, which arguably could be viewed as one of the most traditional or old school games in modern sports. To be opening it up in this type of way, I think baseball is at the forefront of bringing more women into the sport…. it's happening organically, and it's happening simultaneously based on merit and interest. So I think all of the factors combined make it a really exciting time to be in the baseball industry specifically.

DMF:  I think hockey is probably the most high bound in that respect. Although a woman - Hayley Wickenheiser - is among the upper brain trust in the Leafs organization.

TZ: ….that's that's where my knowledge comes up short when it comes to hockey because, shame on me…there were a couple of times last year where my hockey ignorance was exposed and a few times on air, but we laughed it off.

DMF:  That's okay. It's not a great time to be a Canucks fan…so, let's finally get to 2022. And let's first talk about the season, and then I have three waves of prospects here that we’ll try to get to as many of these guys as we can.

 So, kind of similar to Dunedin in a way it was a tale of two seasons. I did not expect at mid-season that I would see the C’s in the playoffs. But there they were in the championship series, against a team (Eugene) nobody was going to beat-  let's face it, but  tell me about when things started to come together.

TZ:  Certainly the first half was…. I don't want to go so far as to say forgettable, but you know, there were moments where you're thinking “gosh, this is gonna be one of those years.”  But as it turns out,  once the dust settled, to borrow a tired cliche, I noticed it seemed as though there are certain players or guys who are at a certain age in their pro career, who might in the previous iteration of the minor league system have been in a lower level, and not been in High A,  so I think there were a group of players that we saw in 2021, a guy like Zac Cook, who was a unicorn two years ago, and somebody that would probably be toiling in the lower levels of the minors but got a chance in High A in the second half of ‘21, and started 2022 in AA, nobody expected that. So I think once some of those other players who might have been a little bit ahead of where they should have been had the old system in place, once they got their feet under them, once the team really gelled, once (OF) Steward Berroa became an everyday player and an everyday presence at the top of the lineup - even when he went something like 0-22 at one point, that was a big turning point for the Canadians, as well as the fresh start in the second half. 

  It was so much different than in 2021. When you are out of it by June, you're out of it, whereas this was a fresh start, and that’s where Brent’s managerial season last year for me really stood out, as he really knew how to motivate in the second half and especially down the stretch when they went on a really great streak and took care of business in Spokane in the second-to-last series, that for me was the perfect example of what Brett was able to accomplish with the roster and what the roster itself, with all the players top to bottom were able to do together. I mean, gosh in that series Jomar Hernandez hits his first pro home run, and he turned out to be like the X factor to push the season to the playoffs - “Jomar Who?” that was just a microcosm of what proved to be a fun, exciting race to the finish in the second half.

DMF: So you started with Barger, Britton, Kloff, Palmer, Robberse…..  tell me about that group. In particular Barger, just burst onto the scene this year and he was the best position player in the system to my set of eyes….

TZ:  Addison was such a terrific presence in the middle of the lineup, and quickly within the first few series, maybe even within the first two weeks of the year, it made it clear that those few extra years in the lower parts of the organization after being drafted out of high school in middle of the draft -  of course we're finally paying off.  He put on some serious size. This is a guy in person, especially now, he is built. He has worked so hard in the weight room. He is relentless, and I think his almost single minded focus - you've got a really clear vision in between his ears about why he's playing - not just make it to the major leagues, but he has a young wife and daughter - the motivation is there,  and that's kind of flipped the switch. And the stats bear it all out. 

   This was somebody who….I couldn't tell you how many times he came up with a big spot, and had an extra base hit, whether it was a double or a homer, and in 69 games he made himself a mainstay on the league leaderboard for weeks, even.after he had moved to AA.   That’s just how great of a first half he had, so certainly Addison Barger I'm with you, Doug and I do believe minor league baseball named him the Player of the Year in the Blue Jays minor league organization. And then you had the complement of other guys, like Zach Britton who came out and I don't want to say nowhere because he was drafted pretty high, had a good career at Louisville, and he was a steady presence behind the plate, albeit is now probably going to be a left fielder.  He’s athletic, has sneaky power and a great understanding of the game -  also knows how to get on base, which is huge. I think Zach is a guy who certainly knows how to be on basem or come up in the clutch - he had a ton of clutch hits in his relatively short stint.

DMF:  I don't know if you've seen it yet, or maybe you already knew of course - he just got an invitation to spring training.

TZ:  It was so exciting to see …this is the right guy too, this is somebody who conducts himself with professionalism. You see it at this level, guys who are still trying to figure out who they are as people let alone his players, but Zach is advanced, just like Barger.

 Trent Palmer advanced in a different way in that he knows how to let the noise stay outside of him.  I was always really impressed with his ability to stay steadfast on the mound. He threw six no hit innings against Hillsboro one afternoon,  just had nasty stuff and he ends up having Tommy John, which is a bummer, but it just seems to be the way things are going, the rehab process is speeding up but his stuff is legit. The Bulldog mentality is great. And he’s certainly not a guy who is cut from the same starting pitcher in the Blue Jays organization mold: Pearson, Manoah, Kloffenstein,   these big guys.  Trent is not a big guy like that. But he generates a lot of terrific torque from his lower half, and is a really solidly built young man. That's a guy as soon as he's ready to go again, I’ll be watching him for sure. 

  As for Sem, he's more mature at 21 than I am 32.  The fact is, we know the stories about Sem… self taught himself how to pitch for watching videos on YouTube and really became a self taught young prodigy in a lot of respects. This is somebody who is infinitely coachable. Phil Cundari, our pitching coach last year, and Brent all said nobody takes instruction and then puts it to use better than Sem.  Truly, he will go from the first half of a bullpen session, to the second half and be able to incorporate an entirely new concept after a short conversation. Well, it's here for him, especially at a young age, and I think that he got a little bit of the short end of the stick last season. I think he could have gone to  AA maybe a month or six weeks sooner, but I was happy to see continue to see  44 go out there every six days, but he’s surely somebody who could have gone to the upper levels a little bit more quickly than he did, but again given his age, why rush him with his relative inexperience in terms of innings in the professional ranks ?

DMF:  You're right, I think that's exactly, having spoken enough times to Joe Sclafani and Cory Popham,  and even going back to Andrew Tinnish,  I think that that was definitely a factor.  I was surprised to see Sem returned to Vancouver to be honest, but he certainly pitched well. He was I think the leader in least pitches per at bat, and that just tells me so much about a young pitcher - he's all business out on the mound. 

   So we get toward the middle of the season. You’re getting  Robbins, you're getting Zuleuta,  Tiedemann, Palmegiani,  Martinez,  Nunez and Dasan Brown.  Tiedemann is the obvious place to start, so let's go there.

TZ:  He was as advertised. Ricky came up from Dunedin after basically setting the Florida State league on fire. Truly, I mean, you were watching him….the parks that had the MiLB.tv, just watching the movement, watching the repeatable delivery, watching the face stay the same.  Now granted, he was having so much fun with no failure whatsoever in the FSL, so of course you're going to be able to maintain either a stoic or happy mentality on the mound, but he came here in May and did not miss a beat.  He was terrific for I think it was like four straight starts, and finally in his fifth start ran into just a little bit of trouble, finally had a little bit of adversity that is required - you have to have that adversity at this level, and time to deal with  failure, because you're going to get to the big leagues where failure is normal, and if you can’t get it right between the ears when you fail, which is bound to happen, you're not going to make it any any farther, but I think Ricky is headed for a long big league career if he continues on this track…he has the intangibles, his makeup, upbringing, got terrific parents, he's got an older brother in the Rangers organization who has shown him, and then you match that with his physical size, the training at the complex, which of course I can only imagine how he's going to come out in 2023, after his 2022 season and then the incredible stuff. We talked about the heater - that's only going to go up a couple of ticks. That changeup I think is the best weapon. It is a devastating change and that is as heavy as a change can be. And then the slider it's the third pitch out of three, but it's coming, and especially as a lefty, I'm excited to watch Ricky and  if we see him get an early call up to the major leagues obviously, a few things will have to  go right or wrong depending on your perspective I wouldn't be surprised…. he can get big league hitters out right now.

DMF: Oh, I agree. It's just all a matter of inning, it's a matter of how things are going in Toronto and everything else,  and that slider, Cory was telling me, they’re so encouraged with the time Tiedemann spent at the pitching lab in mid summer and then in the offseason.  I noticed after he came back after the break, the slider had a much different shape to it. So it's become a legitimate third pitch as well. 

TZ:  I was so impressed with how he handled all the off field stuff. In 2018, I went to work for the Fisher Cats, and everybody wanted to talk to Vlad and Bo and then Cavan  of course, all of that, and they handled it great, but for the the fervour that was around Ricky that happens so quickly going from virtual no-name out of the draft, to being the top prospect in the Blue Jays system and a top 35 prospect in all of baseball - he handled it so well, with so much grace and compassion. Early morning text messages that I would send, he’d get back to me quickly and this is a kid who's nineteen years old…this is someone with the talent and fame  that has come and is coming, I could see him being a little more kind of like, ‘you know that's beneath me,’ but he said yes to every opportunity, every interview request except for on start days. But that actually might have been the most impressive thing for me personally, because I knew what kind of talent we were getting. But the way he handled all the other stuff, which is part of the job, that's what set him apart for me.

DMF:  And you're echoing what I've been told about him. So, you got Zulueta not too long after that, and he's a guy if not for maybe kind of running into the wall of not having pitched a whole lot before this year,  we might have actually seen him in Toronto.

TZ: Yeah, he’s an older guy obviously you know his history, which creates a little more mystery just being from Cuba.  You hear about him, but you haven't had a chance to see him…..much was made of his injury and 2021 where he made his way back from Tommy John. And then he hurt himself by trying to chase down a ground ball.

   He showed up here and was a man of few words, but he lets his fastball do the talking and really it's like with any hard throwing pitcher, command is still just below where it needs to be to be consistent. But you saw it when he got promoted to AA, he got that great opportunity in the Futures Game along with Tiedemann, and so no doubt in my mind that Yosver certainly is a guy who approaches the game from a more intellectual side sometimes; obviously we see different cultures playing the game in different ways. I think Yosver in a lot of ways channels that more stoic, let's say American way of playing baseball,  and is not maybe as emotional or flamboyant, which certainly has its purpose and I love to see guys  like Gabby Martinez and Rainer Nunez, they really like to channel that energy and they put it into their play and that is phenomenal to watch them do so,  but Yosver is certainly a little bit more composed than somebody who's certainly a little more stoic. He goes about his business very seriously.

DMF:   Definitely - composure is the word that comes to mind when I think back to him on the mound last year. Canadian content:  let's go there with Palmegiani and Dasan Brown.

TZ:  Dom came up after Addison got promoted to AA, and just fit right in as he picked up right where Barger left off. His first series was down in Hillsboro, and he homered in one of his first few games, and then he hit two or three grand slams here at The Nat,  the kid from Surry,  and becomes really in just two and a half months becomes this seasoned all star,  I mean he was he was named our Co-MVP with Andres Sosa at the season for all that he did. And it was not just on the field. He was one of the first guys out sending autographs every day, whether he was starting or not, and most days, he would stay late after the game, win or lose. He would be signing autographs and of course, being from Surrey, this is his hometown area. He had a lot of friends and family coming out, and the fact like Brent on the managerial side he was able to keep both separate and not allow the fact that he was back in a familiar place to take away from his game. I think in fact, it made him an even better player, and selfishly I'm sad that we won't get him again because he was so easy to work with and so humble, and so understanding of the responsibility and the role of a not just a professional athlete but as a native son. For me, Dom was a highlight he was a crown jewel of the 2022 for sure. 

  And then, Dasan…my gosh. A guy cut from the similar cloth as Palmegiani in terms of being so humble, so accommodating, wanting to do anything to help the team win, and being extremely talented, and had an unexpected power surge in the playoffs. Of all the Canadians here who did anything of note in those three games against Eugene until like Aaron Spain's terrific single late in the game and game three of the finals, Dasan was the C’s playoff MVP, and representing for Oakville. He was phenomenal and he can go get it in the outfield too. I mean, he's gonna run all over those new Rogers Centre dimensions out there.

DMF:  Yes, he might be - I've seen this from several sources, the fastest player in the minors.  It hasn't translated itself into stolen bases yet, because you know, let's face it as a Canadian, with his background and experience is still learning the game.

TZ:  For me, I'd like to see him in a foot race with the Rockies top prospect Zack Veen who was the league leader in stolen bases here last year.  Steward Berroa had 40,  and he was out for the season, like six weeks before the season was over. So I think Stew could have had 50 or maybe 55 stolen bases if he'd stayed healthy. And then for Dasan, selfishly again, I hope we see him, but if I’m the Blue Jays, I'm saying hey, so you've earned, go to the upper minors and just show us what you've got. 

DMF:  So let's talk about Martinez, Nunez and  Dahian Santos. Let's talk a little bit more about them.

TZ:  Here's a great addition right away. I think Rainer had a hit in 14 of his first 16 games, and Gaby was similar like 9 out of his first 11 and getting on base multiple times a game. We didn’t see as much power from Rainer as I thought we were going to see, especially based on his physical attributes. In fact, I think we saw more pop from Martinez.  However,  those two coming up when they did just fit right in - there really was no adjustment period for them. Whereas Diahan Santos’ first two starts were abysmal.  He didn't even get three outs in the first start. He just looked uncomfortable, tugging at his jersey, it was uncomfortable but that's also kind of from what I understand, kind of a theme for him -  his first couple starts at a new level don't go well, but then he dials it in.  In his final few starts of the season, I said to myself, Okay, I get it, I see what all the hype is about,  because at first I thought, I don't know is this going to be one of those guys who does so well at the lower levels, but then now gets a taste of all a little bit more polished hitter and it all goes for naught,  but I think we'll see him again here to start.  He could be one of the midseason call ups to AA.

DMF:  Definitely - Santos is not one of the bigger guys and the system, and you can't help but think that he was running into some fatigue issues by the time you guys got him.

TZ:  … yes and being so young, you know, we're still learning - at 32, I'm still learning how to manage my body. 

DMF:  One guy I really wanted to ask you about was Leo Jimenez.  I know last year was pretty much going to be a development year for Leo, but he had trouble staying healthy once again.  He did have about a six week stretch where he was hitting everything hard, giving us a glimpse of his potential…he maybe won’t be the top of the order guy they thought he would be when he signed, but there is no doubt about his glove.

TZ:  When healthy, Leo was a HUGE steadying presence in the lineup and on defense. You’re right about that six week stretch; he truly looked like the Top 10 prospect he was ranked as. His character, perspective and mental approach were what impressed me most last year. He was laser focused on the game and improving as a player while being the nicest guy on our roster regardless of his performance. By all accounts he is a great teammate who leads by example and also speaks up when needed. He’s one of those guys that make it so easy to root for him.

Physically, I think he profiles more as a third baseman, but he has plus athleticism and an innate smoothness to the way he plays defense. I can’t remember a single time where I thought to myself “yikes, that was an ugly play” when he made an error. The C’s were the worst fielding team in the league last year but the defense was markedly better when #8 was at shortstop.

Certainly a down year on offense for him, but I think that’s mostly from the inconsistency of his playing time. A bright spot was the emergence of his XBH potential and the power you’d expect from someone with his build (41% of his hits were for extra bases last year as opposed to 19% in ’21). He was tasked with taking a more aggressive approach at the player, which explains the decrease in walks and increase in strikeouts from 2021 to 2022. I think the Blue Jays will be very pleased if he can find a middle ground between his higher BA/OBP year in ‘21 and the increase in XBHs in ‘22.

No one had worse luck with injuries than Leo. There was a freak concussion he suffered in a collision with the left fielder, those HBPs I mentioned, a few nagging ailments that the Jays were conservative about plus a bout with COVID. I’m really, REALLY hoping he gets to enjoy a full season of health in 2023. If so, I think he could reemerge as an elite prospect. My San Diegan is showing here, but I do think he could be a Manny Machado-type player if he were to max out his potential.

DMF:  Of the names I've got left on my list, one who I wanted to ask you about is Trenton Wallace…nobody seems to be talking about him except for people in the organization, and he is just a name that keeps coming up in my conversations. 

TZ:  Yes, certainly if I had to pick a well-trodden baseball nickname for him, he'd be The Professor, because he goes about things so cerebrally…he understands and talks about very casually, things like pitch shape, he's talking about his rpm.  He understands the science of it, coming out of Iowa, he’s certainly somebody who, you see a lefty like that, especially with his arm slot, and you think okay, there's some potential here. And he had a few moments where he had some serious command issues where he was missing by maybe this much, but he ended up walking like six guys in four innings, and so the pitch count just kind of rocked up. But then he had  an 11 strikeout game and matched Jimmy Robbins, another crafty that we had for a while, and I see a lot of similarities with those two guys.   

  I think because of his physical build, Trenton has an opportunity to be a starter,  whereas Jimmy, he's a little more wiry, he’s shorter, as well. So Jimmy is somebody who you can see certainly coming out in the bullpen or being an opener but you know, he loves to start, he's a guy who wants the ball and wants to be that guy for his team which  - you can’t teach that kind of go-getter mentality. And Trenton was kind of the same way, and I talked to him actually at one point after one of his games for he had poor command and I said, you know, in Dunedin, they were using the ABS system, and do you think that your pitches would be called for strikes if it was ABS because your the slider moves? He hadn’t thought about it, maybe so because human eye, especially High A umpires, they're not going be able to see that slider catching the outside corner like a computer could.

DMF:   Definitely - you make a really good point there and you know, I only saw a handful of games from Low A this year, like most of us, but that's one of the things that I noticed….  there were pitches that were kind of borderline and we get the challenge and yeah, that's a strike.   Andrew Thriffiley in Dunedin had pointed out that that in a way was helpful for the umpires and maybe that's going to continue on now because that got them thinking, you know, maybe what I'm thinking is a ball is actually a strike or vice versa.  So, finally, tell me what you’re looking forward to this season.

TZ:  For me having the foundation of Nat Bailey Stadium and our fan base, and the community, and the city of Vancouver and the province, and being able to now exponentially speed up not just my learning, but also my experiencing of everything that this building, this franchise, and the city has to offer. So that's for me personally. But on a grander scale, there's a lot of excitement coming out of Dunedin with the second half of last year. We're going see a lot of those guys coming up to start with these with us, especially those college draftees from the early rounds, a couple of those guys I'm really excited to see.

  Will we see Brandon Barriera this year, probably not. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what the Blue Jays thinking is, but we’re hopeful to see him, maybe a Tucker Toman too by the second half.

We thank native San Diegan Tyler for braving the chilly Nat Bailey press box to talk to us.  Personally, I’m really looking forward to catching some C’s home games in person in April.  As Tyler said, there should be a talented group of players coming up to start the year in the Northwest League.