[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links
North Delta product Brent Lavallee has the Canadians, the Toronto Blue Jays’ farm club, poised for a third straight playoff appearance under his leadership
Get the latest from Steve Ewen straight to your inbox
Published Aug 27, 2024 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 4 minute read
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
Vancouver Canadians manager Brent Lavallee. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG
Article content
Vancouver Canadians manager Brent Lavallee is one of the few bright spots in what’s been a gloomy summer for so much of the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
- Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
- The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
- Support local journalism.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
- Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
- The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
- Support local journalism.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account.
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
- Enjoy additional articles per month.
- Get email updates from your favourite authors.
Sign In or Create an Account
or
Article content
Lavallee, 38, who’s from North Delta and growing up attended his share of C’s games at Nat Bailey Stadium, is in his third year as bench boss of Vancouver, which is the Jays’ high-A affiliate in the six-team Northwest League.
With two weeks left in their regular season, the C’s are poised for a third straight playoff berth under Lavallee.
Vancouver (33-21) and the Spokane Indians (33-21) are tied for top spot in the second-half standings. Spokane’s already qualified for the best-of-five league finale thanks to winning the first-half pennant. If they win this half as well, the second-half runner-up joins them in the post-season, and Vancouver has a seven-game lead on the third-place Hillsboro Hops (26-28) with 12 games left.
The C’s open up a six-game series Tuesday on the road against Hillsboro and then are at the Nat for six games versus the Eugene Emeralds starting Sept. 3 to close out league play.
For the full season, Vancouver is a combined 63-54, trailing only the 71-47 Indians.
The C’s can’t get to the 77-54 mark they finished with last year, when they went on to beat the Everett AquaSox in four games in the league championship. They could easily surpass the 67-62 record they had two years ago, a season in which they lost in three straight to Eugene in the title series to close things out.
Canucks Report
Thanks for signing up!
Article content
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The news hasn’t been so good for others in Toronto’s system. The Jays’ woes have been much-publicized. The triple-A Buffalo Bisons (58-67) sit 16th in the 20-team International League when you combine first- and second-half records, and the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats (48-69) are 11th in the 12-team Eastern League by the same measure.
Vancouver is in a six-team league. That’s true. That’s an obvious benefit in these comparisons, especially when it comes to making the playoffs.
Also true, though, is the fact that the C’s have had flashier rosters, with more celebrated prospects, than the one they have now. They’re finding ways to grind out wins, which speaks to what Lavallee and the coaches are doing.
Last year’s C’s came out of out the gate with infielder Cade Doughty, who was No. 8 on MLB Pipeline’s Toronto prospect list at the time, and left-hander Adam Macko, who was No. 9. The 2022 team added left-hander Ricky Tiedemann a few weeks into that season, and he was named the No. 100 best overall prospect in all of baseball and the No. 9 best lefty by MLB Pipeline during his time in Vancouver.
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The top-ranked Vancouver player on the current Jays’ list by MLB Pipeline is lefty Kendry Rojas, 21, who comes in at No. 12. The top position player is infielder Cutter Coffey, 20, who’s at No. 23. He’s been with the C’s for a month after coming over from the Boston Red Sox organization in the trade for catcher Danny Jansen.
For contrast, Spokane is the Colorado Rockies farm team, and feature the Rockies’ No. 1 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, in infielder/outfielder Charlie Condon, 21, who was the third overall pick in this year’s MLB draft out of the University of Georgia. They also had right-hander Chase Dollander, 22, who is Colorado’s No. 2 prospect and was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Tennessee, until he was promoted to double-A a month ago.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Lavallee is the first manager since Toronto took over as the C’s parent club in 2011 to be assigned to the C’s for three straight seasons. Both Clayton McCullough (2012-13) and John Schneider (2014-15), who’s running the bench with the big club now, did two-year turns at the Nat.
Canadians manager Brent Lavallee. Photo by BOB FRID
Toronto opted to keep managers Casey Candaele and Cesar Martin, respectively, at the helms at Buffalo and New Hampshire for their fourth straight seasons this year, and the Jays’ braintrust obviously felt Lavallee was better off running his own show in Vancouver than working under someone else at a higher level in the minors.
Lavallee was asked about that during the season-opening news conference in April.
“Sometimes the ladder for staff doesn’t always point upward,” he explained. “It’s go where your skills are best utilized and you can make the best impact. Myself and the other staff members don’t see going to double-A as a promotion or going to single-A as a demotion. It’s wherever you can be utilized the best and help these players get to the big leagues.”
Advertisement 6
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Lavallee was a catcher for the Delta Blue Jays of the B.C. Premier League as a high-schooler. He was with the program between when they had Jeff Francis and Justin Morneau and when they had James Paxton.
He went on to play and then head coach at Louisiana State University Shreveport and was hired by the Jays and assigned to manage Vancouver originally for the 2020 season. That season was cancelled due to COVID-19 and it looked like for a time that the Jays might end their relationship with the C’s when MLB revamped the minors during the year off.
Vancouver and Toronto did stay together and signed a 10-year affiliation deal in February 2021.
SEwen@postmedia.com
x.com/@SteveEwen
Recommended from Editorial
-
It’s a familiar face at manager and the start of a new-look Nat Bailey for Vancouver Canadians fans
-
Toronto Blue Jays peg North Delta’s Brent Lavallee to manage Vancouver Canadians for third straight summer
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.
Article content
Share this article in your social network
[ad_2]
Source link
Fitnessnacks – #manager #Brent #Lavallee #top #prospect #Vancouver #Canadians
Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/brent-lavallee-best-big-league-prospect-vancouver-canadians