Jackfish ready to contend for another championship
The Welland Jackfish are coming off a dream season, both on and off the field.
The Jackfish led the IBL in attendance and also took home the Dominico Cup as league champions for the first time.
Tough accomplishments to repeat to be sure, but team president Ryan Harrison and Jackfish manager Brian Essery don’t approach the challenge in those terms.
“I don’t look at it as topping anything,” Harrison said. “For our side of the business, we just put more effort every year into the entertainment portion and make it the best show we possibly can every day.”
Essery, meanwhile, feels the club will once again have a legitimate shot at a championship, regardless of last season.
“I just try to maintain the success on the field we’ve had for the four years that we’ve been here,” he said. “We’re the winningest franchise in the IBL since we came into the league and we just want to maintain that. We want to be competitive, which I know we will be competitive again this year.
“We want to compete for a championship. Nothing less.”
The Jackfish begin defence of their title tonight in London with a solid core of returning players from last year’s squad as well as a handful of promising newcomers.
Dawson Tweet, Greyson Barrett, Dakota Parsons and Dan Howatt have all been brought in as a well as a new pair of catchers to replace Saw Cawker, who has retired.
“Sam Cawker is huge, not just on the field, but he’s a great human being, great in the clubhouse, great teammate and a really talented player,” Essery said. “That one hurts a lot but we’ve gone out and filled these spots.”
Welland native Cole Cote, who was the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association’s player of the year with the Durham Lords last season, will see significant time behind the plate as well as import Robert Mullen, a 28-year-old native of Panama who was the IBL’s Most Valuable Player in 2022 when he hit .405 for London.
“Cole is a guy we’re going to count on a lot this year. He swings the bat really well and he’s going to catch a lot of games,” Essery said. “We brought in Robert Mullen and he’s a catcher as well and he’ll help Cole a lot too. He’ll get to learn from him. We expect a lot out of those two, especially with the bats.”
On the mound, IBL playoff MVP James Bradwell has signed with the defending Frontier League champion Quebec Capitales.
“You can’t replace what he did for us,” Essery said of Bradwell.
The club also lost infielder James Smibert, who has signed with Trois-Rivieres Aigles of the Frontier League after leading the Jackfish with a .363 batting average and 43 runs batted in. Outfielder Hogan Brown (.359), catcher Carlos Martinez (.354) and starting pitcher Alberto Guerrero (2-1, 2.42 earned-run average) also won’t be back.
Fireballing closer Deivy Mendez, who was unscored upon in the regular season, returns to anchor the bullpen.
Newly acquired right-hander Francisco Jimenez, 29, hails from the Dominican Republic and compiled a 40-28 record and a 3.47 earned run average in 568 innings over eight seasons pitching in the Baltimore Orioles organization.
Essery said the Jackfish name speaks for itself when he and general manager Jason McKay are recruiting.
“The last two seasons the recruiting hasn’t been as hard,” Essery said. “He (McKay) is still working phones. He works on the imports and I work with guys from Canada so it’s a good balance. We help each other out well.”
Essery said it’s vital anyone being brought in is a good fit in the clubhouse.
“I don’t care if it’s the best player on the team, we’ll move on from that player. It’s not worth it. If it’s not a fit in the clubhouse, it’s not a fit on the team,” he said.
Rich Corrente will start Friday while Ben Abram will take the mound in the home opener versus Barrie Saturday. Jake Harford will face the Cardinals Sunday afternoon in Hamilton.
Saturday’s home opener will be a sell out.
“All of our hard work has paid off. Kudos to everyone involved who was able to make that happen,” Harrison said. “We’re excited.”
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