Majors look to build on Canada Day weekend wins

Around the Diamond: London Majors, back in win column, hope to carry momentum vs. Kitchener, Guelph; Boon providing needed stability; Bats have gone cold in heat; Will catcher Ruiz stick around? The latest Majors news & notes …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

* * *

If you’re going to snap an eight-game losing streak, why not do it against the top team in the league? That’s exactly what the London Majors did last Friday when they beat the first-place Welland Jackfish 4-0 at Labatt Park.

It was a welcome win – and a confidence boost to a squad that’s struggled to string together wins in the first two months of the season. Welcome, too, was the next day’s win (on Canada Day), a 5-4 victory over the Hamilton Cardinals. That one was made all the more impressive by the fact London came back from down 4-0.

The Majors couldn’t make it three wins in a row, as they lost 11-5 Sunday to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it was a positive weekend nonetheless. Taking two of three games in a weekend is a goal going forward for manager Roop Chanderdat and his squad, who are hoping to steadily climb the standings over the next six weeks to put themselves in better playoff positioning.

This weekend, it’s the Kitchener Panthers at home Friday and then a home-and-home against the Guelph Royals. At 6-12, the Majors still face an uphill climb, as they’re currently in seventh place in the IBL standings. But as last weekend’s wins showed, they’re capable of beating any team in the league. Now, it’s about finding consistency …

1) Owen provides Boon to club. In a season where quality starting pitching has been hard to come by for the London Majors, their trusty ace Owen Boon turned in a great outing last Friday. In fact, the righty stepped up to shut down the league’s top team and was the key factor in London ending its eight-game losing skid. 

Boon tossed six scoreless innings in the 4-0 win over Welland, allowing just four hits along the way. He didn’t walk a batter and he struck out six to earn his first win of the season (he’d previously been a hard-luck loser on multiple occasions). In five starts this year, the 30-year-old has posted a 3.13 ERA with a league-best 45 strikeouts. 

Thus far, Boon and Barrie’s Frank Garces have been the two best pitchers in the IBL. Boon’s impressive 45/5 strikeout-to-walk ratio is bested only by Garces’ mind-boggling 30/0 mark. The latter owns a league-best 2.03 ERA and has yet to walk a batter through four starts, but Boon owns the advantage in strikeout rate, posting a 12.8 K/9 mark through his first five outings.

With a busy career in Toronto, Boon hasn’t pitched quite as much this year than in years passed, although his 31 2/3 innings still place him top 10 in the league. He’s available to pitch this weekend, and he’s scheduled to start Saturday’s game in Guelph.

London’s ace is coming off two fantastic seasons – both of which ended with the Majors hoisting the league championship trophy. He went 8-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 2021, and then made a career-high 13 starts last season, going a perfect 10-0 with a 3.17 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 79 1/3 innings (a 12.59 K/9 rate).

2) The call-ups are stepping up. First, it was catcher Brad Verhoeven who impressed as a call-up to the Majors from the St. Thomas Tomcats’ junior team. The youngster caught all three games two weekends ago in relief of injured starter Eduardo de Oleo and not only did a good job behind the plate but also picked up five hits in 11 at-bats.

Last Friday night, it was Alex Springer who turned some heads with an impressive performance out of the bullpen against Welland. The left-hander worked the final three innings, allowing just three hits to the league’s top squad. He struck out four and earned the save.

Most impressive, he seemed poised on the mound, undeterred by calls that didn’t go his way. Frankly, he didn’t look like he was making his IBL debut. The Majors have a great relationship with the Tomcats when it comes to call-ups when needed. St. Thomas is their priority, but the Majors can use them when they have the roster need. Without a deep bullpen, look for Springer to reappear on the Majors’ mound in the weeks ahead.

Watch, also, for Jaryd Lund, who earned a win last Saturday in London’s 5-4 comeback win over Hamilton. The lefty, also a junior call-up, came on in relief of Edisson Gonzalez and tossed a pair of scoreless innings against the Cardinals. Entering in a tie game, Lund watched the Majors score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth.

It wasn’t a clean 9th for the 21-year-old, as he allowed two baserunners, but the lefty then punched out Jordan Schulefand and got Clayton Keyes to ground out to third to end the game. Lund now has three wins on the year with the Majors. He’s pitched to a 2.45 ERA in five appearances (two starts).

Jaryd Lund, an ‘AP’ call-up pitcher, has been credited with three of London’s six wins so far this season. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

* * *

3) Hot weather, but cold bats. Even when the Majors were losing games early in the year, their offense was still effective. They found themselves in the middle of the pack – or slightly higher – in most offensive categories. But that has changed in recent weeks, and London now boasts the league’s lowest team batting average and on-base percentage. Their 112 runs heading into action this weekend, meanwhile, are second lowest, ahead only of the Brantford Red Sox.

What has gone wrong? An injury to import catcher Eduardo de Oleo, who started the year with a hot bat, has certainly impacted London’s offense. So, too, has the cold bat of longtime veteran Cleveland Brownlee, whose .206 batting average is cause for a little concern. The Majors only have one active, qualified hitter batting over .300, and that’s Byron Reichstein (.350 in 15 games).

It's been a struggle for Keith Kandel in 2023, as the shortstop is the owner of a .164 batting average in 17 games. After showing signs of life, Starling Joseph has since cooled down and is batting just .262 through 18 games. The import outfielder was a key cog in the Majors’ lineup last season, finishing with a .351 mark in 42 games. Infielder Tommy Reyes-Cruz, who currently sits at a respectable .297, is also capable of more. If the Majors hope to move themselves up in the standings, they’ll need Joseph, Reyes-Cruz and Brownlee to boost their numbers as the season rolls along.

Myles Miller should be a good offensive asset for London. He doesn’t yet qualify for league leaderboards since he’s only played seven games thus far, but the Windsor native is batting .344 in those contests as the team’s leadoff hitter. Cris Ruiz, the newly signed American catcher who debuted last Friday, may also provide some offensive juice. He has three hits in his first 10 at-bats.

4) Import watch and roster crunch. Majors GM and field manager Roop Chanderdat has made plenty of moves already this season. Last week, we saw the departure of import pitcher Abdiel Velasquez, as the right-handed pitcher was unable to harness his control and find success in his IBL stint. With de Oleo, another import player, sidelined with injury, Cris Ruiz was brought in last Friday to take over at catcher.

A Bridgeport, Connecticut native, he’s now holding down one of the Majors’ four import roster spots. The others are Starling Joseph and pitchers Edisson Gonzalez and Anfernee Benitez – although that could change. Gonzalez has also struggled in his IBL debut, to the tune of a 7.66 ERA, although he’s coming off a good start against the Cardinals. Gonzalez gave the Majors a chance to win in that one (and they eventually did), allowing four runs over seven innings. He struck out eight and, most promising, didn’t walk a batter.

Meanwhile, Benitez, who replaced Velasquez, has gotten off to an inauspicious start. He was better Sunday than his first outing, during which he walked 11 batters, but the lefty still allowed 12 baserunners in five innings in a loss to Toronto. Will there be changes to the Majors’ pitching rotation? It’s possible, and the team is always looking at who’s available – both domestically and internationally.

The deadline to lock in a final roster isn’t for another two weeks, so there’s time to assess and make some important decisions. Besides Myles Miller and Ruiz, Chanderdat has also already added first baseman Josh Williams and utilityman Robert Mackie in recent weeks. Expect a couple more moves on the offensive side, too, as the Majors look to bolster a lineup that, as mentioned, has been struggling to put up runs relative to the competition.