Boon performing balancing act as Majors’ top arm
Owen Boon is studying hitters — and working on his MBA — this summer. As London’s leading arm, can he lead the Majors to that elusive IBL title?
Through his first four starts in 2021, right-hander Owen Boon posted a 3-1 record with a 2.16 ERA. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
By the time he got home, it was 1:00 in the morning. Owen Boon had pitched the London Majors to a 7-2 road win over Brantford in a mid-July game. He’d struck out 13 batters over 7 1/3 innings, allowing just five baserunners along the way. He threw 120 pitches in all.
Bed beckoned, but the night wasn’t over. Boon had some homework to do …
The London Majors’ veteran – and leading arm in this year’s rotation – is performing a balancing act this summer, juggling the demands of Intercounty baseball with his studies at Western University’s Ivey Business School, where he’s been pursuing an MBA since March.
“I’m still working on getting a nice balance. It’s a lot of time management and finding little pockets of availability where I can look ahead and get stuff done for the future to free up time for baseball,” said Boon, who holds a 3-1 record with a 2.16 ERA through his first four starts for the Majors this summer. “But it’s been manageable. The timeline of the MBA program and the start of the season really worked out in my benefit.”
Indeed, the pandemic-delayed season may have made the difference in Boon suiting up at all in a Majors uniform this year. With the busiest part of the program (the first three months) out of the way by the end of June, Boon’s scheduled had eased up by the time the IBL season got underway with the Majors’ home opener July 9.
By then, Boon had worked himself into game shape and was on the mound for the Majors to open the year. It had been 696 days since the last official Majors game at Labatt Park, and Boon was more than happy to get things going again. He retired the first two Toronto Maple Leaf batters and then got out of a mini jam to work a scoreless first inning, much to the pleasure of the (COVID-restricted) capacity crowd of 1,100 in attendance.
The right-hander worked six innings in the opener, allowing just an unearned run on four hits. He walked two and struck out three, departing with a lopsided 12-1 lead, a score that held for the remainder of the game. Boon picked up his first IBL win – the first win by any IBL pitcher – since 2019.
The 28-year-old was thrilled – about the win, sure, but also about the fact he was simply wearing the Majors’ uniform again.
“There was a part of me that didn’t know whether or not I’d play again. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, and my schedule, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to fit it in,” said Boon. “And then I thought, ‘Is the Legacy Classic going to be the last game I ever played in wearing a Majors uniform?’ That went through my head a bit.”
(The Legacy Classic, an exhibition game against Guelph in August 2020, kept alive Labatt Memorial Park’s streak as the longest continuously active ballpark in the world. Boon won that game, too).
By May, though, once he’d gotten his feet wet in the program at Ivey, the pitcher realized he was handling the workload well enough that perhaps he didn’t have to say goodbye to baseball. That coincided with rumours that the IBL would be able to get a full season in – albeit in a shortened time span.
“By that time, I felt like I’d have sufficient control over my scheduling and my work habits, and that (baseball) would be something that would be quite feasible,” said Boon. I think the timing worked out particularly well from my perspective, which was very fortuitous.
“I was like, ‘Okay, this is doable. This is going to happen. I want to do this.’”
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There was the issue of preparation.
Boon hadn’t been working out with the Majors during their offseason training sessions. To be fair, there were stretches during the winter and spring when no players were working out, as COVID-19 restrictions prevented it, but Boon was even further behind the eight-ball.
But when he decided baseball was back on the table, the pitcher got more active.
“I worked out at home. I bought a sandbag and worked out in the garage. And I shot a lot of hoops during the day to get my legs underneath me,” Boon said.
And once plans were in place for an IBL season to become a reality?
“That’s when I started ramping it up. I would go to the school and throw the baseball against the wall, like three or four times a week, trying to start building up some arm strength,” he said. “But it was pretty limited as to what you could do in order to effectively train for a season.”
The Majors themselves weren’t allowed to practice outdoors until about three weeks prior to the season (due to COVID-19 restrictions). But players, including Boon, were able to meet at a park and play catch, one-on-one, allowing them to get some much-needed throwing in.
Normally, Boon would have had months of preparation. This year, he had weeks. For that reason, he’s had to keep a close eye on his recovery and how his body feels after starts.
“I’ve noticed that my arm gets fatigued a little bit earlier on in games than normal. And just my body overall,” said Boon. “Just because it hasn’t been conditioned in that way over a specific period of time. So, my body is still adjusting to that, but each day it gets a bit easier.”
After that dominant start against the Brantford Red Sox, Boon was solid, if unspectacular, in his next outing in Hamilton – another weeknight game. After allowing a pair of runs in the first inning, the right-hander settled down to work four scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the sixth.
A pair of run-scoring singles by the Cardinals ended Boon’s night after 105 pitches. Both runs (and a third that came in later) were unearned as a result of a London error earlier in the inning. Boon’s final line included two earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. He left with a 5-1 deficit, which ultimately turned into a 14-2 defeat.
Five days later, Boon took the ball for the opener of a doubleheader at home against the six-time defending IBL champion Barrie Baycats. The 28-year-old held them in check, allowing just two runs over six innings while striking out five en route to his third victory of the season.
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No one seems to want to call him the ace – including Boon himself.
“I don’t necessarily think I’m an ace by any means. Yes, this year is an opportunity for me to kind of lead the pitching staff. But that being said, we’ve got a lot of quality arms coming in, and there’s definitely a lot of guys on our roster that can be a dominant force in this league.”
“We have always gone with more of a top 3 or 4 approach,” said Majors’ manager Roop Chanderdat, explaining the team’s general reluctance to identify a staff ace. “(Boon) has been in that mix. He’s pitched lots of big games for us.”
In years passed, though, he’s perhaps been overshadowed by import pitchers, who come in as heralded arms, usually with time spent in the affiliated minor leagues, and are seen as the top arms of a pitching staff. That’s been true across the league, as many teams have historically used, for instance, three of their four import spots on starting pitchers. Those arms might throw upwards of 70 percent of a team’s innings.
This year, import players are out of the equation.
COVID-19 travel restrictions have made that a reality. And, yes, that has left Boon at the top of the Majors’ pitching staff.
Title or no title, he’s embracing the role.
“I don’t necessarily admit to people, but in my mind I’ve always kind of viewed myself as one of the better pitchers in the league,” Boon said. “That’s just my mentality and the confidence I have in my ability.
“Having import players definitely bolsters the league’s reputation and draw. It’s been incredibly beneficial to the success of the league, but personally I’m kind of enjoying the fact that there aren’t imports this year because you’re getting a true sense of the local talent that a lot of these teams have in southwestern Ontario.”
It’s making the ‘401 rivalry’ mean a little bit more, Boon says, because local players are all playing for the teams they grew up watching.
“And it’s still good quality baseball,” he said. “I think there’s enough local talent to put on a good show.”
Boon and the London Majors have certainly been putting on a good show so far this summer. They’re 7-2, tops in the IBL standings through action July 28 (and ahead, 12-3, in another suspended contest against Kitchener in the fourth inning).
The 28-year-old leader of the staff has made four of the team’s 10 starts thus far, going 3-1 with that aforementioned 2.16 ERA. He leads the league in innings (25) and strikeouts (27). His WHIP stands at a solid 1.16, and opponents are batting .224 against him through four starts. So far, his strategy is working.
(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
“I’m a bit of a bulldog … and very stubborn,” said Boon. “Every time I go out on the mound, regardless of who it is or what team I’m facing, I’m going to try and go after the guy. I’m going to try and bring my best stuff.
“That sometimes gets me into trouble, if I try and do too much,” he said. “I find I usually pitch the best when I’m not trying to do too much.”
Boon has one of the better fastballs in the league. When he’s firing it well, he sits between 88 and 92mph. That pitch, he says, has given him an advantage in the early part of the season as hitters haven’t gotten their timing down yet.
“I’ve been fortunate that if I make a mistake with a fastball over the middle of the plate, I haven’t been getting burned with those mistakes yet,” Boon said. “But I know that’s not a forever kind of deal. Sooner or later … probably sooner … guys will get their timing down, and then it’s going to be a matter of controlling the plate a little bit better.”
In addition to his fastball, which he uses to get ahead in the count, Boon throws a changeup (which has been on point this summer), as well as a cutter and a curveball.
“He attacks the zone and really challenges hitters,” said Chanderdat. “He is a guy that has gotten better over the years. He’s one of my core guys and team leaders.”
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Boon has been part of winning London Majors teams before. He began wearing the pinstripes during his undergraduate days at Western, eight years ago, when he also played for the Mustangs varsity baseball team while studying Kinesiology.
He was gone for a season-and-a-half, having earned a spot in the Independent professional Can-Am League, where he pitched for the Trois-Rivieres Aigles, mostly out of the bullpen. He returned in the second half of 2018.
In other words, he’s been part of multiple Majors playoff teams over the years – as have many of the team’s players this season. But the group has yet to win an IBL championship. In fact, the Majors haven’t won it all since 1975.
Boon thinks that could change this year.
“I think this is our year,” the pitcher said matter-of-factly. “I truly believe that. I think with the absence of import players, it’s become a more level playing field, and I think we have the depth, both with new players and returning players. It’s an impressive team.
“It’s been great seeing guys come back like Carlos (Arteaga), Humberto (Ruiz), Queener (Chris McQueen), Keith (Kandel) … those are core guys in our lineup. They all work hard. They’re all gamers, and they all want to win. And having some other pitchers come back, like (Mike) DeLong, (Braeden) Ferrington …”
It's never been a question of talent, Boon says. Chanderdat, who also serves as the team’s general manager, has routinely put together teams talented enough to make a deep run in the IBL playoffs.
So, what will put the Majors over the hump?
“I think our key to success this year will be every guy understanding what they’re capable of, what their role is, and understanding the job we have to do – and doing so in a relaxed atmosphere,” Boon said. “Baseball can be quite stressful, but it can also be a lot of fun.
“We’ve all had some time away from baseball and coming back to the park now means a little bit more. Guys have more energy and more focus. They’re hungry. I think this is our year. I think we’ve got all the tools to make it happen, and I’m really excited for it.”
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