Majors recruiting full steam ahead

London Majors management is preparing for the 2021 season like any other – despite looming questions about the IBL season ahead.

Cleveland Brownlee, the franchise’s all-time home run record holder, will return for an 11th season with the London Majors in 2021. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography)

“I always start with my top guy. I’ll call him Player 1,” says Roop Chanderdat, the London Majors’ co-owner, GM and field manager. Player 1 is Cleveland Brownlee, and the task is recruiting for the next Intercounty Baseball League season. It’s a process Chanderdat starts each year in late fall, not long after a new World Series champion has been crowned and the cold weather arrives in London.

Despite losing a full season in 2020, due to COVID-19, and the prospects for a normal season in 2021 far from assured, Chanderdat has followed the same recruitment process this offseason, working hard to put together a talented roster – with the ultimate goal of making a run at an IBL championship.

“It’s been tough,” the manager says. “With a lost season, you lose contact with some guys. It’s not starting from scratch, but it’s pretty close because some guys fall off the map. I’ve also found that you’re losing some guys because of the pandemic … they’re moving on from baseball.”

Fortunately, that’s not the case with most of Chanderdat’s local players, and he’s already signed several for the upcoming season – including Brownlee, a Majors fan favourite and the franchise’s all-time regular season home run leader.

There are several reasons, Brownlee says, keeping him motivated to continue wearing the Majors pinstripes, including having the chance for his son to watch him play in the IBL, arguably the highest calibre amateur baseball league in the country. Another is continuing to play for Chanderdat, who Brownlee says gave him a chance years ago when others wouldn’t.

And, of course, the slugger says, “Helping win a championship for the wonderful city of London. And also being able to play ball in front of Majors fans and being able to leave my legacy.”

Roop Chanderdat, the Majors’ GM and field manager, is eyeing a strong local core of players for 2021. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography)

Besides the power-hitting Brownlee, key returnees who have signed for the 2021 season include outfielder Byron Reichstein, pitcher Owen Boon, infielder Carlos Arteaga, first baseman Josh Williams, outfielder/pitcher Robert Doyle and utilityman Evan Britt, as well as familiar faces Humberto Ruiz and Keith Kandel, a pair of infielders, and pitcher Dylan Brooks. Newcomers include first baseman Julian Johnson, outfielder Adam Filmon, and catcher Hayden Jaco.

“It’s a good core,” says Chanderdat, now in his 15th season at the helm. “[Recruiting] is going well. It really picks up after the holidays because [MLB] Spring Training is not far away, and everyone gets back into baseball mode, including myself. “I was excited about my roster last year, and I’m excited again this year. I’m going to bank on the local guys putting up enough runs, and then we’ll bring in probably three [import] pitchers.”

Brownlee is also encouraged about the team’s roster so far and their prospects for the 2021 season.

“I believe we’ll have a very good team again this year,” the slugger says. “I hope by July we’re all back to having a semi-normal life. I know fans are vying to get outside and enjoy some IBL baseball this year. I will also say this could be the year that the IBL crowns a new champion…”

In 2019, Brownlee once again led the Majors in the power department, belting 11 home runs with 29 runs batted in (second most on the team). Reichstein batted .266 with 34 hits, 21 runs scored and 18 RBIs in 34 games. Arteaga hit .313 in 28 contests in addition to playing solid defense, while Boon racked up 51 strikeouts in 50 innings in eight starts on the mound.

“I’m excited to be returning to the Majors this summer, after not being able to play last [year],” said Boone in a team statement. “Every year, the depth of the league continues to grow and the competition between teams gets tighter … I believe the team we put out on the field every day will be committed to out-working, out-hustling and out-preparing our competitors and putting ourselves in a position to win every game.”

Boon – and several Majors players – did get the opportunity to play one game in 2020. In late August, an exhibition game, dubbed the Legacy Classic, was put together, with help from the City of London, to keep alive Labatt Memorial Park’s streak as the longest continuously active ballpark in the world (at 144 years).

The Majors beat a visiting Guelph Royals team, 3-0, in a game that followed health protocols – including sanitizing the baseball – and, unfortunately, was not attended by fans. Brownlee went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, while newcomer Julian Johnson had an RBI double. Boon earned the win on the mound, striking out nine in six scoreless innings. 

“It was great to bring some joy to the city during troubling times,” Brownlee said. “And we saved the history of Labatt Park.”

Meanwhile, Chanderdat has been busy, as always, recruiting players from outside the country to fill the Majors’ import roster spots (the league allows up to four per team). COVID-19 has also thrown a wrench into that process.

“Typically, I bring in four pretty stud guys,” the manager says. “Now, do I bring those guys in from the Dominican or Venezuela? Or do I bring them in from the U.S. because it’ll be easier because of COVID [travel] rules?”

Normally, the manager fills the spots with two pitchers and two hitters, but this year he’s leaning towards three pitchers, given the infield depth with the return of Kandel and Ruiz. The team has enjoyed some phenomenal production from import players in the past. Most recently, in 2019, Juliandry Higuera and Miguel Burgos were dominant on the hill. In 12 starts, Higuera went 5-4 with a 3.54 ERA, striking out a league-best 97 batters in 81 1/3 innings. Burgos, meanwhile, led London’s rotation with a 2.96 ERA, striking out 67 in 63 2/3 innings.

The 2021 season is scheduled to start a bit later than usual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-January, the IBL set a target date of June 1 – although the 36-game schedule has not been reduced (instead, league playoffs will extend later into September). News on health protocols, fan attendance and more will come in the weeks ahead. If fans aren’t allowed, it will be difficult for some teams to operate, and the Majors manager says they’d certainly have to cut back on expenses to make it happen.

And what about a worst-case scenario, in which the season is canceled for a second straight year?

“Scott [Dart, Majors co-owner] and I will try to make it work,” Chanderdat says. “We’ll make something happen, whether that’s an exhibition schedule or something else … At the end of the day, I want guys playing baseball and they want to play too.”