The Majors are back — retooled and ready to roll

It’s a new team and a new season. The Majors, defending IBL champs, have their share of returnees in 2022, but it’s the new faces who may hold the keys to success this summer.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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If last year’s shortened season was a sprint, this year will be more of a marathon – albeit with a series of sprints.

The London Majors, defending Intercounty Baseball League champions, will play a 42-game schedule this summer before embarking on a playoff run into September. It’s an expanded schedule that will make for a busy summer – particularly on weekends. On 10 separate occasions, the Majors will play a Friday-Saturday-Sunday trifecta.

That means they’ll need pitching. Fortunately, the club has returned both members of its 1-2 punch from last season, Owen Boon and Pedro De Los Santos. The former a right-hander, the latter a lefty, and both with completely different styles, the pair led the Majors to a league pennant last summer. Boon led the IBL in wins (8) and strikeouts (66), while De Los Santos was tops in ERA (2.19).

But after that, for most of the season, London was challenged to fill innings, without a traditional third or fourth starting pitcher (Braeden Ferrington, who also returns in 2022, was a godsend out of the bullpen, and he pitched to a pristine 0.86 ERA in 31 1/3 innings).

With an expanded schedule, and those three-games-in-three-days stretches, they won’t be able to get away with that again.

“My goal in the offseason was to add some depth to our pitching and address that, and I think we’ve done that,” said Roop Chanderdat, the Majors’ GM and manager. “We’ll have 10 (pitchers), and 10 are going to pitch because there’s going to be lots of innings.”

After Boon and De Los Santos, new starting arms this year include Cesar Cabral and Jose Arias, a pair of import players. Cabral, a native of the Dominican Republic, spent parts of 10 seasons in the affiliated minor leagues with various organizations, primarily as a reliever. The 33-year-old left-hander even reached the big-league level for a handful of appearances for the New York Yankees, back in 2013 and 2014, and the Baltimore Orioles, in 2015.

Arias, 31, also pitched in affiliated ball, primarily within the Chicago Cubs organization. A right-hander, he’s been playing in the Dominican League in recent years.

“It’s a good league, but they don’t get many innings because there’s big leaguers there,” said Chanderdat. “He’s a guy that wants to get back to it. He wants to get back to Mexico or another paying pro league, and I like guys like that. He’s a hard worker and a good character guy.”

Another potential starter could be Fernando Fernandez, a 27-year-old left-hander with some pro experience, having spent time in the Independent Can-Am League. The Quebec-born hurler also has IBL experience under his belt, having pitched for the Guelph Royals back in 2019.

Those are five solid arms. Then there’s the versatile Ferrington, as well as newcomers Bo Lewington, a 28-year-old Calgary, AB native, and Daniel Gore, a 24-year-old righty from Tecumseh, ON. And local arms Jaryd Lund, Jordan Spring and Connor Ambrogio.

Chanderdat says he’s more focused on his pitchers providing quality innings, and not pigeonholing them into specific roles.

“Who starts, who finishes, who does what, that’ll kind of get worked out in the wash as we go along,” the manager said. “It’s more or less who’s going to get me wins. (A starting rotation) will kind of be a work in progress. Some of these guys have work commitments, so you might see Boon out of the pen once in awhile, or you might see Pedro, Cabral, Arias out of the pen.”

On offense, the Majors plan to play, well, Majors baseball – nothing flashy, fundamental baseball, manufacturing runs and getting timely hits. It’s a style Chanderdat’s teams have featured for years.

The key additions are catcher Robert Mullen and third baseman Taylor Wright. They’ll be inserted into the starting lineup immediately, and Chanderdat hopes they’ll provide both pop and on-base skills.

Mullen, 25, was the priority add, as last year’s catcher, Hayden Jaco, decided to move on to other commitments – and seek a surgical procedure on his knee. If he had returned, it wouldn’t have been at catcher anyway. Mullen, a native or Panama, is another of the Majors’ four import players, and he also spent time in affiliated ball (Oakland Athletics).

“Knowing we didn’t have our catcher back, I had to shore that up right away. It’s huge, especially since we’ve added to the pitching staff,” said Chanderdat. “Mullen is a classic catcher, he’s good defensively, he can throw, and he’ll work well with our pitching staff. And he’s got a bit of pop.”

And Wright? He’s a former Division I player (University of Maryland) who batted .290 in his senior season, with the fourth-most doubles in a single season in Terps history. The North Vancouver, BC native batted third and started all 58 games at third base.

“He was signed to play in the Frontier League and then, because of COVID, he didn’t get the chance. Now he’s got to put up some numbers to get back there,” said Chanderdat. “He’s going to play third base, but he’ll get some reps at short, too.”

Wright will slide over when the Majors’ everyday shortstop, Keith Kandel, moves to centrefield for a game. Or when Chris McQueen, London’s second baseman, does the same, and Kandel slides over to second. The return of the Majors’ middle infield duo is certainly a plus, and will make the team strong defensively up the middle.

While not a newcomer, Chanderdat views another player as an ‘addition’ this year – in that, he believes the youngster is ready to take a big step forward. That’s Austin Wilkie, who more than held his own in 27 regular season games last year, batting .303 with a homer and 14 RBIs – and then enjoyed an even better postseason.

“I think he’s going to have a breakout year,” Chanderdat said. “I see tremendous upside in this kid, and I saw it last year in the finals. He had some really good at-bats and had a really good playoffs. It’s almost like having a new player. He’s a different player now.”

Wilkie will man centre, while newcomer Starling Joseph, serving as the Majors’ fourth import player, will play right field. He spent five seasons in the minor leagues with the Texas Rangers organization. Left field will be open for competition, including by local player Drew Lawrence and fellow newcomer Phil Whelan. Or perhaps Evan Symons, or utility man Gibson Krzeminski, when he joins the team following his NCAA season. There are options.

The loss of Byron Reichstein, who has moved on to pursue other commitments, will certainly be felt, as the 2021 IBL finals MVP was not only the team’s top hitter but also a strong right fielder who could also play first base (third baseman Carlos Arteaga and outfielder Humberto Ruiz are also not back from the 2021 team). But Chanderdat is confident this year’s Majors roster can fill the gaps with versatile players.

“We’re going to be a team with a lot of guys who can play all over. I got guys who can play multiple positions – and play them well.”

So, sort of like the Tampa Bay Rays model?

“You know what, they’re not a bad team to be like,” the manager said. “They got good pitching, play defense … they play some exciting ball.”

Another versatile player on the roster is Kieran Bowles, who will play first base but also serve as the backup catcher.

“He intrigues me,” Chanderdat said. “He’s been injured a bit, but every time when he gets limited at bats, he puts up numbers. He keeps landing on his feet.”

Another candidate to play first base is Daniel Perrier, a 6-foot-9 Ottawa, ON native. And the starting designated hitter? That’ll be manned by Cleveland Brownlee, of course, the long-time veteran who returns for his 12th season in the Majors pinstripes. In a team-high 111 at-bats last year, Brownlee swatted seven homers and drove in 21 runs.

“We’re going to be quite a different team, but it’s good to see we’re not rebuilding. There's no such thing. We’re just retooling,” Chanderdat said. “And our game hasn’t changed. We did the same thing last year. We were a good defensive team, we pitched well, and we were opportunistic offensively. And we’re going to do the same thing.

“Do we have enough hitters? I don’t know. But there are enough pieces there to put a good competitive team on the field. And I’m excited to see how I can put those puzzle pieces together.”