But What Do I Know? . . . Owen Caissie, Nick Pivetta, Matt Stairs, John Mayberry

February 18, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week:

-Canadian outfield prospect Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) has been invited to Chicago Cubs big league camp this spring. He told Matt Betts, in the latest episode of the Canadian Baseball Network podcast, that he believes he’s ready to play in the big leagues. “I felt ready last year,” Caissie told Betts. The 21-year-old slugger said he first felt ready in last year’s World Baseball Classic. “In the WBC, I felt like I could do it. It’s just all mental and I’m still figuring that out now. People may say I’m not ready, but in my mind, I feel like I am,” said Caissie. After starting 2023 with a home run and four RBIs in three games for Canada at the World Baseball Classic in March, Caissie enjoyed a breakout season with the Cubs’ double-A Tennessee Smokies. In 120 games, he batted .289 with 22 home runs and 84 RBIs. He also had a .399 on-base percentage (OBP) and a .918 OPS. For his efforts, he was named the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, Cubs’ Hitting Prospect of the Year by MLB Pipeline and was the recipient of Baseball Canada’s Canadian Futures Award, presented by the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).

–Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C.) is taking on more of a leadership role with the Boston Red Sox this season. He is serving as the team’s players association representative. The veteran right-hander, who turned 31 on Valentine’s Day, made 38 appearances (16 starts) for the Red Sox in 2023. He tied his career-best with 10 wins and topped Canadian big league hurlers in innings pitched (142 2/3), strikeouts (183) and WAR (2.4). His 4.04 ERA was the lowest of any season in his career. He hopes to improve on those numbers in 2024. “The biggest thing is just consistency,” Pivetta told a scrum of reporters on Wednesday. “It’s honing in my mechanics, making sure I’m competing with all my pitches, making sure my velocity is where it needs to be at, and always pushing the envelope in the gym and trying to get faster and stronger, and also recovering. Staying healthy is a huge thing.”

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–Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, B.C.) will be part of the Toronto Blue Jays squad that will compete in Major League Baseball’s inaugural Spring Breakout games, a series of contests that will feature the top prospects from each big league team. The Blue Jays will play against a team of New York Yankees prospects at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. on March 16. Palmeigiani is in the Blue Jays’ major league camp this spring. In 2023, he batted a combined .255 with 23 home runs and 93 RBIs in 128 games between double-A New Hampshire and triple-A Buffalo. He then boosted his stock with a stellar performance with the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League (AFL). In 22 games, the 23-year-old infielder batted .263 with six home runs and 21 RBIs. He also belted 22 home runs in the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game and helped the team to an AFL championship. Born in Caracas, Ven., Palmegiani grew up in Surrey, B.C. before honing his skills at the Vauxhall Academy in Lethbridge, Alta. He was selected in the 14th round of the 2021 MLB draft by the Blue Jays.

-On this date 30 years ago, the Red Sox acquired Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.), along with right-hander Pete Smith, from the Montreal Expos in exchange for cash considerations. After being signed as an amateur free agent by the Expos in 1989, Stairs spent parts of five seasons in their organization but played just 19 contests at the big level in 1992 and 1993. After landing with the Red Sox, Stairs toiled with the club’s double-A affiliate in New Britain in 1994, batting .309 with nine home runs in 93 games. He’d suit up for 39 games with the Red Sox in 1995, but his big league career didn’t take off until he was signed by the Oakland A’s following that season.

-Congratulations to John Haar who had his No. 6 retired by the B.C. Premier Baseball League’s North Shore Twins on Tuesday. The longtime coach, who turned 80 last November, remains the director of baseball operations and player development for the Twins. A 2007 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, Haar is a former three-sport star at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is the only athlete in the school’s history to have an opportunity to play professionally in three sports. Primarily an infielder as a youngster, Haar was converted into an outfielder while toiling in the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees organizations. After reaching the double-A level as a player, Haar embarked on a successful coaching career. His first high profile assignment came as an assistant with Canada in the Pan Am Games in Mexico City in 1975. Impressed with Haar’s work ethic, Canada hired him as its manager in 1986. It was also in 1986 that Baseball Canada established the National Baseball Institute (NBI), which enabled top Canadian players to attend any post-secondary school while practicing and playing together in Vancouver. Haar was the NBI manager for its entire 14-year existence. Haar’s defining moment as a coach came in 1991 when he guided the Junior National Team to their first and only international gold medal. That team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

-Twenty-five years ago today, Blue Jays general manager Gord Ash (Toronto, Ont.) completed a deal that sent Roger Clemens to the Yankees for left-handers David Wells and Graeme Lloyd, as well as infielder Homer Bush. After two Cy Young Award-winning seasons, Clemens exercised a handshake “escape clause” he had with the club to force a trade out of Toronto. Clemens went on to pitch five seasons with the Yankees and win two World Series rings and his sixth Cy Young Award in 2001. An unhappy Wells, meanwhile, racked up 17 and 20 victories for the Blue Jays in 1999 and 2000 respectively, while Lloyd posted a 3.63 ERA in 74 relief appearances in 1999. Bush became the Blue Jays’ starting second baseman and batted .320 and swiped 32 bases in 128 contests in 1999 before being slowed by injuries.

-Former Blue Jays slugger Adam Lind has been hired as the hitting coach of the Philadelphia Phillies’ High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws. This will be Lind’s first professional coaching job. During his 12-season playing career that ended after the 2017 campaign, he batted .272 and belted 200 home runs in 1,344 games. The left-handed hitting slugger socked 146 of his home runs in his nine seasons with the Blue Jays. He finished his playing career with stints with the Milwaukee Brewers (2015), Seattle Mariners (2016) and Washington Nationals (2017).

Test your knowledge by buying the Toronto Blue Jays Ultimate Trivia Book here!

-Happy 75th Birthday to former Blue Jay John Mayberry! The 6-foot-3 first baseman played parts of five seasons with the Blue Jays from 1978 to 1982. In 1980, he became the first Blue Jays player to hit 30 home runs in a season. Today, with the benefit of advanced statistics, we can appreciate just how good Mayberry was on those early Blue Jays teams. In 1979, for example, Mayberry had a slash line of .274/.372/.461 and he belted 21 home runs and had more walks (69) than strikeouts (60). In total, in his half decade with the Blue Jays, Mayberry posted a .352 OBP and a .450 slugging percentage and registered more walks (257) than strikeouts (247).

-Who was the first player the Montreal Expos selected in the 1968 MLB Expansion Draft? The answer is outfielder Manny Mota from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He turns 86 today. Primarily a centre fielder with the Expos, Mota batted .315 in 31 games for the club before he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, along with Maury Wills, on June 11, 1969 for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich. Mota garnered a reputation as one of the best pinch-hitters in major league history. He completed his career with a .304 batting average in 1,536 games in parts of 20 seasons.

-Three years ago today, James Paxton (Ladner, B.C.) re-signed with the Seattle Mariners, the team he spent six seasons with at the beginning of his career. It was a one-year, $8.5-million contract. Unfortunately, he recorded just four outs in his first regular season start in 2021 before having to undergo Tommy John surgery. That surgery and other injuries caused him to miss nearly two full seasons. Paxton signed with the Red Sox prior to the 2022 season but didn’t make his first regular season start with them until May 12, 2023. He proceeded to go 7-5 with a 4.50 ERA with 101 strikeouts in 96 innings. The 35-year-old lefty recently signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers that will guarantee him $7 million. A North Delta Blue Jays and Junior National Team alum, Paxton has pitched in parts of 10 major league campaigns and owns a 64-38 record and a 3.69 ERA in 156 starts.

-This week’s trivia question: Who was the first pitcher taken by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 MLB Expansion draft? Please provide your answer in the “Comments” section below.

-The answer to last week’s trivia question (Who has the most major league wins by a pitcher born in Saskatchewan?) was Reggie Cleveland (Swift Current, Sask.), who recorded 105 major league wins.

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