The singer called Meat Loaf once declared that “two out of three ain’t bad,” and in the world of baseball that ratio is usually actually pretty darn good.
The North Shore Twins have ridden that formula to a fast start in the B.C. Premier Baseball League, settling near the top of the standings following an opening month that has been continually disrupted by rain.
“Our pitching has been good, our defence has been real good,” said general manager Rick Elstone. “The hitting is not there yet by any stretch. … It’s early. We know we’ve got some work to do there. A lot of work to do there.”
The bats have been drowned out by another sloppy spring of North Shore weather, said Elstone, as regular rain has prevented the Twins from finding their rhythm at the plate. Even the team’s annual pre-season trip down south provided just lukewarm results, as the team played at a Perfect Game tournament in 6 °C weather in unseasonably chilly Georgia.
“Beautiful facilities, but a lot colder than we thought,” said Elstone with a laugh, adding that things have only gotten worse back in British Columbia. “We’ve had a tough time practising outside. Inside doesn’t really do it – you can bat in cages inside as much as you like and it still doesn’t translate to live pitching outside. … There’s been so much rain. We haven’t been to Parkgate (Park) much at all. I think once we can get outside on a regular basis and get a lot of swings in, I think the guys will be fine.”
Despite the soggy bats, the results have been fine for the most part so far this season. The Twins made the semifinals of the annual Best of the West tournament in Kamloops and have posted a 6-2 record in BCPBL play so far. Pitching has played a big part in that production, with players like Cole Dalla-Zanna, Robert Mackie and Declan Dutton keeping opposing hitters in check. Twins head coach Brooks McNiven has a strong pitching pedigree himself and it appears to be rubbing off on his young charges.
“From a pitching point of view I think we’re looking pretty good,” said Elstone. “We’ve got a couple young arms who will take a little bit before they get accustomed to premier hitting. The hitters up here are much better than what they’ve seen.”
The arms should be able to flex even more when the Twins get back two of their frontline starters in Sam Shoemaker and Jack DeCooman, both of whom were tapped for Junior National Team duty at the start of the season. Shoemaker hasn’t been able to get in any action due to an arm injury but DeCooman has been sharp for Team Canada during a training camp and series of games against MLB rookie teams in Florida. DeCooman, a tall lefty from North Vancouver, is on the radar for June’s Major League Baseball draft and should be the ace of the Twins staff when he returns, said Elstone.
“He’s bigger than he was last year,” he said. “He’s got a lot more muscle this year than he had. We don’t see him much with this Team Canada thing because they’re gone every four weeks. … (But) you can see why the Major League teams would be looking at a six-foot-five lefthander.”
As for the other side of the plate, the offence has been carried by Seycove Secondary student Marshall Hogan.
“We’ve got one guy who is red hot,” said Elstone. “He’s pounding the ball.”
The Twins will also be looking for big things from veteran leader Steve Moretto, who plays shortstop and hits in the middle of the lineup.
“He’s had a couple of years of experience and he’s fairly vocal,” said Elstone. “Guys like that are the guys that are going to push the team to meet their potential.”
Another key cog will be catcher Noah Or, a Richmond native who previously played for the North Delta Blue Jays.
“He looks like he can play,” said Elstone. “He’s quick, he’s a good receiver, he hits the ball, he’s fast. He’s got baseball smarts. I think this kid is gonna do a really nice job for us this year.”
An athletic defence has been anchored by Moretto up the middle as well as Ryan Baker flashing the leather at first base, said Elstone. The lineup includes several players from last year’s junior Twins team that won the provincial title. The club’s bantam team, youngest of the three Twins teams and coached by Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer John Haar, is also coming off a strong year that saw them win the Western Canadian championships.
“We’ve got a couple of junior guys who have walked into starting positions (on the senior team),” said Elstone. “With John down there, they’ll learn the game. We think we’ve got a pretty good pipeline in terms of the three levels.”
The Twins are hoping the bats heat up right along with the weather as they are in the midst of a mini home stand that started with a game against the Coquitlam Reds Thursday, continued this weekend with a Saturday doubleheader against the Victoria Mariners, and ends Tuesday with another matchup against the Reds. All games are, of course, weather permitting.
Last year the senior Twins put together a strong regular season before bowing out in the provincial semifinals. They’re hoping to replicate that success this year and take it a step further come playoff time.
“We’ll be contenders,” said Elstone without making any predictions about the team’s ultimate ceiling. “I’ll be cautious about this because you never know. Last year we were leading the league for most of the year and then kind of swooned at the end, ran out of gas. We don’t want to do that again, but I think we’ll be contenders again.”
