This is the annual mid-summer celebratory week for baseball, from the majors to summer collegiate ball, where teams and leagues get a breather during the draft and their all-star game breaks and get to take stock of their seasons and the game in general.
The West Coast League, which includes the Victoria HarbourCats and Nanaimo NightOwls, took a big bow to start its all-star break with WCL alumnus Travis Bazzana out of the Corvallis Knights and NCAA Oregon State Beavers going first overall to the Cleveland Guardians in the 2024 MLB draft on Sunday. He was the WCL 2021 MVP and Top Prospect Award winner after slugging a league single-season record .429 and also led the WCL with 46 runs, 81 hits, 112 total bases, five triples and .593 slugging percentage as the Knights won the fifth of their current seven-consecutive WCL titles. That follows fellow Knights-alumnus Adley Rutschman being selected first overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft by the Baltimore Orioles.
Adding to the Bazzana bonanza this year, former WCL Bellingham Bells catcher Malcolm Moore out of Stanford was selected 30th overall in the first round by the Texas Rangers. Former WCL players have been taken in the first round in seven of the last eight years, including former HarbourCats star Andrew Vaughan third overall in 2019 to the Chicago White Sox.
“This is not accidental,” said Jim Swanson, GM of the NightOwls and managing partner of the group that owns both the HarbourCats and NightOwls.
“The universities and colleges entrust us with their players for the summer because we provide a pro-style environment with playing every day and long bus travel that is different than college.”
The HarbourCats selected for the 2024 WCL all-star game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Bellingham, to be broadcast on MLB Network, are infielder Tate Shimao out of the NCAA Division 1 University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, batting .360, and pitcher Carson Cormier from the NCAA Div. 1 TCU Horned Frogs, who sports a 2.25 ERA.
The NightOwls to be playing the WCL all-star game are outfielders Riley Paulino and Wylie Waters, shortstop Nevin Noonan and pitcher Adison Mattix.
The rest of the players will occupy their time during the break this week in exhibition games with the HarbourCats playing the South Island Baseball League All-Stars tonight and the Mavericks League All-Stars on Thursday night, both at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. The NightOwls meet the Nanaimo Selects tonight and Thursday nights at Serauxmen Stadium in the Harbour City before embarking on a six-game WCL road swing through Kamloops and Edmonton beginning Friday.
The HarbourCats (18-18 overall and 4-5 in the chase for the second-half North Division pennant and playoff berth that goes with it) resume league play with a three-game set against the sizzling Ridgefield Raptors (19-16 and 9-0) on Friday night in suburban Vancouver, Washington. The Raptors have won nine consecutive games to start the second half in the WCL South Division.
ON THE DIAMOND: The HarbourCats won the rubber match of their three-game series against the visiting Edmonton Riverhawks (22-14 and 4-5) by a 6-3 count on Sunday afternoon at Royal Athletic Park as Connor Dykstra from NCAA George Mason University hammered a home run for the home side. … The NightOwls (16-20 and 4-5) were beaten 11-1 by the Lefties (11-25 and 5-4) in Port Angeles on Monday afternoon.
