By Remy Greer
Staff Reporter
The Okotoks Dawgs are hoping wholesale changes on the mound will do them good.
Fans of the Dawgs will need their programs handy this year as the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) team performed a complete overhaul of the pitching rotation with no returning hurlers from the 2012 season.
The reconstruction of the Dawgs’ staff was by design.
Head coach AJ Fystro said the dedicated Okotoks faithful deserved to see a different version of the summer league team after underwhelming to a first-round playoff exit last season.
“I feed off and appreciate the support this community gives this team and these kids. The last two years haven’t gone well and they deserve something special,” Fystro said. “The last thing we wanted to do was have them walk into the park and see a ton of familiar faces and start wondering from day one ‘is this going to be the same as it has been.’
“I think there’s some excitement about it,” he added. “There’s a lot of faces that know nothing about this town, they hear about, they see the pictures, they’re excited.”
Franklin College freshman pitcher Hayden Cleveland will tell you plainly Okotoks is in a different stratosphere from his hometown of Speedway, Indiana, just a stone’s throw from the Indianapolis 500 racetrack.
“I really know nothing about the town,” a forthright Cleveland said about Okotoks. “I know they’ve won the league four times and are always expecting to compete and that it’s run like a regular major-minor team would be run.”
The six-foot-two southpaw doesn’t fit into the command or power pitcher paradigm. Cleveland’s forte is merely keeping hitters off balance between his mid 80s fastball and changeup with a steady diet of slider and curveball.
Cleveland started nine games for the Franklin College Grizzlies posting a 4-4 record, and 4.02 ERA in 69.1 innings. After setting a school record with 15 punch-outs in a 5-0 win over Mount St. Joseph in April, the 19-year-old is looking to parlay the momentum into a spot in the Dawgs’ rotation.
“It being a whole new staff is something I’m looking forward to because the coach is going to have an open mind with the pitching staff,” Cleveland said. “I know that wherever I’m placed is going to be a fair opinion.”
Eastern Michigan University junior Paul Schaak echoed the sentiment, noting the thrilling opportunity all the pitchers have in joining the Dawgs.
“Everyone is going to be fighting to get a lot of innings and guys will be stepping up left and right,” Schaak said. “I hope to be one of those guys.
“It’s exciting because everyone has a fresh slate and comes in with not really any expectation, but just hoping to do well.”
The Winkler, MB native was set to join the Dawgs two summers ago, but a back injury forced him to the sidelines. After playing summer ball with the St. Cloud Rox of the Northwoods League last year, Schaak can’t wait to finally show off his arsenal on the mound in Okotoks.
“I definitely rely on my control, I can throw three pitches for strikes pretty consistently,” said Schaak, who mixes in a two-seam fastball, changeup and slurveball. “I’ve been known not to walk guys and I don’t beat myself.”
The Division I Eastern Michigan Eagles had a disappointing season and missed out on the Mid-American Conference tournament. However, for Schaak it was a year of increased responsibility as a staple in the rotation, posting a 3-4 record and 5.46 ERA in 11 starts.
“I’ve shown improvement every year and hope to do that over the summer as well,” Schaak said. “My velocity (mid 80s) hasn’t really improved, but that’s something I hope to work on this summer at the facilities and that’s definitely why I chose Okotoks.”
The starting rotation should feature Canadian hurlers Schaak and Carsen Nylund as well as Cleveland and Minnesota State College product Peter Gaustad, who can hit the radar gun at 87 to 90 miles per hour.
“We can narrow it down to four or five guys,” Fystro said of the rotation. “And from there we’ll rotate them throughout the year and find out who the number one is.”
Dawgs closer Matt Thornton’s return to the team for a third season was scrapped due to injury, removing the only incumbent hurler from the 2012 roster.
“We feel that we’ve built something really strong here,” Fystro said.
“That’s a lot of guys that are starters and we’ve built something at the back-end where we’ve got some matchup guys, some lefthanders who have phenomenal numbers as relievers.”
In the absence of the hard-throwing stopper a closer by committee system will play out in Okotoks with lefties Dominic Porretta, Codi Scanlon along with righties Ben Manley and Jamie Wilson expected to compete for save situations.
How they’re utilized will be based on performance.
“All these guys are new to me and I think that’s exciting as well even for the returning guys because they’re thinking it’s not the same old,” Fystro said. “It’s going to be a little different.”
The Dawgs host their annual Fanfest event on May 30. The exhibition contest between the J-Dawgs Academy and Dawgs collegiate team starts at 7:05 p.m. at Seaman Stadium. Tickets are free, though fans are asked to make a donation to the Dawgs Academy.
Okotoks opens its 2013 Western Major Baseball campaign on June 1 in Lethbridge. Okotoks’ home opener is Friday June 7 versus the Edmonton Prospects at 7:05 p.m. at Seaman Stadium.
For the full Dawgs schedule go to dawgsbaseball.ca
