The Sylvan Lake Gulls have been hard at work on multiple fronts getting ready for the 2021 Western Canadian Baseball League season.
The stadium is progressing and now has most of the turf down, while off the field, the club also reached another milestone.
Thursday, they signed four players to the franchises’ first-ever contracts.
“It was a big moment for us, with everything else going on right now,” said the president of baseball operations and GM Aquil Samuel.
They signed two pitchers, Jack Moffit and Nico Zeglin, as well as infielders Anthony Garrett and Alex Zerfass. Garrett, a shortstop is expected to shore up the defense in the middle of the field and Zerfass projects to be a big RBI-guy for the club.
Moffit is a big left-handed pitcher with a good curveball and Zeglin is a California product, who had 56 strikeouts and 25 walks in 15 appearances last year with San Mateo College in the California College Baseball Coaches Association. Both pitchers are projectable talents with big arms, Samuel said.
All four of the new additions are also coming from Gonzaga University Bulldogs pipeline, where Gulls head coach Jason Chatwood played two seasons.
Samuel said those connections were critical to getting the new group to commit to Sylvan Lake.
“Jason has bought right in and we hope these signings set the tone for things to come,” he said.
With the turf nearly 100 per cent finished, the concrete section where the concessions will go is expected to be installed over the next few weeks.
The team website, which went live Friday with merchandise, has already sold out of New Era team hats over the weekend. Samuel hopes they have a fresh stock ready to ship out for fans in time for Christmas. For more info on merchandise, check out sylvanlakegulls.com.