The Sylvan Lake Gulls are just under two months away from opening the 2023 season at Gulls Stadium.
With 16 new players joining the franchise and 14 returning from last year’s squad Gulls fans have plenty to get excited about ahead of the Western Canadian Baseball League season.
Head coach Jason Chatwood said they’re excited about the returnees and feel the team is set up for success this year.
“We’re excited about all the guys and we feel that we brought everybody in for a reason to contribute,” he said.
Many of their key additions were made to the infield including Braeden Cordes from Spokane, Wash. who Chatwood said will bring great defence and could potentially lead at the top of the batting lineup.
Another infielder Jonah Weisner who’s from B.C. but played college baseball in Kansas will play for the Gulls this summer as well as Easton Jones from Brigham Young University. Jones comes from a big baseball family and his father played in Major League Baseball for multiple years.
On the mound, Tyler Boudreau returns– he threw a no-hitter for the Gulls last season. New arms include Carson Angeroth from Utah Tech University, Brady Foster from Gonzaga University and Zac Laird from Niagara University.
Last season the Gulls started bringing in players from the U.S. and this season Chatwood said 17 out of the 30 members of the roster are American.
“We’re happy with the number of some local guys and also some others from throughout Canada,” he said.
“One key thing for us is we’re going to have five high school affiliate players from our St. Joseph Academy. That’s going to be huge for some of those guys that are getting ready to play college but also key players who are able to dress for us when we’re short players.”
Last season the Gulls made it to the West Division Final but lost to the Okotoks Dawgs in a the three-game series. Chatwood explained that the group was special and they hope to build off that success.
“We’re extremely happy with the guys we were able to bring back from that group but we felt we had the opportunity in certain areas to upgrade some positions,” he said.
“Offensively we’re hoping to be a little bit stronger this year than we were last year. Some of that offensive success we’re hoping will come from the guys that are older and a little bit more mature.”
President of the Gulls Aqil Samuel also noted there will be upgrades at Gulls Stadium before the start of the season.
They’ll be adding a new barbecue shack to their concession services which will be located near the fan entrance to the field. They’re also going to add a small bar to the patio.
Samuel is hoping it will alleviate some of the wait times at the concession stands this season.
“It should split off our concession lines and we think that’s going to be a pretty good feat for us to help with the food lineups we’ve had the last couple of years,” he said.
During their playoff run last year, the Gulls were at over capacity for many of their games. When asked if there is any plans for additional seats in the stadium Samuel said there is in their next phase. However, he doesn’t know if that will be in 2023 or 2024.
“We’d like to get that 2,400 seat number in the stadium sooner rather than later but that is a future plan,” he said.
Samuel added the theme of the offseason for the team was to roster more experienced players.
“We’ve had a young team these first couple years and we want to make a run at it with a little bit older and more experienced team,” he said.
“We want to do some damage in the playoffs so the goal is to definitely get to the final.”