For years, Delta’s top Bantam age baseball talent had to leave the city to continue their careers at the highest level.
Now the province’s two organizations will have Delta-based teams starting this fall.
The Blue Jays of the B.C. Premier Baseball League have announced they will be entering the BCPBL Bantam Prep League for the 2019 season.
The Delta Blue Jays will be training and playing games in the north and south ends of the city.
It all starts with Fall Ball in September with two scheduled mid-week practices at Cromie Park in Ladner, a pitching development session with the Jays’ senior and junior teams at Mackie Park in North Delta, along with weekend games and tournaments.
A parent information meeting will take place Tuesday, Aug. 28 (7 p.m.) at Mackie.
This latest development is part of what has become separate development paths between B.C. Minor and B.C. Premier.
When the Delta Tigers Bantam program was launched in 2015, their graduating talent typically ended up with the Blue Jays. It was a route that had been travelled prior to the Tigers’ arrival by such players as Ladner native and Seattle Mariners pitcher James Paxton.
The Tigers have been a dominant force since their inception and earlier announced their program will expand next season to be part of B.C. Minor’s College Prep Division for midget age players.
That left the Blue Jays little choice but to launch their own Bantam Prep team, especially after B.C. Premier ended another potential talent stream.
“Everyone had a Bantam Prep team except us because things worked well with the Tigers,” explained Blue Jays general manager Gerry White. “The kids that had left our catchment area to play Bantam Prep had to come back to us as well.
“This year, PBL decided we had two years to get a team in and didn’t so those kids no longer had to come back here. My hands were kind of tied.”
White admitted he proposed a potential high performance program that would include the Tigers’ two Bantam teams operating in both the B.C. Premier and B.C. Minor leagues.
Preliminary discussions ended when it became clear a program involving both provincial organizations wasn’t going to work and the Tigers’ proceeded with a College Prep team.
“It’s unfortunate. I know they run a good program. Maybe we can still work together one day. I’m open to it,” added White.
Instead, the focus will be getting the Delta Jays ready for their inaugural season in what’s become a highly competitive BCPBL Bantam Prep League in a short period of time. Eight of the 10 teams at Baseball B.C.’s recent provincial championships were from the PBL with rivals North Shore and Langley meeting in the final.
The team will be coached by Trevor Lishanko and his assistant Ricky Alvernaz. They both played collegiately at Mayville State University. Former Canadian Junior National Team member Luke Manuel has been named pitching coach, while Jack Thompson is the hitting coach.
Players born in 2004 and 2005 are eligible for Bantam Prep. The Blue Jays catchment area includes Ladner, Tsawwassen, North Delta, Richmond, New West, Burnaby, Cloverdale and South Vancouver.
