CLAW MARKS: "It's just a matter of when"

New season, new weekly Baycats column. Claw Marks brings all the latest from Baycats writer Sam Aucoin as he gives his – sometimes biased but always good – thoughts on the latest Baycats news and stories. Here is what’s going on.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Hey, so what happened in the IBL last week? Rain. Rain happened. A lot of it.

Three games on Thursday—postponed. Three games on Friday—postponed. We were about to get our first glimpse at an IBL Finals rematch Thursday night. That hope went away quickly, as it was inevitable the game would be moved.

“It’s tough. We had two games and then almost a week off,” said Rijo. “It’s tough to keep rhythm.”

Saturday’s Junior Baycats Day

There’s nothing better than a Saturday afternoon at Athletic Kulture Stadium. Baseball on the field and a swarm of kids along the first base line—running around, playing catch, testing their skills at the baseball inflatables—patiently waiting to take part in the on-field games so they can stack up Baycats Bucks and buy the latest piece of merchandise. Better save up for one of those hoodies on a day like last Saturday.

But on that day, it was the brand new set of Baycats trading cards the kids were raving about. Even Cool Cat got a card—not numbered, because that would make an uneven 33 in the set. Their addiction was ignited by yet another giveaway at the ballpark. The first 100 kids got a free pack of the cards. Thanks to Baycats photographer Bob Hurley for providing stellar photos for the cards—it made my life easier when making them.

Uncharacteristic Start - It's early

The Baycats, while riding high after last year’s championship, have stumbled a bit to start the 2025 season. While the panic button is nowhere to be found, there’s still a healthy sense of urgency for a team searching for its first win.

“It’s still early, but when is early gonna end?” said Baycats coach—and acting manager for two of Barrie’s first three games—Andrew White. “We’re still kind of finding our identity right now.”

Getting runners on hasn’t necessarily been the issue offensively. But averaging just over three runs per game over the first three doesn’t seem right for a lineup that had 2024 IBL Finals Game One hero Adam Odd batting in the nine spot on Saturday. The fifth-inning double play London starter Travis Keys induced to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam didn’t help either. Still, it's situations like these that make those who follow the Baycats closely think they’re on the verge of breaking out.

“I don’t think we’re being aggressive enough early [in counts], [but] then we get overaggressive in negative counts,” said designated hitter Ryan Rijo. “The strikeouts, chasing bad pitches, leaving good pitches.”

“Trust the process. It’s a long season,” said White. “I think we’ll trend in a better direction moving forward. We’ve got a four-game stretch coming up. I think that’s when we’re really gonna find out what our identity is.”

A four game stretch that starts this Thursday at home (7:35), takes the team to Hamilton on Friday (7:35), drags both teams back to Barrie on Saturday (4:05), then a trip to Kitchener on Sunday (2:00). Plenty of reps, something that may have put the Baycats at a disadvantage having played just three games in two weeks to start the season.

“Baseball is a game of failure,” said shortstop Brandon Hernandez. “I don’t feel any doubt that our guys are gonna pick it up and we’re gonna get going.”

“Vibes are fine,” said Rijo.

“We are a very good baseball team, we just haven’t shown it yet and I know it’s coming,” White said.

Garcés Punches Out 11

Surely Frank Garcés won’t get more than 10 strikeouts in a five-inning relief outing—oh, he did? 11? Why should we even be surprised at this point? Four outs. Only four outs Toronto made against Garcés. The other 11 saw the strikeout signal from home plate umpire Csaba Vegh and a Maple Leaf batter walking back to the third base dugout.

It was the San Cristóbal native’s third-highest strikeout total in a single IBL outing. His most was 15 on August 5th, 2018 in Brantford—a complete game shutout in a 1–0 win. He’s had four 12-strikeout games, all over six innings. So it might be safe to say that his outing on May 15th of this year was his most efficient. Maybe not pretty, but 11 Ks in 15 outs? Unreal.

Rijo’s Hot Start

Maybe all the wedding planning—congrats, Ryan!—during the off-season made a difference in Ryan Rijo’s game. Over the last few years, Rijo has led the Baycats in home runs and has been one of the best and most feared hitters in the IBL. But despite that success, the former Philadelphia Phillies draft pick has historically not had the hottest starts.

“I’ve been notorious for having cold starts,” Rijo said after Saturday’s game against London. “It’s kind of nice to be able to do this [from] the get-go.”

Enter his .455 batting average and a home run last Saturday in Welland, and the 27-year-old’s start to 2025 doesn’t look too bad, does it? Maybe it’s the fact that he was left off the 2025 preseason Top 50 Players list the league put out—not calling anyone out, just saying.

“I’ve just been seeing the ball really well,” he said. “It looks bigger. It looks like a softball coming in.”

Pack the Park #1 On Deck

When you draw in a crowd of nearly 2,000 fans in a 1,500-seat stadium at last year’s Pack the Park, you do it again. And again. How about three times? This Thursday, the Baycats will play the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers in front of what will hopefully be a crowd similar to that of July 18th, 2024.

Zenetec let fans in for free that night and caused what was probably one of the biggest crowds since Game Six of the 2005 IBL Finals—wow, I wasn’t even a year old yet; sorry to make people feel old—where many recall a crowd of around 3,000. Maybe with three Pack the Park games this year, we could see a crowd top 2,000.

Even though Athletic Kulture Stadium seats 1,500, that’s just the bleachers. If you’re a regular at Saturday home games, you know almost half the crowd packs the first base line. Kids race in and out to grab foul balls—you can return those for Baycats Bucks—and play at the inflatables while their parents enjoy a ballgame played by former and future pros.

That tangent was written to convince you that even if a bleacher seat isn’t available, come anyway—especially if you’ve never been. I still think the Baycats and the Intercounty Baseball League fly under the radar. Think about it: instead of paying over $100 for a decent seat at the dome, you can pay $12 and bring your kids for free to see baseball just as entertaining right in our backyards – no travel.

To summarize: come this Thursday. African Night is a new one—or at least a first in a few years. Thanks to NIDO—this in a very good way—for testing the park’s capacity limits. Get your tik—well, it’s free. No tickets.

We’re only getting started!