Trio of lefties good news for Mavs’ staff
One of the weirdest things about last year’s Medicine Hat Mavericks was their lack of left-handed pitching.
With exactly zero southpaws on the staff, opposing teams could load up their batting orders without having to worry about matchup problems.
That shouldn’t be an issue this summer.
“I at least want one or two, and we were thankful to have three (lefties),” said assistant coach Kyle Swannack, who plans at least one to be in the starting rotation. “I’m excited to have that staff. We’ve got some competitors that are hungry.”
Swannack said he’ll send Michael Carr to the mound in the team’s second game of the season Saturday in Okotoks. Left-fielder Andrew Carter can double as a hurler, while Taylor Wilson rounds out the trio of lefties.
It’s a relief for returnees Jared Libke and Talon Kunkel, who dealt with Western Major Baseball League teams using the situation against them — and that was before injury problems forced an increased workload on the staff as well.
“I assumed we’d have a few. I was really surprised last year we didn’t have any (lefties),” said Libke, a Saskatoon righthander who just finished his sophomore season at Arkansas-Monticello. “I think it was Okotoks, they loaded their starting nine lefties against me.
“You had guys who had good splits against lefties, but there was no ‘there’s no way a lefty could hit this pitch.’”
Regardless, Libke went 9-3 including playoffs with a 2.56 earned run average. The workhorse of the team will start Monday’s home opener against Lethbridge and would be happy to eat up innings again, though Swannack feels there won’t necessarily be pressure to do so.
“It’s tremendous, that’s why we gave him the home opener to start,” said Swannack of Libke, whose long blonde locks make him easy to spot. “With longer hair we get to bring him back, he’s ready to rock and roll.”
Along with being a steady hand and helping the newcomers to the league adjust this week, Libke is as excited as any of them for the season to begin. After a surprise semifinal series loss to Edmonton, the Mavericks have every intention of ending this summer on a different note.
“After last season and how it ended, being that close to winning a championship I really wanted to come back and finish what we started,” said Libke, who also played three years at PBA in Lethbridge. “It was a super easy decision for me.”
It was an easy choice for Carr too, though for different reasons. After a 7-1 sophomore season at Saddleback College in California, incoming Mavs head coach Michael Thompson recruited him to come play at Vanguard University (where Thompson is an assistant). Carr eventually chose Missouri Baptist for this fall, but Thompson then asked if a summer in Canada might appeal to him.
“I was like ‘I want to get out of California, so let’s do it,’” said Carr, whose fastball has been clocked in the mid-80 mile per hour range. “I’m not going to live at home anymore, going to Missouri next year, so I’m trying to get used to not having my parents around. Living in a different environment, different kind of people, different everything.”
So far, so good. While a lot can change in a hurry, as last year’s injury-plagued pitching staff found out, the balanced bullpen and plenty of ready arms bodes well.
Swannack said right-hander Aaron Gardner will get the start on opening day Friday in Okotoks.