U22 ball program shifts to London
The name, city and venue has changed, but the aim is still the same.
The London Juniors have replaced the St. Thomas Tomcats as the premier destination for top local and area ballplayers at the 22-and-under level. The rebranded squad plans on providing the same quality program, only this time during home games Saturday evenings at Labatt Park instead of Emslie Field at Pinafore Park.
"When you put a team together like that, the team goal is always to win the (Ontario) eliminations, go to nationals and get the opportunity to win it,” head coach Mike Lumley said. “As individuals, it's more about giving them the reps they need for college and getting them prepared to go back to school while planning for their (summer) work schedules.
“That's more the start, but then it's to see if they can win a championship.”
The Tomcats, who played at nationals last year, were an institution in St. Thomas and the prime feeder system for the London Majors of the Intercounty Baseball League.
Lumley worked with recent manager Arizona Phoenix, one of his assistants at Western, and administrator Derek Brooks to ensure a seamless transition.
“The biggest thing for us is the whole program is from London to start with and I didn't want to see the junior program go down,” Lumley said. “Arizona had some commitments and sometimes, life gets in the way. You take it as a high-performance AAA level and that's where our (London) Badgers would go to play together. It's a long drive out (to Emslie) and I think that's part of the problem.
“The players are done work and they've got to go to practice at night. So this works out for the London guys. We'll practice at Aldridge (Field) and play at Labatt and there's still that natural progress to the Majors after that.”
London used to have a junior team before it moved to St. Thomas. Though Lumley is entrenched with the Badgers youth program, the team chose the name Juniors to make it more approachable for players from other local and area organizations.
“We wanted talented guys moving up from around the city that are good and want to play at that level to feel that this is where they want to go to,” Lumley said. "The roster is mainly London and area. Why take an equal player from somewhere else if you already have them here? I know I can put them on the field now, even between the four age groups (19 to 22), and they've grown up with this. It makes things far easier than trying to pull half a team from somewhere else instead of being loyal to the players who came up through the city.”
Lumley will continue to coach the 18U Badgers and doesn't foresee many scheduling conflicts. He has been in contact with Majors co-owner and manager Roop Chanderdat about continuing to provide affiliate players.
“It's the Majors show and we're supporting what they're doing,” Lumley said. “We want to develop guys to be prepared to play at that level and once they show they can play there, it's a good marriage.”