THE AA-TEAM
Vladdy, Bo, Cavan, Romano, Schneider — they all bonded on the legendary 2018 double-a Fisher Cats. Now they're bringing it to the big league as superstars with the Blue Jays
They are in a different baseball life stage now — John Schneider in the early days of his second full season as Blue Jays manager, and Gil Kim the team's spring training lieutenant, field co-ordinator and director of player development. Back in 2018, they were two of the men directly responsible for assembling, then steering, one of the most star-studded minor league teams in franchise history.
Tucked away in remote Manchester, N.H., at quaint but spartan Delta Dental Stadium, the double-a Fisher Cats were about to launch a devastating offensive assault that led to an Eastern League championship.
There was Vlad Guerrero Jr., whose batting average topped .400 for so much of the season that he finally had to be promoted to triple-a Buffalo in late summer.
There was the ultraserious and supremely driven Bo Bichette, who had just exited his teenage years and continued his ascent to eventually become one of the most influential players on the current incarnation of the big-league Jays.
There was Cavan Biggio, whose breakthrough season not only earned him Eastern League MVP honours but propelled him closer to Bichette and Guerrero in the fraternity of Jays prospects who are offspring of accomplished major-leaguers.
And there was more: The closer of today, Jordan Romano, was an at-times struggling starter, while utility man Santiago Espinal — who was traded to Cincinnati on March 20— and now-former Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. were on their own journeys to become impact players in the big leagues.
“We joked it was like we were a boy band with these young superstars and sons of fathers who were famous baseball players,” Schneider said in a recent interview at the Jays player development complex in Florida.
“There was a lot of media following for a double-a minor league team, and that taught them how to handle a different type of exposure and pressure. There was always something going on. The guys handled it really well.
“Even on the road, people following our buses, people being at our hotels at three in the morning to get an autograph. It was not the normal minor leagues at all.” No, it most certainly was not.
In his role, Kim made regular trips to New Hampshire to monitor those valuable organizational assets and was in daily contact with Schneider, who was already identified by the organization as one of its top coaches and managers. That career arc — and the success he had steering the young studs through their prospect years — eventually landed him the big-league managerial job in 2022.
“There was a lot of trust in the manager and that staff that was there, and that made it very easy,” Kim said. “There were times when we'd allow ourselves to have the conversation that the 2023 or 2024 Blue Jays championship was depending on this right now.
“There is detail and focus and passion and the drive that sometimes can get lost when you are in the minor leagues. And we channelled that focus into what we were doing each day with (the thought) it would hopefully impact a World Series championship in Toronto down the road.”
What followed was a season many in the Jays organization acknowledge cemented the groundwork for establishing the franchise as one with a bright future.
On their way to a 76-62 regular-season record, the Jays' precocious prospects mashed a league-leading 706 runs, 41 more than their closest pursuer.
Biggio was named rookie of the year and MVP, the latter a title that would surely have been Guerrero's if he wasn't promoted with close to two months remaining.
Schneider was named manager of the year, and after a 6-0 run through the abbreviated post-season, the Cats clinched an Eastern League title with a victory over the Akron Rubberducks.
“It was a year that we really found out more about ourselves individually and as baseball players,” Biggio said. “From the get-go, that team was obviously very special.
“It was fun going out there knowing that we were the better team and knowing that we were going out there and not just try to beat you, but put up a lot of runs and beat you pretty bad. Whether it was me, or Bo, or Vladdy, we knew we had the right players and the better team.
“We had a great group of guys and it was the beginning of our journey.”
And it was a chapter that brings a flood of fond memories to those on the front lines, recollections they share with enthusiasm six years later as they embark on another season in a much grander, higher-stakes baseball playground.
VLAD GUERRERO JR. THE SUPERSTAR
By midsummer, Vlad Guerrero Jr. was hitting .433 through 46 games and was the talk of the baseball world. The third-ranked prospect in all of baseball at the time, trailing only Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna — who each had already been promoted to the big leagues by the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves, respectively — was must-watch with his every move.
“I remember I would never miss a Vladdy swing,” says Romano, the Canadian closer from Markham, Ont. “You had to be engaged because there was always the possibility that he was going to do something you'd never seen before.
“Honestly? I'd describe it as it was like he was playing slopitch or softball. I'm not joking. He was hitting over .400 and whenever he did get out it felt like it was a 110-mile-an-hour line drive to someone. It was just absolutely incredible.”
As the season went along, the Vladdy viral moments stacked up.
There was the night Guerrero belted a home run off the Hilton Hotel in centre field at Delta Dental Stadium. There was the time he used a 40-ounce bat just to challenge himself, or when a television crew caught him hitting home runs off a tee, a precursor to his starring role in future MLB Home Run Derbies.
“He was doing things at the time that were otherworldly,” Schneider said. “It was kind of like what we saw in 2021 (when Guerrero led the majors with 48 homers). The day he used that 40-ounce bat? He did it just to challenge himself. That's how good he felt he was at that time.”
With big talent comes the potential of big personality, and the Jays paid attention to managing that side of the Guerrero experience.
“By 2018, Vlad and Bo were on the cover of Baseball America and they were top 15 prospects by every account, so we were learning what it would be like to be constantly followed,” Kim said. “With Vlad getting off to that hot start and hitting .400, it was about being able to control each day so he could continue to focus on getting better, rather than be worried about when he was going to get called up to Triple-a or when he was going to get called up to the big leagues. He did a great job of learning how to work and how to get better.”
Added Schneider: “What I remember is Vlad always had a smile on his face and was working his ass off.”
They may have been kids, but they couldn't allow themselves to peer too deep into the future or risk compromising the immediate phase of their development. They were driven young athletes who, as a group, were well aware of their potential.
“That was the goal for the whole group, to get to the big leagues,” Guerrero said through team interpreter Hector Lebron. “Our mentality was if we can do it here in New Hampshire, we can do it in the big leagues. Now that we are here, we have continued that belief. When you get used to winning, you develop that winning mentality and that helps you bring it to the big leagues ... everything starts there.”
For Guerrero, the success, temporarily derailed by a minor knee injury, was so prolific the Jays brass could no longer keep the shackles on. They promoted him to Buffalo at the end of July. At season's end, he was named Baseball America's minor league player of the year for his work in two stops in the Jays chain. And being in his presence was to be in awe.
“Vladdy doing what he was doing at that time was something that was unbelievable, and we all realized how special he was,” Bichette said. “I mean, we already knew it, but seeing what he was doing was crazy. The numbers were the numbers, but just the consistency of the at-bats — it seemed like the better the pitcher he faced, the better he got. You realized that you were playing with someone who was going to be pretty great.”
JORDAN ROMANO THE FUTURE CLOSER
By no means was Jordan Romano touted among the young stars on that Fisher Cats team. In fact, there were times when it appeared to be the opposite.
Still on the path toward being a starter, the Markham, Ont. native was pitching his way out of the organization — literally.
But that doesn't mean the big-league dream wasn't burning for the right-hander, whose ascent to one of the top closers in the American League has become a personal and organizational success story.
“I feel like being on that 2018 team was such a great opportunity for me, for all of us,” Romano said. “First of all, you are starting in double-a and you can start tasting (the big leagues). And then there was all that talent there. It was the most-hyped team in a long time. Bo. Vladdy. Lourdes. Cavan. And Schneider leading the way. It was just an incredible team.
“I was just grinding trying to stay with them. You could definitely tell — and people watching could tell — that these were going to be the next guys to do it.”
Not all felt that way about Romano back then. He was inconsistent in the starter's role, albeit with flashes of that electric arm that has seen him rise to the most coveted spot in the bullpen.
One teammate is adamant that he saw the future bullpen ace in him, however.
“(The organization) wanted to use him as a starter, but I felt that he could step into a reliever role and (excel),” said second baseman Biggio. “I could see it, just the way he competes and gets focused, that moving to a reliever role he was going to be successful.
“He always had that dog-in-the-fight mentality. He'd give up a homer, and the next pitch would be 97 (miles per hour). He always had that deep down inside of him, and I knew he was going to be successful because of it.”
For Romano, it was going to take some time.
In fact, in December of that same year he was left exposed by the Jays and selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Texas Rangers. After a brief stint in spring training, he was released, and the Jays brought him back.
At that point, the shift was made from starter to reliever and Romano's career trajectory took a rocket-ship ride in another direction.
“Developmentally, you want to give a guy every opportunity to be a starter and Jordan was finding his way,” Kim said. “But there were always some positives. His work ethic. His drive. His intelligence. A really strong arm and his athleticism. He's one of the better athletes in our organization and we were betting on that.
“Should we have pushed (to move him to a reliever role) earlier? Hindsight is easy. But we knew with Jordan we were getting a competitor, an athlete, a worker and a talented arm. We had belief in him in whatever role it was.”
That faith turned into an unexpected windfall for both the team and the pitcher. Even though his path was different than the others, that year in Manchester was central to his journey.
“We ended up winning the championship, but learning to grow together, to grind together, to win together ... I think that really helped when I got called up to the big leagues,” Romano said. “It felt like you were just playing with your friends again. Cav was here. Bo was here. Vlad. I was a little bit behind them, but when I got here, I definitely felt more comfortable.”
JOHN SCHNEIDER THE MANAGER
The story of how John Schneider became a coach is one of legend and fits the personable 14th manager in franchise history to a T.
As Schneider describes it, in 2008 it was time to abandon a mediocre playing career as a minor-league catcher and immediately jump into coaching. That year, he joined the rookie-level Gulf Coast League as a catching instructor and thus began a steady ascent through the Jays system.
By 2018, fresh off winning a Florida State League championship with the Dunedin Blue Jays, Schneider was handed the keys to a Manchester clubhouse that was to be populated with one of the best minor-league teams the Jays had ever assembled.
“I said thank you for the opportunity when they gave me the roster and thank you for trusting me,” Schneider said. “It ended up working out, but it was definitely a challenge.
“When we broke camp, we knew what we had, we knew that we were good. So it was, A, how do we not mess up their development and keep doing what they need to get better; and, B, since it was a unique opportunity, it was a good time to try to hammer home how to win, how to be a good teammate and how to be a leader on your team.
“It was an opportunity to do something pretty cool with a great group, and we tried to nail it as best we could.”
Along the way, there was a balancing act for Schneider.
On one hand, the players were young and had to be managed with a big brother's touch at times. On the other, with such visible upside, they had to be pushed in their routines to maximize progress.
“You're always thinking development,” Schneider said. “I was lucky enough to have these guys for consecutive years, so I tried to walk the tightrope of winning and developing, just because we knew these guys were going to be good.
“I tried to win. I tried to match up in the bullpen. I wanted the guys to feel what winning was like. I felt like it just breaks up the monotony of the minor leagues when you're having team success. I tried to do some things you probably wouldn't do in the minor leagues, but that we felt were important for them to learn at the time.
“The workday was the development part, and game time was our `let's go out and win' time.”
That mindset wasn't lost on the players and staff, as hitting coach Hunter Mense articulates.
“The thing I learned really quickly about Schneids is he always had the long game in mind of how this is going to play out during the year,” Mense said. “It wasn't an in-yourface leadership. It was very caring, easy to talk to with the players and easy to talk to for me.
“It was conviction while being laid-back. That even-keeled nature really resonated with me. I don't know if all big-league managers are approachable and that easy to talk to. His ability to connect with anybody and everybody has always been admirable.”
Then there was the horse trainer element of the assignment — managing a group of highstrung baseball thoroughbreds and keeping them on task.
“There was a lot of talent on the team, and he did a great job corralling that talent and teaching everyone that winning is the most important thing,” Romano said. “You're in the minors and you care about your stats because you want to go up to the next level, but he made it a real culture about team and winning first. He'd tell us that when you're winning, good things will happen.
“He was very similar to how he is now. He always had our backs down there.”
Having their backs meant some epic blowups with umpires, including a few that are still fondly recalled by the current group — thrown helmets, chasing the occasional ump off the field, blowups that became the stuff of legend.
“He was definitely a players' manager, and he had a good feel for the minor leagues being a grind, giving us days here and there not to do as much when he felt it was necessary,” Bichette said. “He had an understanding that the minor leagues aren't fun all of the time.”
Fast forward to the present, as Schneider embarks on his second full season in the Jays' managerial chair. The relationships forged then remain today, albeit with a different dynamic.
“It's weird now being in this position,” Schneider said. “You try not to be a different person, but there are things that change. You have different pressures. You have different people who are giving you information and you have different ways you have to navigate through your day.
“But understanding that was six years ago and times were different, at the end of the day, they're still who they are and I'm still who I am.”
BO BICHETTE THE FUTURE LEADER
Almost from the time they both came into the organization, Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr. were linked as the duelling cornerstones of the Jays foundation.
Together they rose through the ranks. Together they provided hope as the teardown and rebuild from 2015 and 2016 began to take shape.
And in 2018, the bond grew stronger, and the big leagues became closer on a championship team.
“When we were young, we were competitive with each other in a healthy way,” Bichette said. “We loved each other and we were good friends, but I think, in a way, we were competitive.
“We fed off each other in that way. We shared things as well, but I think there was a healthy competition between us.”
Out of that competition, a friendship among teammates forged. To this day, you can see the two leaning on each other in the dugout, the language and life of baseball being their connection.
“We didn't bond over success, we bonded through failure, whether it was him going through it or myself going through it,” Bichette said. “I think that's why our relationship has gotten stronger — sticking with each other. That's when you can tell if somebody cares about you or not.”
In 2018, the expectations were high for both, but Bichette has never bowed to the projections of others.
“I knew there were a lot of people on that team who were expected to be in the big leagues, including me,” Bichette said. “But that didn't affect me. Nobody ever put more expectations on me than I did on myself. I just took it in stride.”
The professionalism both Guerrero and Bichette showed off the field, as well as on it, certainly hastened their progress.
“It was probably the first year that all the attention was on them, and they delivered,” Schneider said. “It's not often you get two super prospects on the same team, and they not only learned how to get better, but they learned from each other. That was cool to watch unfold.
“I remember we got to the middle of the summer, and it was like, these dudes could probably go up and help the big-league team right now. If that was the case, I wanted to make sure we'd talk about specific things like when to go on contact and relays and things like that.”
Bichette learned plenty about himself that season, including something that had previously been foreign to him — a real-time hitting slump in the first half of the season. As he fought through it, Bichette would become a key second-half bat for the team.
Hitting coach Mense recalls a conversation with Bichette in Portland in the dog days of midseason.
“The first half of the year, it wasn't that great, but it ended up being the best thing for him,” Mense said. “Up until that time in his pro career there hadn't been a ton of struggle for Bo, and at some point he was going to encounter it.
“I remember us talking about it, and I remember him working through some stuff — the swing, the mentality, remaining even-keeled — and how that would help him going forward. You're preparing yourself to be not just a big leaguer but a successful big leaguer and working your way out of those struggles is a big part of it.”
In the process, Mense and others in that iteration of the Fisher Cats saw a glimpse into the potential greatness of Bichette.
“From a baseball standpoint, I've never been around somebody that in tune,” Mense said. “He was just way beyond his years. You could have conversations with him that are way beyond what you could fathom with most guys talking about the swing.
“I was just blown away with it early on. I sometimes kind of expect it from guys coming from big league pedigrees like Bo because they've been around the game. But he exceeded it, especially for a young kid.”
As he is now, Bichette was all business during his summer in New Hampshire. But he still has rock-solid recollections of his season in the Granite State.
“There were a lot of great memories from that season,” Bichette said. “It was something pretty special. I find myself telling people a lot about it.”
I tried to win. I tried to match up in the bullpen. I wanted the guys to feel what winning was like.
GIL KIM THE FARM DIRECTOR
As the front office's liaison with Jays prospects up and down the farm system, Gil Kim's responsibility was a valued one within the Jays' organizational flow chart.
So, his voice was prominent prior to the 2018 season, when Jays general manager Ross Atkins and the baseball operations staff constructed minor-league rosters.
“Every year around this time, you're thinking about the season ahead. And every year you talk about maybe one, if you're lucky two, affiliates that have the opportunity to be something special,” Kim said. “As we were constructing that 2018 group, (the Fisher Cats) was the team we were excited about.”
Kim recalls a great deal about his visits to Manchester to check on the prized prospects-turned-fisher Cats.
There was the “Be A Good Teammate” sign in the clubhouse. On the way to the field, two more: “Practice with a Purpose” and “Get Better Today.”
And there was the work put in by players and coaching staff, a regimen of progressive drills, many of which are used by the big team today.
“Coaches pushed the envelope to do a lot of game-speed training with hitting,” Kim said. “They incorporated a good amount of the machine work that you see today. I can remember so much focus on Cavan Biggio's range at second base, Vladdy's range at third and Bo focusing on back-hand play.”
The days were long and the drills regimented, but with an eye to the big leagues, the group bought in.
“What was special about that environment that year is it was a good balance,” Kim said. “That group was able to mix development and winning very well.”
The “boy band” element that Schneider referenced was also something that was snatched and made into another teachable tool.
“If you look at everything through a development lens, then you take advantage of any opportunity to provide teaching and learning moments,” Kim said. “If there are fans constantly following you, that's only going to increase when you get to the big leagues. You're only going to have to learn how to manage that a little bit better.
“If there's pressure after an 0-for4 night in Hartford, well, that's only going to be more pressure when you are doing it in Boston. We used it as examples of things you're going to face.”
Like each of the principals we spoke with, Kim has fond and vivid appreciation of what unfolded.
“We were excited about the staff we had in place. We were excited about the talent of the players. And those things were obvious. But what ended up happening was it was the perfect storm of selflessness, talent and a drive to get better every day,” he said.
“And that resulted in an absolutely phenomenal season, one that was extremely exciting to follow — one that, quite frankly, we hoped would help build a winning mentality and attitude among some of those core players who are core players today in the big leagues.”
CAVAN BIGGIO THE MVP
Cavan Biggio didn't think of it in such terms, but even though he's three years older than Bichette and has four on Guerrero, in Blue Jays baseball development terms, he was always seen as the lesser little brother.
Sure, he was the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio and had a terrific collegiate career at Notre Dame, but his prospect status was in a different galaxy.
And then came 2018. “I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the year (that an ascent toward the big leagues began),” Biggio said one quiet morning in the Jays clubhouse. “That was the first year where things started coming together with me, that I started being the type of player that I wanted to be. Getting drafted, I was a leadoff hitter who hit the ball the other way a lot. I wanted to get more power and that double-a year was the year I worked on that. It was a really important year to prove to myself that I could do it at that level and beyond. It definitely brought me a lot of confidence.”
That it did. Biggio led the Eastern League in home runs (26), walks (100), slugging percentage (.499) and OPS (.887.) To continue the momentum (and add to his Eastern League awards), Biggio played for the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League and was named a 2018 Rising Star.
So, yes, a breakout year it was.
“I always knew what I wanted to do and that I wanted to play in the big leagues, and knew I had a long road ahead of me,” Biggio said. “Going through that year, it was like, I know I can play, and not only are the big leagues a dream of mine but also very attainable. ... It was a year to prove to myself that not only could I be a good baseball player but excel at it.”
Central to that accelerated ascent was his work with Hunter Mense. Though they didn't start out on the same page, they forged a coach-player relationship that continues to flourish.
“Any situation (you're) going into as a coach, especially a hitting coach, they are human beings who have somebody in their life who knows their swing and knows their mindset better than anyone,” Mense says. “For Cavan and I, it took some time to really gel. We had a sit-down conversation to address it, just an understanding that we had to get on the same page. I obviously wanted what's best for him, and he wanted the best out of himself.
“He had made some mechanical adjustments to get a little more power and with that thump he added, there was an evolution for him, from a career standpoint.”
In the process, Biggio found himself a trusted confidant who now works in the big-league clubhouse.
“Initially, we butted heads a little, but since then we've been super close,” Biggio said. “Hunter is the guy I go to pretty much for all the offensive stuff and all the swing stuff. I know I can rely on him.”
Biggio recalls much of that season — winding roads through the Eastern seaboard and beyond, and early flirtations with the successful side of pro ball. Not that all of it was glamour. “The bus rides were long. The season was long. The facilities weren't great, travel was brutal and the hotels weren't great, but we made the most of it.”
They did that and more, building in confidence as the summer moved along. At the same time, the big-league team up in Toronto was in full nosedive mode, on its way to a 73-89 record. Those scintillating playoff seasons of 2015 and 2016 were fading. In Manchester, the future was fast arriving.
“That was unsaid, with the way we were playing,” Biggio said. “I think we knew what we were capable of and we knew where we were headed. Or we believed that, anyway. At certain points of that year, we felt we could get called up right now and help this team win. We had to pump the brakes and say we are where we are and make the most of it.
“But it was the start of something that has become very familiar and allowed us to grow into who we are today.”
HUNTER MENSE THE HITTING COACH
In 2018, Hunter Mense was new to the Jays organization, a hitting guru with a background in college and one season of low-level experience in the San Diego Padres organization.
And then — his first assignment with the Jays — he entered an eye-opening world of sublime bat-to-ball talent.
“The thing that I remember the most is that it's very rare that teams and players live up to the expectations that are put forth from the outside, but it was unbelievable watching it throughout the whole year,” said Mense, now a Jays assistant hitting coach working under offensive co-ordinator Don Mattingly. “One of the most amazing things was how far ahead we were from every other team offensively — OPS, average, runs scored, every way you can measure it.
“It felt like, throughout the season, it never stopped.”
Indeed, by the end of that first year, the hitting coach was left in awe with what he had worked with over the preceding months. And, essentially, he saw firsthand the future of almost a third of the Jays' current offence.
“I had never seen somebody control the strike zone like Cavan. I had never seen anyone with the quickness and bat speed that Bo had, of being able to hit a ball 110 to the back side. And I had never seen somebody generate the batted-ball trajectory and exit velocities of what Vladdy was able to do. I was amazed every day.”
As the season went on, Mense became well aware of the weight of expectations associated with the group. But working under the steady rudder of Schneider, he became a trusted mentor to many of the players, a working relationship that continues today.
There was the weight of responsibility, which added to the satisfaction when it won an Eastern League title.
“During the season, you kind of lose sense of how fun winning is because, in the minor leagues, you're so caught up in trying to get better, trying to get to the big leagues. I remember at the end of the year the weight being lifted, not just off the players because of expectations, but off of us as a staff, too. It was a grind every single day.”
THE FUTURE IS... NOW
It may have seemed a distant dream then, especially in the slow-moving progression that often rules the route from baseball minors to the Show.
That Schneider and others nurtured a vision five and six years down the road adds to the magic of what awaits in a 2024 season of great importance for that maturing group.
Zooming out to the big picture in 2018, Schneider never lost sight of the valuable commodities under his command. He was also well aware of what was happening in Toronto, where a teardown was underway and opportunities for his forward-thinking Fisher Cats might not be that far off.
“It was pretty forefront in my mind most days because of where we were as an organization,” Schneider said. “We knew these guys were coming. We knew where our big-league club was, and who was going to be there or not be there going forward.
“As they played and were having success and their numbers were what they were, it was, `OK, these guys can help our big-league team and what is that going to look like?'”
Much is different in the big leagues — the money and the stakes. The relationships? The players and coaches bonded over 13-hour bus rides and endured the cold, early season months in New Hampshire. Not only did they learn baseball lessons, they learned about themselves and the feeling of winning a championship.
“I say this now that we're all in Toronto, but when you rewind the clock six years, it's easy to forget how young they were,” Schneider said. “Expectations and pressure change when you make it here to the big leagues, but at the end of the day, it's still me trying to do what's best for these guys.”