Everett manager Louis Boyd laments ‘Not Bailey’ baseball in Vancouver

Everett
Everett manager Louis Boyd laments ‘Not Bailey’ baseball in Vancouver

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“It is a disappointment not to be able to play with these spectators this season,” said the 27-year-old bank manager, who is on the rise in the Mariners organization

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Steve Ewen Everett AquaSox manager Louis Boyd, a native of North Vancouver, has long had a connection with the Nat Bailey Stadium, home of the Vancouver Canadians, though not yet in season.Everett AquaSox manager Louis Boyd, a native of North Vancouver, has long had a connection with the Nat Bailey Stadium, home of the Vancouver Canadians, though not yet in season. Photo by Shari Sommerfeld Images

Louis Boyd is a fan of Nat Bailey Stadium, although Nat Bailey’s regulars wouldn’t be his fans in any other baseball season.

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Boyd, a 27-year-old North Vancouverite, is in his sophomore season as manager of Everett AquaSox, a rival to the West League of the Vancouver Canadians.

Due to the border restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cs do not currently have Nat Bailey as their home. Instead, they play their home games at Ron Tonkin Field and share the baseball stadium outside of Portland with Hillsboro Hops, another West League club.

Because of this, Boyd is missing out on the chance to come home in the middle of his season and play games in front of family and friends. He claims his players miss playing in “The Nat” in a normally charged, harsh environment.

In the past few summers, the C’s have often sold out their 6,413-seat baseball stadium. Six of the eight teams in Vancouver’s old Northwest League drew under 3,500 fans per game in 2019 for comparison.

“It’s a different atmosphere. There’s something cool for everyone, ”said Boyd, who was a regular in the stands of Nat Bailey as a child and whose first game as Everett manager was there in 2019. “I know that the players love to play there.

“It’s a disappointment not to be able to play with these people this season.”

The C’s, the Toronto Blue Jays’ High A daughter, have had three series so far this season against AquaSox, a Seattle Mariners farm club. Canadian President Andy Dunn says Boyd regularly asked him when the Nat Bailey Games could resume. Boyd admits he did just that.

“I urged it when we crossed the border,” Boyd said.

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Dunn has claimed the Cs will take off from Nat Bailey as soon as possible after the border restrictions, including the quarantines, are lifted. The C’s kept some staff in Vancouver to ease the transition.

The provincial government is in Phase 3 of its four-step restart plan, which will allow for outdoor gatherings of 5,000 people or 50 percent capacity, whichever is larger.

The current limit regulations apply at least until July 21st. As luck would have it, it’s two days after a six-game home set for Vancouver against Everett. However, it is very unlikely that the league will let teams switch venues in the middle of a series.

West League teams are playing six-game sets this season, with every Monday free.

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Assuming the frontier opens in those few weeks, Vancouver’s first streak in Nat Bailey would likely begin on August 3rd and be pretty apt against Hillsboro.

The C’s then have two series with the AquaSox, but both are in Everett. Vancouver’s regular season finale takes place on September 19 and concludes a home set with Hillsboro.

“It's a different atmosphere. There's something cool for everyone, ”said Everett manager Louis Boyd as he brought his team to the Nat Bailey Stadium to face the Vancouver Canadians. “It’s a different atmosphere. There’s something cool for everyone, ”said Everett manager Louis Boyd as he brought his team to the Nat Bailey Stadium to face the Vancouver Canadians. Photo by Shari Sommerfeld Images

Minor league baseball was redesigned last winter, and the C’s, AquaSox, Hops, and three other teams from the short-season Single-A Northwest League were promoted two rungs on the development ladder to the High A and West League. They also all went from a 76-game plan to a 120-game plan.

The AquaSox were previously the class of the racetrack. On Thursday, Everett (35-19) was in first place, beating his opponents by 150 runs. The Eugene Emeralds (34-21) were the second best, outperforming their opponents by 27 runs. Vancouver (28-28) finished third and had given up seven more runs than they had scored.

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All of this has to look good for Boyd, who appears to be a rising star in the leadership ranks. He’s only a year older than Everett’s oldest player. The Mariners kept him in Everett, despite the fact that the team made a difference in competition.

The Mariners drafted Boyd, who was then a midfielder at the University of Arizona, in the 24th round in 2017. He played two seasons in their system, hitting 0.207 over 97 games at two minor stops in 2018, and ruling that he trained suited him better.

Seattle agreed and had him on the coaching staff of Single-A Modesto in 2019. The Everett manager job became vacant in July as the Mariners mutually agreed to part ways with Jose Moreno, and the Mariners put Boyd in charge of the Everett shelter at the time. The team went 19-19 under Boyd and the Mariners announced in January 2020 that he would be back in charge at Everett this summer. This campaign was of course completely wiped out by COVID-19.

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Boyd spent part of the pandemic shutdown partnering with the North Shore Twins, the BC Premier League team he’d played with. North Shore coach Brooks McNiven said Boyd helped improve the Twins’ off-season batting program and incorporate new technology.

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Boyd has also studied psychology and says a big part of his job is “connecting players as best as possible” and “understanding a lot of different personalities on a given day”. One of the techniques he’s worked on is motivational interviewing. According to the textbook definition, it is a “directive, client-centered counseling style to induce behavioral changes”. Boyd describes it as “knowing when to ask the right question at the right time” in order to get players to guide themselves into the next step in their development.

The Mariners “are proud of aholistic approach “with every player, said Boyd.

He was asked how manager Boyd approached the infielder Boyd and that resulted in a short laugh.

“That would have raised a lot of questions. A lot had to be developed there, ”he continued.

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