Barrie Baycats reloading to repeat as IBL champions

After one of the most dominant postseason runs in Canadian sports history in 2024, the Barrie Baycats have set a high bar for themselves ahead of the 2025 Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) season.

If Saturday's 13-3 exhibition beatdown of the three-time defending Greater Toronto Baseball League champion Thornhill Reds was any indication, this team still means business.

"We've been the poster boys of the league for years, and I'm just happy we're back to the winning ways," said team president, general manager, and manager Josh Matlow at the club's preseason media availability. "I think there's an expectation to continue that, and I think that is healthy pressure that we're excited about."

The Baycats finished the 2024 season second in the IBL (27-15) before they swept the IBL playoffs en route to the franchise's eighth Dominico Cup title.

Much of that success came from a returning starting rotation of Frank Garcés, Juan Benítez, and Cesar Rosado. The three combined to finish the regular season with a 21-4 record, 2.46 earned run average, and 221 strikeouts across 213.1 innings.

Rosado recorded 105 strikeouts in 15 appearances, a total that led the IBL and set a Baycats single-season franchise record.

Meanwhile, Garcés picked up his third first-team All-IBL honour, before a dominant four-start postseason in which he went 3-0, pitched to a 0.93 ERA, and claimed the Max Roseman Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player of the postseason.

Among returning players are Barrie-native Ryan Rijo, and Nolan Machibroda, each named to the All-IBL second team in 2024.

Rijo, now a four-time IBL champion with the Baycats (2017-19, 2024), likens this core group of players to what he believes started the team's six-peat from 2014-19.

"If I could have been a fly on the wall in that first year," he said during the team's preseason media availability. "I feel like it would have been similar vibes to what we had last year. And it's one of those things that if we can just let it snowball, I think it'll have the same effect...We just have more of a family with this squad than any other squad I've ever been with."

Rijo started 2024 sluggish for his standards, and got hot late, raising his batting average from .275 to .345 over his final 20 games of the regular season, while hitting five home runs in the same span.

"I feel it's how you come back from failure that really defines who you are as a baseball player," he said. "Everyone can get hot, and everyone feels good when they're hot, but can you stay locked in or be impactful, whether or not it's at the plate? I can be a good leader doing things like that."

Machibroda didn't expect to be back this year. He and fellow Baycats star Canice Ejoh were both signed by the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League during the offseason, but were subsequently released before opening day.

In 37 games, Machibroda hit .331 with five homers, and a team-high 22 RBI. He says he really felt comfortable last year during the first couple of weeks of the season.

"I had a couple multi-hit games in a row, and it just kind of settled in from there, he said during preseason media availability. "Being confident in baseball is half the battle.”

There's still a chance Ejoh returns to Barrie for the 2025 season, according to Matlow, who calls him the best outfielder he's ever seen. Ejoh is currently on the team's inactive list.

Ejoh earned first-team All-IBL honours after leading the league with 66 hits and leading the team with 28 RBI.

Barrie also brought back stars like Hayden Jaco, a key locker room figure and one of the league's most versatile players, and Adam Odd, a first-team All-IBL player in 2023 who hit the now-iconic walk-off home run in game one of the 2024 Finals.

NEW ADDITIONS

Willy Garcia: a former major league outfielder with the 2017 Chicago White Sox, who's been playing independent and winter league baseball since his 44-game American League stint. Last summer with Charleston of the Atlantic League, Garcia hit .169 with two home runs and 12 RBI. However, his value exceeds just his on-field potential.

"Having the experience coming in with some of these junior guys where they get to see a Major Leaguer and learn from him and talk to him," Matlow said. "I think it's really going to help develop these young kids to not only get prepared for the IBL, but for school."

Leliis Beltran: a former prospect of the New York Yankees, projected to be the starting catcher for the season opener. He's a switch-hitter, providing some power and speed in the middle of the lineup, going one-for-three with a double and a walk Saturday versus Thornhill. The IBL's extra import spot for 2025 allowed Barrie to add Beltran, a catcher who can communicate more easily with the Spanish-speaking rotation.

Francisco Hernandez: an infielder and the older brother of returning Baycat Brandon Hernandez. Both previously played in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system at the same time, and project to team up as the middle-infield pair this season. Francisco hit .222 with five home runs and 15 RBI in 2024 with the Capitales de Quebec of the Frontier League.

Tristan Clarke: a 30th round draft pick by the Washington Nationals in 2016, formerly of the Canadian national junior team and later the University of New Orleans in the Southland Conference of NCAA Division I. A powerful centerfielder that went two-for-five in Saturday's exhibition with two home runs and three strikeouts.

Frank Caietta: currently in his freshman season at DI program NJIT of the America East conference. He's a big right-hander, measuring at 6'4", 230 lbs., logging just one inning with one earned run, five walks and two strikeouts.

Ethan Morris: a powerful left-handed pitcher from Sudbury, Ont., currently pitching at Ranger College in Texas. Similar to Caietta, another big-bodied pitcher whose fastball velocity challenges the 90 mile-per-hour range.

22U BAYCATS

This will be the first year the Baycats will have an affiliated junior-level team from which it can pull players for the IBL squad. The 22U Baycats and will be managed by Baycats coach Jeremy Uylenbroek, playing a non-league schedule against other IBL feeder and senior men's teams before the 2025 National Qualifier Tournament in Kitchener, Ont.

There are a few players that are likely to be called up at some point in the IBL season. The top candidates include third baseman Austin Boylan, first baseman Jericho Morris-Johns, and right-handed pitcher Jason Roach, but the team is prepared for "20 of the 25 guys" to make a push for callups according to Matlow.

Caietta and Morris will split time between the IBL and junior team, as will returning Baycats Asafa Jones, Ryan Lacasse, and Braeden Pakkala.

KEY STAT

The aforementioned streak of 95 completed innings without trailing from the 2024 playoffs will continue into the regular season. it started in the ninth inning of the final game of the 2024 regular season, lasting throughout the playoffs, and going into the season-opener.

In fact, including Saturday's exhibition versus Thornhill, the streak is up to 104 innings.

AROUND THE IBL

Former Baycats utility man Kyle Maves went London in the offseason after contributing to two IBL Finals runs and the 2024 title. In 53 total games with Barrie, Maves hit .265 with 14 RBI.

Hamilton bulked up its roster too; key acquisitions like first-team All-IBL right-hander Owen Boon and third baseman Jonathan Solazzo give the team a huge boost on the field. However, the Cardinals may have a new face of the franchise after the signing of three-time major league all-star and 2019 World Series champion Fernando Rodney.

Toronto is making waves too, particularly with the signing of right-handed pitcher Ayami Sato, the first woman to play in a professional or semi-professional baseball league in Canada. She started Toronto's season opener, a 6-5 loss to Kitchener, going two innings with one strikeout.

Barrie opens the season Thursday against the Maple Leafs, starters TBD. A championship ceremony will precede the first pitch. It's a rematch from the 2024 IBL Quarterfinals in which Barrie averaged 15 hits per game.