Is B.C. youth baseball getting a registration bump from the Blue Jays?

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Kerrisdale Little League president Graham Collings believes there is a “Toronto Blue Jays bump” when it comes to youth baseball registration in the province this season.

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Action is just getting underway at neighbourhood diamonds around B.C. Collings says that Kerrisdale Little League has seen a 11 per cent increase in enrolment this season after staying flat with their participation numbers last year from the season prior.

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He believes that the growth can be attributed to various things, but counts the Blue Jays’ playoff run last fall as a factor. Toronto, of course, received extensive attention nationally during their seventh-game loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. They had beaten the Seattle Mariners in another seven-game set to advance to that match-up with the Dodgers.

It was the Blue Jays’ first appearance in the World Series since their second of back-to-back titles in 1992. It was the first extended postseason success for the club since José Bautista’s bat flip against the Texas Rangers and then a loss to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series in 2015, and their loss to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS the following year.

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“In the fall, it definitely had the city cheering for baseball,” Collings said of last year’s postseason escapades for Toronto. “It overflowed into Vancouver in general, which would overflow into Little League benefits, for sure.”

Registration numbers are starting to come in to Baseball B.C. CEO David Laing, and he says already that the “the Blue Jays’ bump is real.”

He expects a 10 per cent increase across the board in Lower Mainland associations, and a boost of as much as 25 to 30 per cent for the Interior.

The Blue Jays’ playoffs in the fall dovetailed with early-bird registration for most minor baseball programs.

“We’re excited. We’re looking to introduce all these new players to the game,” Laing said. “We saw a jump after the World Series years and the bat flip years. If the excitement continues again this season, I think that will help us retain many of these new players.

“We can watch all 162 regular-season games in full on Sportsnet, plus they give you Blue Jays in 30 (condensed game coverage). Plus Sportsnet owns the radio station in town.

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“The Blue Jays are force-fed to us, but I don’t have a problem with that, because they are our team and they do a good job. There are likeable characters on that team, with guys like Alejandro Kirk and Vladdy Guerrero, Jr., and George Springer. There’s the connection with the Vancouver Canadians, where guys you watched at Nat Bailey you’re now seeing on your TV screen. The entire pathway works well here.

“They get around the country all time. Between their marketing department and their academy department running clinics, the Blue Jays have done a good job of connecting coast to coast.”

Tyler Renwick is president of North Langley Baseball, and says that they’re up 13 per cent in registrations this season. “Everybody thinks it’s the Blue Jays effect.”

“In the fall, you’d go around to local parks and you’d see kids still playing baseball and not playing hockey,” continued Renwick.

He is quick to point out that with baseball being so affordable at the grassroots level compared to other sports, it undoubtedly also plays a role in this era where everyone is watching their budget so closely.

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Others agree that the Blue Jays are one part of the puzzle when it comes to the registration increase.

Trout Lake president Kyle Sanderson says they are up 15 per cent this year, but they’re up 40 per cent over the past five seasons combined.

“I’m pretty sure there is a Jays bump, but it’s hard to tell on our end given the steady growth,” he explained.

Little Mountain will have more than 900 players this season, making them one of the larger associations in the Lower Mainland. President Robert Mah Ming says they will be up as much as 13 per cent this year, but their team went to the storied Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn., last year and they routinely get an increase the season after that kind of exposure.

And Whalley will be in the 350-player range for a third straight season, according to association president Clint Stewart. He said their registration also went up after the World Series victories in 1992 and 1993.

UBC Thunderbirds coach Chris Pritchett believes the Blue Jays’ 2025 season shone a light on the game in B.C., but says he has the seen the level of play in youth baseball in this province increase dramatically over the years because the efforts of volunteer coaches and league organizers.

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He is a Modesto, Calif., product who came to the Lower Mainland originally in 1995 as a California Angels farmhand with the then triple-A Canadians. He married a Vancouver native and returned to the Lower Mainland to live when his playing career was over. He took over running the UBC program in 2015 when Terry McKaig opted to leave coaching.

“It’s so different from when I first came up here,” said Pritchett, the former first baseman who saw action in the majors parts of four seasons and had a 13-year minor league career, including four seasons in Vancouver. “The number of quality coaches and pro players coming out here now is just so different. I’m so glad to be a part of it.

“It’s pretty exciting, and I think it’s just going to continue to grow and get better. The game is growing and Canadian baseball for me is night and day from when I first got here.”

The C’s have been a Blue Jays’ farm team since 2011. Toronto manager John Schneider was the C’s bench boss for parts of three seasons on his way through the minors, and the playoff roster last year featured four former C’s, led by right-hander Trey Yesavage, who was playing in Vancouver in May before advancing all the way to the big club.

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SEwen@postmedia.com

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