NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks owner and general manager Greg Morrison scans the field while standing in the dugout at Athletic Park ahead of the Mavs' 8-3 win over the Weyburn Beavers on July 29.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Greg Morrison is in the reflective state of the Medicine Hat Mavericks’ offseason.
The local WCBL club’s owner and general manager looked Monday at the lineup card of the Mavs’ Game 3 loss in the league finals against the Okotoks Dawgs from Aug. 17. Just 13 days removed from that finals loss, Morrison says he’s already close to getting things in motion for the 2024 season.
“You have to reflect if you want to improve, so that’s my strategy,” Morrison said. “September and October is really assessing how the summer went on the field and off the field … It doesn’t really end, it used to be we could turn the lights out for this thing, 10 years ago, for a few months and just put it away, but it doesn’t end and you need to keep moving forward. So yes, I’m thinking about baseball every day. Am I thinking about every pitch of that game? No, I’m thinking about what we need to do next year to win a championship and I’m just really proud of that team and our coaching staff.”
The Mavs head into the offseason off an 30-26 summer where they swept the East semifinals against the Regina Red Sox before beating the Moose Jaw Miller Express 2-1 in the East finals to earn their spot in the league finals. Looking at the 2023 roster, which rattled off a streak of 14-4 in the final stretch, Morrison says he’s looking to replicate as much as he can.
“I want to duplicate the strength we had up the middle,” Morrison said. “We had three great catchers who could move around, we put (Andrew) Savage, a Division I Pepperdine starting catcher as our first baseman because we had Dominic (VanDoorne) who was so great. We had three natural shortstops we could move around to third and second and had (Brody) Gardner at centre as a staple, he had 250 at bats. I’ve always known through teams in this league and the pros, that strength up the middle matters.
“Of course pitching, could we have had two more arms? Yes. Did we have three arms who couldn’t come because of passport issues? Yes. So we have excuses like everybody else has, that two or three more pitchers that everybody needs. It’ll always start with pitching and strength up the middle but it really starts with coaching and seeing where things are at with Mitch and a support staff for next year.”
Mavs’ head coach Kevin Mitchell entered the summer as the pitching coach in an assistant role to head coach Mark Goodman. When Goodman left the team for a professional opportunity in late June, Mitchell stepped into the role.
With a deep playoff run in the rearview with Mitchell at the helm, Morrison says he’s the frontrunner and will start the process soon of getting his head coach for 2024.
“I’m really proud of him. And it’s writing in that lineup, but after that, it’s managing your bullpen, and he managed it amazingly in my opinion, all year,” Morrison said.
“I know he was very well respected by the players and that’s everything to me, is having that respect. Players even said it, but I knew by just how he acted that they really respected. him”
When Mitchell took over as head coach, Morrison stepped into an assistant coach role and was on the bench full time. He says it made the summer that much better and is something he would like to do in some fashion next season.
“I would like to do more, even if I’m not travelling, I would like to do more than just the early work batting practice,” Morrison said. “Maybe I’ll help coach the bases at home … But it was really good for me to be back on the field.”
Off the field, Morrison says the focus is continuing to attract fans and looking at how they can make the experience better for each and every person who walks through the gates at Athletic Park. The Mavs finished the summer third in attendance numbers, averaging 1,266 a contest. It’s not lost on Morrison how special it is having that many people, and he says he is already looking forward to that next summer night of Mavericks baseball on display.
“My appreciation never goes unnoticed from the sponsorship and the fan side of it, they come out and pay their $15-30 for three hours of watching these guys play,” Morrison said. “When I came in 2008 to watch the game I said this is good baseball, and it’s gotten better and better. You hope and dream this ballpark would be full of people wanting to watch baseball and you use the fact it’s happening and getting closer and closer every year. It’s a big support that it’s not a big town and that goes a long way. We’re out drawing a lot of other bigger towns throughout North America and when people say, ‘I wish more people would come out and support you.’ I always say, they are coming out, I’d love to say there’s 2,100 every night, but that is a rarity.
“If that starts happening, that’s a pretty special thing, but it’s already special in my opinion what’s going on here. I always like communicating that to people because it’s pretty amazing that an old guy got to go home and run the ball club.”
