Morrison excited for Mavs to build off 2022 season

By JAMES TUBB on August 18, 2022.

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, having fans back at Athletic Park and cheering on the Medicine Hat Mavericks was a dream come true for team owner and general manager Greg Morrison.

Morrison said from having renovations approved in 2020 and the positive feedback from the fans, he couldn’t be happier.

“We asked the fans what they wanted and as a business person, sometimes we forget to ask our fans or our customers and it really is their ballpark, it’s not my ballpark,” Morrison said. “We mow the lawns and the field, but it’s their ballpark. It’s their experience to watch baseball. We’re just really excited to keep moving forward with it.”

The Mavericks finished the 2022 WCBL season with a regular season record of 18-38 before falling one game short of the final. Throughout the season they averaged 1,300 fans a night, putting them third in the league on average and ranked 60th amongst all summer collegiate programs – something Morrison was happy to have learned.

“Summer college baseball is a great stepping stone for amateur athletes to try and get to the next level. For me being a local guy who got a chance to go away and come home and operate this team, there’s a lot of appreciation there,” Morrison said. “It’s really my duty and my family’s duty to put as good a product out there for the fans of the players as possible, and we’re going to keep doing it as long as we can.”

Morrison said he was proud of how the Mavericks finished up their season and said the biggest difference for them was not being able to find a hot streak.

“In sports usually every team has that stretch where they win seven out of 10 games, or seven out of 12 games, we just never had that and that was the difference for us,” Morrison said. “Finishing with the playoffs and the guys showed a lot of heart and grit even with guys leaving and guys injured. That’s what this league is all about. It’s very similar to pro leagues, you find out it’s a game of attrition.”

He said he’s proud of the guys who were able to stick around the whole season and get those extra at-bats and step into and thrive in bigger roles out of necessity. Morrison tabbed a couple of Mavericks who stood out to him throughout the season.

“I’m really proud of Garrett Nicholson because this is a guy who, he played for us in 2019. That year in his college year he didn’t pitch much, we gave him an opportunity and he slowly improved. The last couple years we didn’t have a summer, he went to his college and didn’t get any innings. This year, he just really seemed to thrive toward the end where he was our No. 1 guy,” Morrison said. “He’s a huge guy, a left-handed pitcher, I hope he plays the game for another 10-15 years, he’s built like a professional. From a position player standpoint, a lot of guys stepped up. I loved seeing how we could move Tory Nelson around – he played first base and turned out to be a premium defensive first baseman out there. Then (Braden) DeSonia, from day one setting the stolen base record. DeSonia, I hope gets a professional opportunity, he has one more year of college, but I’m hoping that he gets a professional opportunity.”

He said head coach Tyler Jeske and the rest of the coaching staff handled the season’s adversity well and matured throughout the summer. He said he hasn’t made a decision on the coaching side yet for next year.

Morrison he doesn’t believe there will be as many hurdles this year recruiting players as last season, and hopes to retain as close to half of this year’s team as possible while adding other talent.

“I would think there’s hopefully at least that many guys that want to come back. We’ve probably had decent feedback, I think. Players in the league like Medicine Hat, even players that come here, the parents that talk to me, ‘How do we get over here?’ I’m really excited about that side of it… We’ve got a web page on our website, a player recruitment forum that I’m hoping is going to have 150 players on it by October.”

Morrison said fans can renew or purchase their 2023 season tickets at 2022 pricing until Oct. 31 and can do so online or at the ticket booth.