Blue Jays, Canadians Announce Opening Day Roster
VANCOUVER, BC – In conjunction with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Canadians are pleased to debut the 2024 Opening Day roster ahead of the team’s fourth season as Toronto’s High-A affiliate and 13th in the organization. This season’s edition of the C’s brings back 15 players who hoisted the Northwest
VANCOUVER, BC – In conjunction with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Canadians are pleased to debut the 2024 Opening Day roster ahead of the team’s fourth season as Toronto’s High-A affiliate and 13th in the organization.
This season’s edition of the C’s brings back 15 players who hoisted the Northwest League trophy last year, including:
- RHP Ryan Jennings, who got the start in Game 4 of last year’s playoff series and struck out the side in the first to set the tone early. He gets the ball for the season opener at Spokane.
- RHP Justin Kelly, the man who secured the final out in the clincher and posted a sparkling 1.80 ERA in 45.0 IP a season ago.
- RHP Conor Larkin, Northwest League Pitcher of the Week July 24-30 after five scoreless frames of relief over three games with 15 strikeouts and one of the league’s most consistent relievers down the stretch.
- C Jommer Hernandez, a fan favorite who authored countless clutch moments.
- INF Ryan McCarty, who joined the team in mid-July and slashed .267/.400/.483 with a .883 OPS in August before sparking the offense throughout the playoff run.
- INF Jeff Wehler, a crucial midseason addition who provided invaluable defensive versatility – including one of the plays of the year in Game 1 of the playoff series.
Other returning champions include RHP Pat Gallagher, RHP Kevin Miranda, LHP Naswell Paulino, RHP Rafael Sanchez, RHP Anders Tolhurst, C Kekai Rios, INF Nick Goodwin, INF Estiven Machado and OF Dasan Brown.
Brown – MLB Pipeline’s #26 Blue Jays prospect – is a proud native son of Oakville, ON, where he attended Abbey Park High School and was committed to Texas A&M before he was drafted in the 3rd round in 2019. He is the lone Canadian citizen on the roster to start the year.
Two other ranked prospects join Brown on the Top 30 list. #10 prospect LHP Kendry Rojas is a left-handed starter who, at just 21 years old, has quickly established himself as one of the more exciting and intriguing young arms in the system. #22 prospect OF Jace Bohrofen is a lefty slugger out of Arkansas who posted a 1.080 OPS in his pro debut season a year ago.
The remaining roster includes:
RHP Alex Amalfi
RHP Johnathan Lavallee
RHP Chris McElvain
RHP Josh Mollerus
RHP Rafael Ohashi
RHP Grayson Thurman
RHP Geison Urbaez
RHP Chay Yeager
C Jackson Hornung
INF Jean Arnaez
INF Brennan Org
OF Dylan Rock
OF Jaden Rudd
14 Canadian provinces and U.S. states have sent their own to British Columbia, led by Pennsylvania (four), California (three), Massachusetts (three) and Texas (two).
Beyond North America, the Dominican Republic (three), Cuba (two), Panama (two), Venezuela (one) and Brazil (one) are represented on the roster.
The average age of this group is 23.2, with ages ranging from 21 and five months (Rojas) to 26 and 10 months (Rios). 13 were drafted by the Blue Jays, eight were signed as international free agents, five weren’t drafted but signed with Toronto, two were MiLB free agents, one was a waiver claim and another came over via trade.
These 30 players – led by North Delta, BC native Brent Lavallee – begin their quest to defend the Northwest League crown on Friday, April 5 at Spokane (Rockies) before returning to Vancouver to open the home slate on Tuesday, April 9 against Hillsboro (D-Backs).
To get tickets for Opening Night or any other game throughout the 2024 season, visit CanadiansBaseball.com or call 604-872-5232.