Summer Collegiate
Victoria HarbourCats | 17-year MLB vet Greg Swindell added to 2021 HarbourCats coaching staff
Todd Haney completes HarbourCats plans, staff will have combined 31 years of MLB experience
For Immediate Release
Jan. 26, 2021
VICTORIA, B.C. — There are MLB team coaching staffs that don’t have this much big-league playing experience. Count ’em up, 31 years.
Greg Swindell, a 17-year MLB pitcher, has been added by Head Coach Todd Haney for the 2021 Victoria HarbourCats season, as Bench Coach. Add that to Haney’s five seasons and the nine seasons of Pitching Coach Mark Petkovsek, the West Coast League (WCL)) summer collegiate team’s coaching staff will have a combined 31 years of MLB playing time to its credit.
Greg Swindell pitches for the Indians against KC in 1988. File Photo: Cleveland Plain Dealer
A fourth member, Hitting Coach Curtis Pelletier, is a scout for the Miami Marlins. Troy Birtwistle and John Schnaderbeck round out the coaching staff planned for the upcoming WCL season.
“We’re overjoyed to see this coaching staff come together, and even more excited for our players and fans to see what this group can do in terms of development and results,” said Jim Swanson, Managing Partner and GM of the HarbourCats. “Our players are very fortunate this has all come together for us. Greg will have a lot to offer to all sides of the game, not just pitching, but clearly our pitchers have access to a wealth of knowledge and experience.”
Haney, Petkovsek and Swindell, a lefty pitcher who appeared in the 1989 MLB All-Star game and won a World Series ring as part of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, played college baseball together for the Texas Longhorns. In fact, in Petkovsek’s recruiting visit to Texas, he was hosted by Swindell.
“I joked we may need a translator with all the Texas drawl we’ll hear in our dugout,” said Swanson.
Swindell won a World Series while pitching for Arizona in 2001.
The three have had a close friendship ever since. Haney guided the HarbourCats to within one game of the WCL title in 2019, and his 39 wins that season is the third-highest total in league history.
“I’ve talked to Greg about this for a few years, and he was in Victoria before (with wife Sarah) on a cruise ship stop, so he knows what a great city it is,” said Haney. “The timing is right for him now, and we’re glad to have him. We all know what it takes to prepare and be successful in this game, to the highest level.”
Haney, who played for the Cubs, Expos and Mets, and Swindell coached together in the summer of 2020 in an impromptu pro league that popped up during the pandemic, when the WCL was on hiatus.
Petkovsek pitched for the Rangers, Pirates, Cardinals and Angels between 1991 and 2001, going 46-28 with a 4.74 ERA.
“I know what kind of coaches and people Todd and Mark are, and what Todd says about the HarbourCats program,” said Swindell, who played for Cleveland (twice), Houston, Minnesota, Arizona, Cincinnati and Boston, going 123-122 with a 3.89 ERA, with a whopping 664 appearances. The 56-year-old won at least 10 games six times, and after retiring in 2002 he has been inducted in both the College Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
“I fell in love with Victoria very quickly, and a summer there in such great weather helping players strive for improvement, working with close friends who are accomplished professionals themselves, is something I really look forward to.”
Swindell (top left), his wife Sarah and his four children (front, L to R, Hayley, Dawson, Brenna, Sophia) are looking forward to travelling to Victoria and working with the HarbourCats.
Swindell has been a successful coach at the college level, including at Texas, along with media and charity work since his playing days. He was on the coaching staff for the 2005 College World Series championship team from Texas. He’s currently part of Longhorns baseball broadcasts.
Summer Collegiate
Victoria HarbourCats – Peninsula Co-op partners to bring community events to HarbourCats games
VICTORIA — The ghosts of the not-so-distant past will be returning to the hallowed grounds of Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park this spring, bringing back memories of small-diamond excellence of yesteryear.
The Victoria HarbourCats and the HarbourCats Foundation are proud to announce the Emery Electric Fastpitch Showcase will take place on May 31, featuring two teams with designs on making their way to major events — the Sooke Loggers to the Canadian championship, and the Lacey A’s to the ISC World Championship in Minnesota later this summer.
Famed teams like Bate Construction, Budget, Payless, Royals and Traveler’s Inn have not been forgotten in these parts, when world-class windmill-style softball was the talk of the town in summer and filled the seats of the stadium at the corner of Caledonia and Vancouver with regularity. Who can stifle a smile when the name Stuffy McInnis comes up?
“This is an exciting event for us to add, and to salute the history of fastpitch in Victoria — as a former fastball player myself, I’m excited to see these games,” said Jim Swanson, managing partner of the HarbourCats.
The Sooke Loggers and Lacey A’s will face off in the Emery Electric Fastpitch Showcase, on Saturday, May 31 — a doubleheader starting at 4pm and played on the field that the HarbourCats now call home, developing players who move on to the Major League Baseball level (seven in total since 2013, that number growing to as many as 10 with the MLB season a month away).
Many members of the Sooke Loggers are in the mix for ongoing Team Canada duty, including catcher Blake Hunter.
“Many of us grew up watching or hearing the stories about the games and the legends that competed at RAP but most of us were too young to have had the opportunity to play here,” said Hunter.
“To be given the opportunity to play here and add to the rich history of our game at RAP is something we will all embrace.”
Tickets for the event are already available HERE. The field will be adjusted for the pitching rubber and 60-ft basepaths.
Reggie Underwood
Many of the great fastpitch players of the past will be invited to the game to be introduced to the crowd prior to the first game. The HarbourCats were proud to sponsor the induction of late fastball star Dennis Eckert into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in October.
Following the Emery Electric Fastpitch Showcase, the Sooke Loggers and Lacey A’s will continue the weekend series on Sunday, June 1, with a doubleheader at Hyacinth Park, starting at 10am.
The HarbourCats will be opening their WCL baseball season on the road that weekend, returning for the home opener on Friday, June 6, against the Port Angeles Lefties, with tickets for that already available HERE.
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