Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

Episode 301: Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson, Carter Beck & Tim Piasentin

Talk about a hard-hitting edition of the podcast! We catch up with a trio of players who had 2024 seasons to remember, starting with Dawgs Academy and Okotoks Dawgs alum Matt Wilkinson, who had an incredible first professional year split between Single-A and High-A in the Cleveland Guardians system. Then we catch up with Western Canadian Baseball League Rookie of the Year and Top Canadian Carter Beck of the Saskatoon Berries. And we wrap things up with Dawgs Academy product and Canadian Futures Showcase Home Run Derby champion Tim Piasentin.
3:24 - Matt Wilkinson
16:08 - Carter Beck
29:54 - Tim Piasentin

Episode 300: Quincy Jenkins, Cohen Miller & Merek Yeager

First off, THANK YOU for all your support as we mark our 300th episode of the show! Whether it's your first or your 300th listen, we truly appreciate you taking the time each week since Oct. 2018. As always, we check in on the big news of the past week then we're joined by a trio of guests from the Canadian Futures Showcase. We'll hear from Dawgs Academy speedster Quincy Jenkins, Webber Academy slugger Cohen Miller and Saskatoon Berries Academy hurler Merek Yeager about their respective journeys in the game of baseball.
7:58 - Quincy Jenkins
20:59 - Cohen Miller
36:23 - Merek Yeager

Episode 299: Taylor Burns, Clayton Keyes & Max Poirier

What a few weeks it's been for Edmonton's Erik Sabrowski. The Absolute Human Performance alum continues to be a big piece of the Cleveland Guardians bullpen after getting called up at the end of August. We catch up with AHP founder Taylor Burns to talk about Sabrowski's journey and how Guardians games are now "can't miss TV" at their headquarters. We then catch up with Dawgs Academy alum Clayton Keyes, who has had a challenging couple of years after helping Southwestern win the NAIA championship in 2022. He made his pro debut this summer after a lengthy wait for a work visa. Then we head to the Canadian Futures Showcase to chat with Dawgs product and Junior National Team pitcher Max Poirier to talk about his journey from Saskatchewan to BC to Alberta.
5:58 - Taylor Burns
23:06 - Clayton Keyes
38:50 - Max Poirier

Episode 298: Landon Kauffman, Langdyn Cummins, Trentin Kooy & Miguel Tetreault

As the baseball season winds down this fall, we take a look at some of the big highlights of a busy week, then look ahead to the upcoming Canadian Futures Showcase in Toronto with four athletes who will be looking to make an impression. Hear from Dawgs Academy product Landon Kauffman (Vancouver), Vauxhall Academy outfielder Langdyn Cummins (Taber), Going Yard Goats outfielder Trentin Kooy (Saskatoon) and AHP Academy shortstop Miguel Tetreault (Fort McMurray).
4:53 - Landon Kauffman
23:44 - Langdyn Cummins
27:51 - Trentin Kooy
33:47 - Miguel Tetreault

Episode 297: Matt Stairs

We start off the episode by recapping the MLB debut of St. Albert's own Erik Sabrowski, who went 1+ inning of shutout baseball in relief for the Cleveland Guardians in a 4-1 loss to Kansas City. We then take a look at some of the other major storylines, before we catch up with former MLB slugger and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame member Matt Stairs, who was recently named a hitting coordinator with Dawgs Academy in Okotoks.

Episode 296: Jake Brooks, Claire Hingley & Tylor Jans

It was another crazy week for baseball in Alberta, highlighted by Erik Sabrowski being called up by the Cleveland Guardians. We recap the week in news, then are joined by Baseball Canada 18U National champion Jake Brooks of the Red Deer CarStar Braves, 16U Girls National silver medalist Claire Hingley and Edmonton Riverhawks veteran Tylor Jans to talk about their summers and more.
4:56 - Jake Brooks
21:08 - Claire Hingley
33:59 - Tylor Jans

Episode 295: Medicine Hat Little League Mavs, Baseball Alberta 14U Champs & Dom Morgan

We have seen some outstanding performances from Alberta teams in recent weeks, so we thought it'd be a good time to catch up with a few of them. This week, you'll hear from Medicine Hat Major Mavs coaches Steve Russell and Aaron Lybbert as they look back at the team's outstanding performance at the Canadian Little League Championships, where they finished one win away from going to Williamsport. We also sit down with Baseball Alberta 14U Girls coach Geoff Hall after that team won Western Regional gold for a third year in a row. And we get to know AHP Academy product Dom Morgan (St. Albert) as he just came back from a trip with the Baseball Canada Junior National Team and will soon be heading to the Canadian Futures Showcase.
4:56 - Steve Russel and Aaron Lybbert
23:06 - Geoff Hall
35:34 - Dom Morgan

Episode 294: Dawgs Repeat the Three-Peat

For the eighth time in team history and the third-straight season, the Okotoks Dawgs are Western Canadian Baseball League champions. After outlasting the Lethbridge Bulls and Sylvan Lake Gulls in the first round of the playoffs, they battled through a classic best-of-three series with the Moose Jaw Miller Express, winning game three 6-5 thanks to a walk-off solo home run from local product Connor Crowson. We take a look back at the series, then feature a series of interviews heard in Seaman Stadium and on the HomeTeam Live broadcast, including players and coaches for both teams as well as league president Kevin Kvame.

Episode 293: WCBL Championship Preview

We have several guests lined up for this week's episode as we take a look back at the first two rounds of the Western Canadian Baseball League playoffs and look ahead to the best-of-three championship between the Okotoks Dawgs and Moose Jaw Miller Express. You'll hear from:
Okotoks Dawgs - head coach Lou Pote as well as players Brendan Luther, Tucker Zdunich, Brock Townsend (and his father Bill), Graham Brunner, Logan Grant and Ashton Luera
Sylvan Lake Gulls - head coach Jason Chatwood and player Elijha Hammill
Moose Jaw Miller Express - head coach Eric Marriott and player Nate Mensik

Episode 292: Cassie Matlock, Josh Zanolli & Easton Kitura

We are getting into a busy part of the baseball season with championship weekends at a number of levels. We get through a ton of news before we catch up with Baseball Canada Women's National Team member Cassie Matlock after winning bronze at the Women's Baseball World Cup. Then we sit down with Red Deer Braves coach Josh Zanolli after they claimed the Baseball Alberta Elite League title. And we wrap things up with Vauxhall Academy product and Team Alberta infielder Easton Kitura as he's been named to the upcoming Canadian Futures Showcase.
4:15 - Cassie Matlock
20:53 - Josh Zanolli
32:13 - Easton Kitura

Episode 291: Ava Greiner, Zac Foden & The Rest of the Saskatchewan Trip

Time to get back into some sense of normalcy! After having a couple of episodes each week for the last couple of weeks, we are going back to our weekly episodes (for now anyways). This week, we try to put the wraps on the news side of things in what's been a busy little while. Then we sit down with Baseball Alberta product and Women's National Team invitee Ava Greiner (Stettler) to talk about the World Cup roster tryout, we sit down with Dawgs Academy pitcher and Canadian Futures Showcase invitee Zac Foden (Edmonton) and we put the wraps on Ian's family trip to Saskatchewan with visits from Austin Gurney (Moose Jaw Miller Express), Brody Alexandre (Swift Current 57s), Oakland Flodell (Saskatoon Berries) and Mike Singleton (Saskatoon Berries).
5:07 - Ava Greiner
17:01 - Zac Foden
30:01 - Austin Gurney
36:02 - Brody Alexandre
40:20 - Oakland Flodell
46:24 - Mike Singleton

Episode 290: Alberta's Influence on the 2024 MLB Draft

The 2024 MLB Draft might be one for the record books in Alberta. For the first time since 2015, an Albertan was taken in the first three rounds of the draft (Nathan Flewelling) while a total of five Albertans were taken in the 20 rounds, something that hasn't happened since 2011. We break down the numbers, then chat with three Albertans, a Canadian who trained here and an American whose career was resurrected by coming to our province.
2:42 - Nathan Flewelling
9:20 - Cohen Achen
17:05 - Owen Pote
26:58 - Micah McDowell
34:06 - Eric Rataczak