Giants tower over MJBL competition

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This article was published 06/07/2023 (837 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Elmwood Giants may not have looked like their dominant selves at the start of the 2023 Manitoba Junior Baseball League, but they have caught fire at the perfect time as they try to capture their sixth consecutive league title.

After starting the 24-game MJBL season with a record of 7-8, the Giants rattled off nine straight wins vaulting the five-time defending champions to a record of 16-8 and finishing the season in first place after Thursday’s 12-8 win over the Winnipeg South Wolves.

The Giants slow start can in part be attributed to roster turnover. The Elmwood squad lost six senior starters from last year’s team whose veteran presence was crucial to the team’s past glory.

“The group we had last year had already been together for multiple years, we had a good leadership structure in place. (This year,) we had to rebuild all that and find new leaders, and get to know all the new young guys and everything,” said centre-fielder Justin Scott.

Scott, 22, is in his fourth and final season with the Giants. The outfielder had already shown a knack for getting on base prior to this season having hit lead-off in the past three seasons and winning the league batting title in 2022. This season, Scott has taken on more of a leadership role within the team.

“One of the coaches approached me early on in the year and said that I have to kind of step up in that manner and lead this team,” said the 22-year-old outfielder.

Scott has been crucial to the Giants success this season, heading into Thursday’s game against the Wolves he had racked up 26 hits — second only to Altona’s Isaiah Letkeman — and boasted an on-base percentage of .542. Despite his already impressive numbers, Giants head coach Ed Kulyk believes Scott’s best baseball may still be yet to come.

“Justin Scott has been our lead-off hitter for the last three years, he won the batting title last year and he’s not even close to being where he can be yet, but he puts a lot of pressure on himself to be successful and to lead the guys as a lead-off hitter but when he goes, we go,” said Kulyk.

As for pitching, 20-year-old Tyler Smith has been Elmwood’s ace. Smith has been nearly unhittable this season posting a 1.62 ERA, which ranks third in the MJBL among qualified starters and leads the league in both wins with seven and strikeouts with an astonishing 60.

Smith points to his mentality on the mound as the reason for his success so far.

“I’ve always had that bulldog mentality,” said Smith. “My mentality going out there is that I’m going to strike every single one of the guys out, I know it’s not going to happen, but just to have that mentality is huge, you’re either going to stay in the game and work through it or you’re going to back out and I’m never one of those guys to back out.”

Kulyk said the hurler’s intense demeanour has had a positive effect on his teammates.

“He’s our go-to guy, guys just look up to him and they just want to compete for him and with him… he’s a very intense young gentleman and he’s having a heck of a year for sure.”

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Tyler takes after his father, Donnie Smith, who played for the Winnipeg Goldeyes for eight seasons from 1998-2006, with whom he posted an incredible 3.22 career ERA. Donnie’s number was retired by the Goldeyes and he was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012. Donnie has joined the Elmwood coaching staff as a pitching and third-base coach.

Looking ahead to the playoffs, Kulyk emphasized three keys for his squad to take care of so they can continue their winning ways and take home a sixth straight league championship.

“We got three things. Our pitchers need to throw strikes. Our defence needs to make outs and not errors. Offensively, we need to have quality at bats, and if we have quality at bats and go up to bat with a plan we should do alright,” said Kulyk.

As a result of the Giants winning the MJBL title last season, Kulyk and his coaching staff must also look ahead to the 2023 U22 Baseball Canada men’s national championships that will be hosted by Stonewall from Aug. 3 to 6. Kulyk will coach the Manitoba entry team that will be made up of last year’s title team and supplemented with all stars from other Manitoba teams.

donald.stewart@freepress.mb.ca