Episode 33 feat. Bob Lipman - Play by Play Analyst for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

We had the legendary Bob Lipman, play by play for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats for over 20 years joined us to talk about the Double A Affiliates and the history of the franchise. We talked about how he started becoming the the play by play guy, players in the past who he covered had illustrious careers, favorite teams he watched, current players on the MLB roster who is having success in the majors, how important is Vlad and Bo to the Blue Jays organization, how much of a surprise of a success John Schneider is having with the Jays as a manager, recapping the 2025 Fisher Cats season and what were ups and down, and many more!

Where you can find Bob Lipman:

1. X: @bob_lipman
2. X: @Fishercats
3. IG : fishercats

Episode Transcript

(00:30):
Welcome to another edition of the Blue Jays Ave.
Podcast. We have a special, special guest
in here and we went through great lengths to go get this
guest and he's a good one and this is going to be a good
episode. Bob Libman, play by play guy for
the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and the unofficial historian for

(00:52):
the Fisher Cats for over 20 years.
Bob, welcome to the show. We are honored, we are
privileged, and thank you for taking your time to to join us
today. Yeah, no problem Rocky.
Glad to do it. Always good to to talk about the
Fisher Cats and especially this time of year, the Blue Jays.

(01:12):
Yeah, thanks for joining us, man.
It's really a great time to be aBlue Jays fan and there's lots
going on. It's been a great year for the
farm systems as well. So we're excited to have you,
man. Just just overjoyed that you're
able to join us today, man. It's it's awesome.
Thank you. You're welcome.

(01:33):
It's kind of, it's kind of amazing that my entire time here
with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, we started in 2004, the
Blue Jays became a AA affiliate in the Eastern League the year
before that. So the entire time that I've
been with the Fisher Cats, we'vebeen we've been joined with the

(01:56):
Toronto Blue Jays. And it's been a lot of fun to
get to know a lot of people overthe years.
And it's certainly enjoyable to be able to sit and watch this
team and see where we where thisall goes.
Yeah, it's an awesome time to bea Jays fan.
And you know, it's remarkable that they pulled a 180 from top

(02:17):
to bottom, which is unprecedented.
And we don't see teams take takea turn around in the
organization as a whole throughout the year.
But let me ask you this, since you talked about being a day one
guy for the Fisher Cats, how didyou get this job?
And I'm fascinated to see, you know, being being with the
Fisher Cats pretty much the whole time since this franchise

(02:41):
started. Like, how did it begin?
How did the journey start for you?
Sure. I, I had about 20 years of
experience in news and sports working in radio in New
Hampshire. And when the Fisher Cats came in
that the station that I was working for, I was the one that
stepped up and, and said, you know, we'd be happy to carry

(03:03):
your games home and away. They needed announcers.
And I, along with at the time Mike Murphy, still a good friend
of mine and is working at the University of New Hampshire.
We're the ones who were asked tobe the first voices of the
Fisher Cats. And although my role is, is
reduced a little bit as I've gotten older and busier, I've

(03:25):
been been able to say that I've been a part of a Fisher Cats
baseball. Now we just finished our 21st
season. So I happened to be lucky right
guy in the right place. I had had no minor league
experience. I had done a little bit of
college summer baseball, but that's how I ended up working
with New Hampshire. So would you say out of all the

(03:50):
guys you've covered over the years in New Hampshire, who
would you say is the guy that had the utmost talent that you
had covered over those years? Well, I think you already know
the answer to that. By the way, how many players do
you think we've had in 21 years,664 have worn the Fisher Cats
uniform. Now, some of those are the

(04:12):
rehabbers cause I, I counted those in the roster.
But Vlady is at the top of the list.
I mean, there isn't any questionthat when, when he got here in
2018, what we had that, that, that terrific young core with,
with him and with Bouchet and with Cavan Biggio at the, at the
time, who ended up, I think, being the MVP of our league that

(04:35):
year, that, that something special was coming.
There are very few players that you see who dominate AA hitting
in our league like the way that Vladimir Guerrero junior did,
and he was a pleasure to watch and so he's obviously at the top
of the list. Who would you say besides those

(04:57):
three, because we're gonna talk OK about Vitin Bone later, but
in your eyes, anybody else that you covered throughout your
time? Because we know that bladed
board special guys. But and we're gonna like I said,
we're going to talk about it. But like anybody else that comes
in mind that you thought was so good and was so talented and and
thinking that they had a decent MLB career.

(05:22):
You know, the Blue Jays have given us a lot of pitching, so
let's stay with the hitters for a minute.
We have, And you'll know this name because if you've followed
Blue Jays baseball in recent years, you realize he's pretty
good. And that's a Gabby Moreno,
Gabriel. Moreno.
Who came through as a catcher here?

(05:43):
And you, if you watched him in the first 6-7 weeks of the
season back when we had him, yousaid can't miss.
This is perhaps a future Hall ofFame catcher and the Blue Jays
ended up having to, you know, making the decision to go in a
different direction, trade him away and and get Major League

(06:05):
talent. And we can talk about that
during the what this show is about, because that's what what
that's half of what developing prospects is all about is to be
able to make your team better, either by bringing guys up to
play for your team or trading them away as young players and
getting somebody who can help you at the Major League level.
But Moreno, he had numbers in New Hampshire that no one had

(06:32):
touched until Vlady Guerrero. So that was clearly one of the
players. Another guy who has had a a nice
Major League career who use we saw as like a 2021 year old was
Travis Darnell and who's gone onto apple his Major League
career. Another catcher came to the Blue

(06:55):
Jays organization for the Roy holiday deal and ended up
helping to lead us to what was at the time our second
championship in in 2011. He was a really nice, good
player early on. Probably our biggest and best
young hitter that we had was Travis Snyder, who was another

(07:17):
guy who who made it up to the major leagues and had a little
bit of a time there. So maybe those are the some of
the best offensive players that we've had.
We've had a lot of guys with a lot of skills that have come
through who have hit in the major leagues, but maybe they've
been some of the most successful.

(07:41):
So let me ask you this question now.
This is the next question I wantto ask you is who is the, the
talent that you saw thinking that this player had great
potential to have a a really good career, but just never
really lived up to it? Because I have a couple of names
in mind who I thought could havebeen.

(08:01):
But you know, maybe it's due to injuries.
Maybe it's due to the fact that there was bigger competition or
regression. Like who is the guys you think
in in your mind that that had that potential but was short of
their career? All right, so let's let me think
through that a little bit. OK, when when we were we had a

(08:32):
wow. Alright, let let me think about
that for a little bit. What else?
What else we have and I'll, I'llsee if I can come in.
First played for you guys alright.
Yes, and you there's a good player that's that's a good name
of a guy who got sidelined by injury.
Anthony, I think had a, a 42 game on base streak for us over

(08:56):
the the course of that 2017 season when he was so good and,
and made his way up towards the major leagues that I know that,
you know, they're playing for the Blue Jays was his dream come
true. So that's that's a really good
name for sure. We had a pitcher named Henderson

(09:17):
Alvarez back in the day 2011 looked like he was gonna get he.
I think he threw a no hitter forthe Florida Marlins after after
leaving New Hampshire. Didn't quite pan out the way I
thought it was going to. What about?
What about Daniel Norris? Are well Norris did fine in the

(09:43):
Blue Jays system. He did.
I think he was. He was traded to the to the
Tigers as part of that David Price Steel.
Along with you know and you knowwho we met.
Boyd and Matt Boyd LaPorte. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That one that I thought Daniel Norris would have been a guy,
but he just never really turned out to be that.

(10:06):
And he was the top 100 prospect,did so many rankings overall.
He just never stood out. I just didn't know what happened
to him, and I know that he was living in that.
What was that? The wagon?
Whatever it is they were, you know, he was driving.
VW. VW.
Yeah. The happy Van man.

(10:26):
Yeah, yeah. So recent vintage Austin Martin
has kind of been a little bit ofa of an injured kind of player.
I came from Vanderbilt was he was very highly regarded, of
course, when he came here. Yeah.
And and Jordan Groshans, they were both playing in our infield

(10:47):
together just a good a couple ofyears ago.
Right, yeah, I thought, I thought Grocers was gonna be a
stud to be on and you just never.
Been had some foot issues and still trying to find his way
there a little bit. But let well.
Let me ask you, Romero, maybe another good name.

(11:09):
Of that's a good. Guy, you know, a little bit
older, yeah, you know that you kind of thought and and he's
certainly had an All Star seasonwith the Blue Jays, but it
didn't, it didn't quite pan out maybe as much as you would have
thought. And Aaron Sanchez of recent.
Vintage injuries got to him. Yeah.

(11:31):
So yeah, that it was a big factor for him.
What about Adam Lynn? Adam Lynn had a good start.
Career. Information.
How many home runs is Vladdy hitnow in his career?
But I think that as of today, Adam Lind is still the Fisher
Cat who has hit more home runs than any Fisher Cat alum in the

(11:56):
major leagues. He's he.
He had 200. Where's Vladimir's 183 going
into Where? Where, Where we're talking
tonight. So yeah, Adam Lind is, is one of
the best players that we've everhad in he, he was an MVP in
2006. He was only here for one year.
OK. That's interesting.

(12:19):
And if the if it works, right, they are only here for one year,
right? Because they should be playing
in Vancouver one year, in New Hampshire one year, in Buffalo
one year, and then by the next year you're in the majors.
So who do you say is the most surprising player to you who had
who actually, you know, had a decent career that you wouldn't

(12:41):
have thought, you know, like that guy was stand out, but he
actually ended up being pretty darn good in the majors.
I'll throw you out three names and we'll kind of go
chronologically. Alright, I'll start in the very
beginning with Eric Kratz. Do you know Eric Kratz is?
Yes, absolutely, Eric Catcher. Eric, Eric Eric came here as a

(13:03):
catcher. Eastern Mennonite University,
you probably would have thought he was the 3rd catcher at at the
AA level. And he went on to have, you
know, a pretty nice Major Leaguecareer, played it over 300 Major
League games. I think he's doing some
broadcasting now. And the the crazy thing about it

(13:28):
is, I mean, he played very little for Toronto, but he
played for 9 different Major League teams over his career.
And it's pretty wild to watch him develop.
And I think one of the reasons why was although he was never a
great offensive hitter, found a way sometimes to get the ball
out of the park, But he just called a great game and pitchers

(13:49):
loved working with him and, and he was one of those kind of
quiet leaders on the field. So that's one guy, right?
Let's see. I'll throw out the the second
kind of improbable guy that had seemed was was not necessarily
destined for a long career was Kevin Pillar and Pilar, who had

(14:11):
a just recently retired this past year.
It's not that he didn't succeed in the Blue Jays organization,
just kind of felt that he was one of those guys drafted in the
32nd round, was never being given serious consideration.
And all he did was go out and and bust his hump and and play

(14:33):
every single day. And in the end, you know, he
went on to to have a pretty niceMajor League career.
And I think in the long run, you'd be pretty happy with the
with the way that it all turned out.
And another guy, an infielder who you probably might not have
expected was John Birdie. What Birdie was was kind of that

(14:57):
utility infielder guy. And he made his way to Major
League rosters and his done the job.
And although again, getting a little older now, but it's kind
of fun to to watch him. So those were three guys who
spent probably more than their share of time at the AA level.
And you those are the kind of guys that I find that I root for

(15:21):
because I see them so far, so more so much more often than
than some of the other guys. And you know what?
I'll throw one more name. I'm sure he's not listening, but
Austin Bibens Dirks, who's who'snow our yeah, coach, he was kind
of like a he was gonna be a professional minor league

(15:43):
pitcher and ended up having a a three-year career in in the
major leagues. And he's kind of been the guy
who has has helped work with a lot of these young pitchers here
over the last couple of years. And I saw Trey, a Savage, gave
him a little bit of a shout out as he was making his way through

(16:03):
the system. This.
Year what? What about a guy like Casey
Janssen who played for you guys?I think it was back in.
Back in what year was that there?
He played on the Fisher Cats. Let's see, he. 5. 1005, yeah,
Rehabbed with us in 09 and 11 and in 14.

(16:24):
So he put together right at a pretty solid resume in the in
the major leagues, but if you watched him, he had Major League
stuff. Oh, absolutely.
Casey was was gonna be I, I didn't know at the time because
you probably figured he was going to be a starting pitcher
and that's the way, you know, a lot of them start.

(16:48):
But he for he put together a a really nice back end of the
bullpen for the Blue Jays littleover 10 years ago now.
Yeah. So who would?
You say was is your most favorite team that you have
covered so far in your career? I have to pick out one out of

(17:11):
664 players who played for us. No team, team.
I'm talking about the. Team the team like over the
years like what's your favorite fish cats team?
We've won three titles, the O 4,they're all, they're all special
in their own way. 2004 was crazy, right?

(17:35):
Because here we are. The team had just moved from New
Haven, CT. They moved into a renovated high
school field here in New Hampshire.
Blue Jays put artificial turf down.
It seated barely 4000 people, still a high school football and

(17:55):
baseball field. And this team kind of out of
nowhere wins in Eastern League championship.
We took over first place in mid August and then you're thinking,
wow, this is this is pretty good.
This is a pretty easy. The big stud on that 2004 team
was a guy who went on to have a nice career with the Blue Jays

(18:17):
and Gustavo, which has seen Gus Chasin went 16 and two pitching
for us in that 2004 season. So that team was really special.
We didn't win again for seven years.
And the I mentioned the Roy Halliday deal that brought us
Kyle Drabek, son of a Sai Young Award winner, Travis Garneau,

(18:41):
Anthony Gose, who at the time was the fastest guy in the
organization, helped build the Fisher Cats into a 2011
championship team. And that one, maybe top to
bottom talent wise, was the besttheme that we had had maybe
still is when you look at that roster, the best team that we've

(19:04):
ever had. And then 2018, of course, was
was so special because it was sodifferent.
Why we would roll into a, you know, a visiting hotel, say in
Trenton, NJ with the boys on it at 2:00 in the morning.
We'd get off the bus and there'slike 30 or 40 people that were

(19:27):
looking for autographs. Like they knew where Vlad and Bo
and, and Kavin and those guys were Harold Ramirez on, on that
team. And another key part.
So it was a, it was a, it was really pretty, pretty fun to
watch how, how that all came together.

(19:48):
And while every season can't be a championship season, what we
we keep looking for what the Blue Jays find and in some of
these prospects and you hope that they move on to another
level and you're finding some hits, that's for sure.
You know, you mentioned Harold Ramirez and and I remember

(20:09):
watching him play for you guys and that was when he really
caught my eye and I thought like, there's something good in
this kid. Like, I don't know what it is,
but he's almost like one of those players that, you know,
you just, you know, he ended up having a pretty darn good Major
League career and, you know, butyou didn't really think of him

(20:30):
as that high-end type prospect, but he had a great career, you
know, so it's, it's interesting to he, he was an interesting
player. I've always liked him.
Yep, kind of got it done in in alot of different ways.
And I think that when you you typically when you get to the AA
level, you know, there's maybe one or two things that you kind

(20:52):
of need to work on and, and he certainly figured it out.
Vladdy was gone in the back halfof the the 2018 season for the
Fisher Cats. He was promoted after he went to
his dad's in induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He went up to Buffalo after thatand Harold Ramirez stepped up

(21:15):
and provided a big spark there offensively towards the end of
that season that helped carry the Fisher Cats to a title.
So who are some of the other guy, some current Blue Jays,
some of the guys on the current Blue Jays roster that we're
talking about there in the that have have played in the playoffs
right now that played for you guys like Brayden Fisher and and

(21:35):
Addison Barger and and Mason Fluidity.
And there's one more name I'm forgetting here.
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, Trey, your savage, of course, right?
But but yeah, tell us about someof those guys.
David Schneider's the other one.Yeah, David Schneider, that's
the one I was thinking of. Thank you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just yeah. Talk about some of those guys

(21:57):
and, and, and what you know, what they what you've noticed
that they've done to help, you know, further their careers and
get themselves playing well on the Blue Jays roster, helping
them at a pivotal time in the world, you know, other route to
try and win this World Series. It's it's really taking
advantage of when the Major League team gives you the
opportunities and you know, it maybe for for for a lot of those

(22:21):
guys that you just mentioned andwe're not there with you Savage
yet. It's you're you're going to get
multiple opportunities. Brayden Fischer played that role
perfectly, didn't he this year? I mean, he was Toronto, Buffalo,
Toronto, Buffalo. He's like every time the Blue
Jays needed an extra right hand bullpen arm, you know, they'd go

(22:42):
to Brayden and they'd bring him up.
They needed the lefty. You know, maybe it was Flaharty
who came up or, or one of the other guys, the David Schneider
and Addison Barger were two guysthat if you would watch them
play, you knew that they had theskills and, you know, when was
going to be their time. And, and both of them now are

(23:05):
kind of filling the roles that they're being asked to.
They're being put in the right position to succeed.
And and that's all that that's all that you can hope for is to
get that opportunity and and to try to make it happen.
So. Let's talk about the two most

(23:27):
important players, and we talkedabout Vlad and Bo, and they're
still with this organization. You brought about, you know,
Vlad as a player, what he did inthe minors, and how important
are those two guys right now? And I know Bose heard at the
moment, but talk about those guys, how poor they were growing
up together, being around this foundation and being

(23:50):
cornerstones of this fragile. I don't know what's going to
happen to Beau, but Vlad definitely.
So talk about those two, seeing them growing up together,
building around them being successful in the majors right
now. Well, I mean, I, it certainly
helps right from, from a confidence standpoint to have
the guys with you. They're all smart enough to

(24:13):
understand how the baseball business world works.
And just because, you know, you've been brought along, you
know, there's no guarantee that it's, that it's going to click
long term or, or really forever.But the fact that they were both
so tied to Major League Baseballbefore they ever, you know,

(24:38):
before they ever grew up. I mean, think about, you know,
the pictures that we keep seeingof the, of the young kids and,
and being around the, the Major League locker rooms and out on
the field. I love looking at those like
four and five year old Vlad Guerrero pictures.
But but you realize they all kind of had the, the knowledge

(25:02):
of, of how it all works together.
They protect each other. They, they do everything they
can to to help each other. And we're talking about Vlad and
Bo. And you know, if we're fortunate
enough that this all comes together for the 2026 season,
I'm personally not quite there ready to look at that yet.

(25:23):
But hopefully, you know, there'san opportunity that they'll be
able to play together. And if not, they're gonna be
lifelong friends without any question.
It's it's I feel so bad for Beaubecause he he really works so
crazy hard to make to make this game fun and and a success.

(25:49):
And and now to watch him have togo through another period here
of an injury and he's and he's missing these games.
I know there was talk that he was going to try to get back for
the championship series. And in the end, they probably
made the right decision that they needed to have the 26
healthiest and and ready to go players on this roster.

(26:11):
And, and I hope that, you know, before long, Bob's going to get
an opportunity to play in in thepostseason again.
I don't think he would mind coming back to Toronto and and
playing with Laddie. We expect is going to be here
for a long, long time. And, and maybe Beau will get

(26:31):
that opportunity as well. But you know, can we put John
Schneider on the list there too,because he's been with Vlad and
Bo since, I mean, before they got here, the right they, they
were in Dunedin together. I think they were in Vancouver
before that together, they were in New Hampshire together and

(26:53):
and now they've been in the major leagues together and to
have that guy at the top who kind of knows how it all works
helps as well. So you just mentioned John
Schneider. He was there in 2019 and and did

(27:13):
it shock you when they chose John to be the leader of this
core and, and the job he's doingright now?
It like is any of this surprise you what the Blue Jays are
doing, what he's done to help further the Blue Jays in in
their quest to, you know, win the division and and ultimately

(27:34):
try and you know, will beat the Mariners and and advance the
World Series. I'll answer your question this
way. It's a surprise because he
hadn't done it before, right? And your Toronto, a major market
team with aspirations of, of championship baseball, went to a
guy with nothing more than, you know, Major League bench

(27:58):
experience. So it surprised me from that
standpoint. I wish I could tell you what
makes a a successful Major League manager other than he's
got better talent than you do. Uh, John Schneider has that
personality that he's, he's not anti media.

(28:23):
He developed those kind of relationships.
I think he won points that way and you know, the results on the
field. He's that guy who is going to be
confident in in what he's putting out there and I really
AM and thrilled for him. You know, he played for us.

(28:43):
He was. He was a Fisher Cat as a player,
as a catcher back guy awesome back in the early part of his
career. How often do you see that a
player who also like a player who managed this team as well,
that ends up being the manager of the big league team?
Like you just don't see that. You don't.
You don't see that. So let's talk about the other

(29:05):
managers that's managed this franchise.
Like we could talk about Mike Basso, who's the the first
manager of this team and Doug Davis and Gary Gary Cathcart.
Louise Rivera was part of this team and he was a with the Major
League roster for the Blue Jays in the 2000 tens, right?
And he was a big part of that 1516 team as a third base coach

(29:29):
and an infield coach. But talk about all the rest of
the managers, how they were and you know, compare contrast at at
the success all those guys had. We've had, we've had minor
league managers with Major League Baseball experience right

(29:52):
when you, when you take a look at those names, you didn't read
all the names through. Bobby Beach.
You didn't wanna, Jeff. Bobby Meacham was our manager
for four years and Meech played,had a Major League career with
the Yankees. He's still the manager of the
Hartford Yard Goats, the RockiesAA club in our league.
So we see, we see him all the time as pleasant a guy as as you

(30:16):
would want it to to meet and wasalways there to support his his
players. Another player manager that we
had two self Asano one the 2011 title as our skipper came back
the next year as well. He's still, I think he was with

(30:36):
the Angels as a, as a bench coach this year and a guy who he
knew his baseball from just playing so many games, major and
minor leagues and had such a, such a passion for it.
Gary Allenson was a, was a manager of the Fisher Cats.

(30:56):
He had a, he was a, a Red Sox catcher we've had the last
couple of years before we got tothis year.
Cesar Martine was our manager for four years.
And while Cesar never had the Major League experience, he
brought that ability to bring all of our Latin players

(31:19):
together. And it that's such A and Luis
Rivera was the same way to be able to to help develop players
who you might not be able to communicate with as well, you
know, being a someone who might not speak Spanish, they've

(31:40):
helped carry carry it along as well.
I think when Luis Rivera was ourmanager, he took us to the 2010
playoffs, which kind of set the stage for that next year.
Pete Walker was our pitching coach and and look at the career
of course that that Pete has developed.
Pete's been long time now with the the Blue Jays and the major

(32:02):
leagues. I would say he's probably the
best pitching coach in the sport.
If you look at the longevity andtrack record and the success of
pitchers that becomes Cy Young winners or top saw young
finalists like it's a rarity that, you know, withstanding for
this long. And still with the Jayden,
they're back in the playoffs. And he's a big part of that

(32:24):
reasoning, right? So and give credit to Mark
Shapiro for holding it out once he became the president, right?
And it you know what, there there are a lot of teams that
are real quick to pull plugs on coaches that they don't think
that are, you know, getting it done.
But Pete Walker certainly got itdone in the major leagues.

(32:47):
And I'll just stand corrected onthis.
People was our pitching coach in2011 when we won the title.
OK, OK, even better, right. So there's a track record there
too. So how about that, the current
manager, Brett Lavalley? How would you?
Wow, yes, well. That's for him a little bit.
Ohe Valley. OK, yeah.

(33:08):
And he was. He was just great to work with.
Team didn't didn't win perhaps as as often as could be.
But just like a lot of these, these guys in the in the minor
leagues, they you lose a game oryou have a bad outing, they've
got to get you ready to play that next game.

(33:30):
Brent is certainly in that mold of we're gonna try to accentuate
the positives. We're not we're not gonna dwell
on the negatives. We're gonna try to correct them,
get you better for the next timeout.
Didn't show favoritism, you know, from that standpoint and

(33:51):
from my idea and being a Canadian again, a guy who
probably could have stayed in Vancouver and been very
comfortable to, to pack up the bags and come all the way to New
Hampshire to spend 5 months of the year.
We were very fortunate to have him and wish him the best of

(34:12):
luck. Whether it's back with us next
year or wherever he goes. I I'm pretty confident he'll be,
he'll be with the Blue Jays. Let's talk about Traders Savage
for a bit. And how fun was it for him to
pitch you to watch him pitch Andthe way he's he's been around
and it's it's it's historic the way he's been around in this

(34:36):
organization only for a year started from a ball and now he's
in in the playoff roster in the rotation.
And I can't recall a player being from an A ball to the
majors in such an accelerated rate.
But talk about his abbreviated time in New Hampshire, and how
fun was he to watch when you broadcast his games?

(34:59):
I, I, you know what, I, I scratch my head sometimes
because the, the minor leagues have changed quite a bit,
alright. And, and it changed with COVID.
And then after COVID, there was the downsizing of the minor
leagues and there were fewer of,you know, fewer teams to play

(35:20):
for right back in. If we, if we roll the clock back
to 2011 or Trea Savage is not pitching in the major leagues
this year, There were just too many players, potential major
leaguers ahead of him and wouldn't have have gotten that
opportunity even with the results that he had.

(35:40):
And the other thing that's changed is, you know, the, the
innings, the, the, the amount ofwork that they give the young
guys. I'm gonna treat you.
Savage pitched 30 innings in NewHampshire.
For me to look at his body of work over 30 innings, and it was
good. It wasn't great.

(36:01):
He was wild, especially early onin his career, like we saw the
other night. But the unbelievable swing and
miss that he gets on his pitchestells me kind of right away,
hey, this guy is separate. You can separate him from the
group. His last two outings, those two

(36:22):
that he had in August, 9 strikeouts and 49 strikeouts in
five. You could see that he had the
stuff and it was, it was one of these days.
And I can tell it was like August the 10th or whatever.
And we were about to head out ona road trip to Binghamton and I

(36:47):
was going to drive Chris Jarred the the voice of the, the lead
voice of the Fisher Cats. And I, we're going to drive out
to, to Binghamton. Actually that Monday.
We're going to, we stopped at the Baseball Hall of Fame on our
way out and Trey is in the parking lot.
And I said, wow, you're here early to go to Binghamton.
And he said, well, that's because I'm going to Buffalo.

(37:07):
And so he kind of, he kind of shocked me that, you know, he
had gotten the call after, you know, pitching, as I said, only
30 innings in New Hampshire. And I had asked him because that
last start that he had with New Hampshire, they didn't start it.
They brought him in, I think it was in the second inning.

(37:29):
And I said, you think there's they're setting you up for a
bullpen role. And he said, news to me if they
are, because they don't tell me that stuff.
They just tell me I'm not starting and I go out and I and
you know, I need and he did thatjob in in his last appearance in
New Hampshire. And I kind of thought that the
Blue Jays were going to use Treyyou Savage, if he was healthy

(37:52):
and there was a roster spot as abullpen arm, you know, maybe to
throw an inning or two because he certainly could get you 2
really effective innings. And, and here's a guy who, I
mean, barely had thrown 5 innings in a start all year
long. And look at what he did to the
Akis. I mean, I was I was cheering.

(38:13):
I was out cheering at this guy was so good and it's it was a
hit. They don't always hit, but but
Trey is savage. Good for him.
I hope that he stays healthy because you know, he can have an
unbelievable career. And you know, we're, I've

(38:33):
watched other pitchers come through New Hampshire, be it
with, with other teams of, but he's one-of-a-kind that we've
had here with, with New Hampshire and the Blue Jays.
So let's recap this season a little bit.
It was a little bit of a disappointment.

(38:54):
You guys finished 56 and 81 overall.
I know that I'm not sure what the splits were the first and
second-half, but they weren't, they weren't very, very good.
But how would you, how would yourate the season as a whole, not
just only from the way the team ended up finishing, but from
like a prospect development standpoint?

(39:18):
There are always hits and misses, right?
I think when you look at where our roster was at the at the
beginning of the year, we had a few who have moved along, who I
think are, you know, potential good, good fines.
Janric Pinango is a guy who the Blue Jays picked up last year.

(39:43):
Did everything right beginning part of the year for New
Hampshire. Ended up being promoted along.
Uh, who else do we promote alongthis year?
Josh Rivera was another one, I believe.
Rivera, another guy that the Blue Jays got in the trade

(40:05):
deadline in in 2024 and he movedalong.
Oh, RJ Shrek is the other name that I'm.
That I was. Thinking of another guy with who
was acquired in the deal. So at least you had a few of
them in, in that regard that turned out, you know, to be able
to move along and and that's always right.

(40:26):
How you kind of how you grade it.
We didn't win because we didn't hit.
We, we were a pretty poor hitting team.
We had 215 as a team overall. We didn't score four runs
anywhere near enough and, and that made it kind of tough.
And you know, the, the pitching,our starting pitching was, was

(40:47):
pretty decent for a good portionof the season, had some, some
pretty decent end. But when, when starters are only
getting you 5 or 6 and, and you're only giving them one run,
it's kind of tough to win a lot.There were two big name guys who
were promoted from Vancouver whoyou kind of looked at from the
opening day roster. The the Iowa meat truck, Peyton

(41:11):
Williams, Jace Borchin, both spent some time injured during
the course of the season. They were a little young and
probably will get a chance in New Hampshire beginning of next
year. Who would you say for this year
was the breakup player for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats player

(41:34):
that just came out of nowhere and just blossomed altogether
all around this year? Nate Garco, Do you know that
name? Yes.
Sir, Yes, Sir. 29 games out of the bullpen, 3 and 01.2254
strikeouts and 37 innings and I doubt he threw more than a dozen
pitches over 80 mph. It's kind of the knuckleballer

(41:57):
kind of of change up, but it worked at this level.
I can't wait to see how it worksat a higher level so that he'd
be clearly my breakout player ofthis year.
Definitely a guy that, you know,maybe you didn't expect it.

(42:18):
He was not drafted, right? It was signed as a as a free
agent, signed to a minor league contract.
So we'll keep an eye on him. And I don't typically, alright,
look too much at bullpen arms inthe minor leagues because the
way that that this kind of worksand if you've followed it along,

(42:42):
the guys who get the innings arethe starting pitchers in the
minor leagues. And they're typically the guys
who will develop into your bullpen arms in the major
leagues. But every once in a while you
get a specialist. And you know, we've had a ton of
them, like who throw from the left side like a, a Mason
Fluharty. I think we had Aaron Loop at one

(43:03):
point. You know who was who was that?
That guy who can get some outs out of the bullpen, but they've
gotta face 3 batters now unless it's, you know, the end of an
inning. And so the rotation this season
has been kind of a in and out kind of a carousel with just so

(43:24):
many players being, you know, coming in, being promoted,
traded, you know, like you got Jay Jaron, Watts Brown, Cal
Steven Kendry, Rojas, Grant Rogers, still there, Gauge
Stanifer, Fernando Perez. So tell us a little bit about
the pitching staff, the startingpitching staff that that was

(43:45):
this year. And you know, some of the guys,
you know, even if they're not there anymore, they were there
at one point. So you could you could just talk
about how, how the the starting depth was some as a whole this
year. Alright, so we're, we're about
to go on a road trip to Marylandand this was probably I, I said

(44:09):
to Chris. Man, we should be dynamite in
the second-half of the season, provided the Blue Jays don't
trade us away. And the Blue Jays, we lost 4/5
of our rotation there at the trade deadline.
I, they, These were guys who absolutely nailed it in

(44:31):
Vancouver and the Blue Jays had so many good prospects that I,
they, they traded away to try tomake this postseason run and so
far so good, right? Henry Rojas came up.
He was really good. I let's see, who else did you

(44:54):
mention? Cal Steven.
He only pitched one game in New Hampshire.
It wasn't a good one. And then he was gone.
Ended up going over to the Guardians system.
Jeron Watts Brown was traded while we were in Maryland.
I think he was supposed to startagainst Chesapeake and then
started in the series against us.

(45:20):
Interesting little story. We finished the year with
Chesapeake at home. That's the Orioles AA farm club,
the Baysox and Watts Brown came over after the game was and took
pictures with a with these Fisher Cat guys that he never,
he never really got a chance to to to spend time with there

(45:43):
after he got traded. But he he's certainly was
another one. Who's gonna be a pretty good one
and and we'll watch that as it all moves along.
We'll talk about the other depththat was in the system and you
mentioned some names already like Nate Garko, that's an

(46:05):
example. Alex Amalfi, we had Chris on
earlier this year, he talked about there was a game he had
like 6 strikeouts in like 2 winnings or some, some, some
infamous inning that he our innings he had.
But talk about other guys like Kyle Peterson was promoted to
the majors. Yandre Rojas is another one.

(46:25):
Devro Harris said. Like is there any sneaky guys
that could be potentially up in up in AAA or in the majors by
next year? Well, you know what if if this
all works right, they're going to get their chances to prove
that they can get out. It's a big jump from advanced
date to double. And they say that that might be

(46:48):
the toughest jump because when you get to the AA level, now
you're dealing with professionalhitters who they know to layoff
pitches that are out of the zone.
They have great scouting reports.
And you know, I, I mentioned Nate Garco maybe is my breakout
player of the year. Alex Amalfi could certainly be

(47:09):
1A in that list for another guy that the Blue Jays didn't draft.
They signed him to a minor league contract, started the
year in our bullpen, looked likehe was a a pretty serviceable
pitcher. And maybe by the end of the year
he was our second or third best starting pitcher.
So we'll, we'll see where it is that they, the Blue Jays thought

(47:33):
enough of him to send him to theArizona Fall League.
So, you know, let's let's see where that all plays out.
So talk about some of the let's let's go over to.
Peterson was the other name you mentioned and Rojas and there
they all, they all were promotedalong to, to, to give an

(47:53):
opportunity in the Arizona falling.
You don't typically get a lot ofaction there.
You see a, you know, some, some different batters, some
different ballparks, and just the fact that that they're out
there and, and, and getting an opportunity to, to pitch a
little bit more is probably goodfor their development.

(48:14):
They'll, they'll need to shut itdown within the next couple of
weeks or so to get ready for another season because it it
does take time for the body to heal.
And, and the guys will start getting back serious, I think
after the holidays getting making sure that that body is in
good shape and, and seeing what it can carry you from, from year

(48:37):
to year. OK, so let's talk about some of
the infielders and some of the depth that that has played there
this season with guys like Kate Dowdy and and Alex De Jesus,
Charles McAdoo, Damiano Parmigiani, etcetera, like guys
like that. So just talk about some of the

(48:59):
depth that you've had playing inthe infield this year for New
Hampshire. Machado, 1/3 baseman, I think by
nature was our offensive leader in just about every category.
Average homers, RBI's, stolen bases and certainly a

(49:23):
serviceable fielder. Achy tightens that up a little
bit. He should get us started.
Buffalo. And that was another body that
the Blue Jays brought in during the trade deadline last year.
Bacardi's a good guy. I'm a I'm a K Doty fan as well.
Second base shortstop did a lot of work for us in the infield

(49:44):
this year. Alex De Jesus, who you
mentioned, a little bit of a down season.
Not entirely sure what was up there, whether it was injury or
just regressed a little bit, butI think he showed us a lot more
2024 than he did in 2025. He was another guy who him over.

(50:04):
I think he was from the Dodgers.Let's see Ryan Mccartys, another
guy who I like, and we saw Dottie and McCarty kind of play
the 2 middle infield positions alot, second base in and
shortstop, and we'll see where that goes moving forward in the

(50:25):
system. Talk about some of the catcher
depth in this. You know, there was a name that
I thought you were gonna mentionwas gonna be a breakout player
of the year, and that was Jackson Hornung.
And he had a great year. He came out of nowhere and just
played well. But you could also talk about
Jacob Sharp. Go.
Ahead Offensively, porn impressed in the second-half of

(50:50):
the year, went down with an injury late in the year, limited
his time, absolutely proved thathe can hit AA pitching, and if
he's he'll probably be New Hampshire starting first baseman
next year if they don't already have a whole open at AAA.

(51:11):
That's a That's a good name to mention as well, right?
I don't have a lot to add in thecatching situation there.
We did not have a good year in terms of behind the plate,
really in anywhere around. Didn't throw out a lot of

(51:33):
runners combined, 153 batting average.
It was pretty rough. I I know that Jacob Sharp was
promoted from Vancouver to New Hampshire, but he was off to a
very slow start and and I know that he's he's gonna still
probably be with, with New Hampshire next year, another go

(51:55):
for a full season on the go around to see where things are.
I believe he was part of the Yimi Garcia deal, right?
I believe so, yeah. He played, he played more games
at catcher than any of the otherguys for New Hampshire.
And I'm hardly the guided to grade catchers, You know, in
terms of all of those other things that they bring to a ball

(52:18):
club. I just, I just kind of looked at
it in the lineup and it and thatpart of it didn't work.
But you know, if, if they're helping make our pitchers
better, that's pretty significant as well.
And, and granted, I I say we didn't throw a lot of runners
out. It's a lot tougher to throw
runners out these days than it than it used to be.

(52:41):
And you know, you only get the the two disengagements and then
so it's tougher to keep guys closer and they seem to have a
little bit a little bit better handle of getting stolen bases
with a bigger bases that they put in a few years ago.

(53:05):
So talk about the lack of depth at New Hampshire and the lack of
depth overall that hit New Hampshire needs to improve,
which is kind of, I guess it's not really needs to well, I
mean, you could say needs to improve, but you're just you
guys just go by what you're given, right?
So I mean, but what are some positions that you would say

(53:27):
that that you would hope to see,you know, some improvement that
next year? I guess that would be the way
I'd ask that. Um, again, that's a little bit
beyond my pay grade in terms of trying to put together a minor
league organization. It's a tough question, yeah.

(53:48):
We hit, we hit 2025 and again, all of this can change, you
know, in the off season. But in 2025, the Blue Jays ended
up with a terrific opportunity to make a run at a World Series
championship. And that, without any question,

(54:10):
everybody understands is the ultimate goal, right, Right.
That's that's what it is. That's what this is everything
is building towards. So if it takes trading away a
lot of your minor league playersin order to do it, that's fine.
It gives other guys an opportunity to move up maybe a

(54:31):
little bit before their time. The Blue Jays have, you know,
they have 4 minor league teams, full season minor league teams.
They're developing guys in the Dominican Republic, youngsters
who are going to be coming along.
And in the end, you know, we'll hit 2026 and they'll say, hey,

(54:53):
you know, we're a little light here.
We're a little light here. Maybe we can trade a pitching
arm and get a, a catcher from somebody.
So they'll look at where they think the holes are.
But the, the record of the minorleague team, while it's
phenomenal to, to win championships is never the goal.

(55:18):
The goal is always can I make a ball player who we got in April
better in September? And if we did that and give him
every opportunity to, to try that next level, then that is,
is going to be a success. And it's, it's why as a minor
league franchise, we market everything else around the sport

(55:41):
of baseball. We market the fireworks shows
and the the inexpensive nature of coming to a minor league game
to, you know, where you can treat your family, afford a
ticket and hot dogs for whateverit is $60.00.

(56:02):
That's what we do, family fun and the Fisher Cats have done
that right for 20 plus years. We're under great leadership and
ownership now and can't wait to see what's going to come in the
future, not only for the Blue Jays this year, but moving
forward at both the the minor league level and the Major

(56:25):
League. I want to mention one name.
And I've talked, we've talked. We had like a bunch of guests
who covered Vancouver and, and, and AAA and all that stuff.
And there was a name that's beenout there.
And it seems like this organization's really high on
his Victor Arias. And they seem like there is a

(56:45):
potential that he could be up inthe majors as soon as next year,
if not the year after. Like how do you profile him as a
player as a whole for him? I think the has a lot of tools,
right, has the speed, tremendousdefensive player has some power

(57:08):
on maybe maybe a little bit morecommand of the strike zone is,
is what's in store for him. And I don't think that there's
anything that is holding him back right now outside of the
depth and the the position of the outfield.
I think that he has the potential to be a a really good

(57:29):
one. And again, I'm I'm kind of used
to, to players getting to us back in the old days, way back,
we were AA players were 24, 2526years old.
And we're getting more and more of them now.
But you know, he turned 22 a couple of weeks ago.
And you have to understand that the game takes time to come to

(57:52):
you and and the the important thing for the coaching staff is
to keep that head clear. Let them know that they just
they need to be successful threeout of every 10 times they come
up and and everything will be fine and and Victor should
should certainly position himself pretty well.

(58:14):
So to wrap up this episode, we know that we're going to see
promotions to start the year wherever this front office or
this organization will assign these guys to where they gonna
end up playing at. Vancouver is one of the most
talented teams in this organization.
And we know that at some point some of these guys are going to
get promoted. Like like, have you heard

(58:37):
anything about that? Because I'm pretty sure you keep
an eye in another way. You and Chris is of course, but
like, if you think about like a Edward Duran or Arjuna male, I
know, I know that they're not rushing him and they they want
to take his time. But there's a whole bunch of
names that could be like a Sean Keys or Eddie Macclenny.
Like, are you, are you intriguedabout those players and
potentially being in New Hampshire at some point next

(59:00):
year? It doesn't have to be in the
beginning of year, but like somepoint during the year.
Yeah, I'm I'm always looking at this this stats the but reading
the box scores and in fact, whenwe write game notes every night,
I always include around the nestand a little bit about what's
going on and we in coffee and Duran and the I'm looking

(59:26):
forward to seeing Arjun have to think he's going to be on New
Hampshire's opening day roster right next year.
And then it's time he played he played enough games at at
advanced. They they know what he can do
there and it's time to test themat the next level.
And again, I'll tell you that jump from A+ to AA is a big one

(59:49):
and you'll, you'll kind of learn.
I, I always say to Chris on the air, you gotta give him 100
plate appearances. We're we're not going to be into
May or June until you kind of have an idea of whether the guys
getting it done or not. Yeah, I think that's important
because like we say, like prospects getting called up to
the majors and they say like, oh, they get immediate reaction.

(01:00:11):
They say like, oh, this person'snot gonna pan out to what he did
in the mind. But you have to look at it this
way. And I agree with you 1000%.
Like you have to have enough plate appearances to understand
what the player is. And the great Buck Martinez,
man, a legend in this industry even said this.
It takes about 1500 plate appearances to identify what

(01:00:34):
kind of a player that that prospect profiles to be that
what kind of player he'll be at the end of the day.
So I agree, I think it's important to have these guys to
play as much as they can at thatlevel.
And and you know what, one thingabout this front office, and I
kind of agree with it, they do not rush players.
They give a lot of time for a lot of these players to play at

(01:00:56):
a certain level. And you look at Addison Barger,
you look at Mason Florida, you look at David Schneider, all in
the majors and it took him yearsto to build.
And do you see this like as as the current standpoint for what
this organization is as a whole?Yeah, I mean, I, I think that it
shows that they're they're they're getting the job done and

(01:01:19):
you can never rest on your laurels.
You know it. We're going to play the string
out in in 2025, see how that goes.
And then you, you look and see how can we make things better.
And they, they know how to develop players a whole lot
better than I do. But it's fun to watch them when
they get to New Hampshire. They're young, they're they're

(01:01:42):
personable. They get to interact with with
new teammates and with the fans and then we we cheer them as
they move on. Well, Bob, it was an honor for
you to be on this episode, and we love everything what you said
about this team, the history of this franchise in AA and as a

(01:02:02):
whole. We thank you once again for
being here as a guest. Where can we find you in social
media and everywhere else? But probably the the I do have a
a personal account at Bob under score Littman.
You can find me you can write tome too.
It be Littman and NH fishercats.com.

(01:02:26):
Yeah, thanks for joining us. It was it was awesome day to get
to know some of the the history,the last 20 years of it with New
Hampshire and everything else and talk about all the prospects
and the state of the organization and the way it's
going right now. So we were excited to have you
and thanks again for joining us.It was awesome.

(01:02:47):
I know Chris has extended the invitation, but we'd love to
have you come to Delta Dental Stadium and check out the tooth.
We will be there next year, right Rocky?
Yeah, Yeah, we will. And The thing is, I think it's
important, especially for for podcasts.
And, you know, we love the, the whole prospect pool of how these
players have developed and wherethey stand.

(01:03:08):
And, and congratulations for youfor over 20 years of
broadcasting in New Hampshire. Fisher Cats, because it's, it's
a, it's a standard platform for,for a broadcaster like you.
And, you know, I mean, I don't even know if even even in the
majors or any other level, like 20 years, I don't even know if

(01:03:28):
they tend to broadcast that long.
And you, you did it. So congratulations to you on
that. Thank.
You. Thank you, thank you.
Believe it or not, I'm only the the third longest 10 year
broadcaster in our league, so itdoes happen quite a bit.
That's awesome man Yeah, we willplace the description below

(01:03:50):
where you can find Bob blipping the legendary Bob Lippman.
But till next time, take care, be kind to each other.
Signing off from the Blue Jays Ave.
Podcast on Thursday, October 16th, 2025.

(01:04:31):
No.