LYNN — For the North Shore Navigators and President and General Manager Derek January, it’s been a rollercoaster of an offseason to say the least. For some time it wasn’t clear if the Futures Collegiate Baseball League would even have a season in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s been crazy,” January, who is in his first season as the leader of a new ownership group for the Navigators, said. “The League was ready to cancel a couple times. A group of the owners just said, ‘let’s wait it out.’ I think we owed it to our fans being that this is the 10th year of the league. And they were right, the group that wanted to slow down a little bit and not just jump at the first chance to cancel the season.”
Things are finally starting to pan out for the Navigators, who have hosted their first practices of the season at Fraser Field over the past several days with new guidelines.
“I’m not diminishing how bad this has been but we’re outside,” January said. “These kids are young and not the target. My son (Ryan) has coronavirus right now, he’s in Arizona playing with the Diamondbacks. And the doctor told him three or four days and he’ll be fine.
“We did a lot of research with cooperation from both the state and the city. We put our own plan together and I think we’ve satisfied questions about how players can play and not have the chance to be infected faster or be a greater risk as someone going to Stop and Shop or Home Depot. We all worked together, the city of Lynn fell in love with our COVID-19 plan.”
That plan will include Fraser Field filling to just 25 percent capacity of fans when the Navs have their home opener July 7, their third game of a 39-game season starting on July 2.
“Even with 1200 people here, following social distancing, this place will still look pretty empty,” January said. “With those numbers we’re expecting to sell out every weekend. We just want to give people a good clean product to enjoy. And it can be a really great thing. Working with the city has been great and they want baseball here. Right now we’re just going to keep playing chameleon this season and adapt to the situation.”
And on the field January and the Navigators organization have put together what they expect to be one the most talented clubs in the FCBL.
“It’s great to see them back out there,” January said. “And the team we’ve put together talent wise, is as good as any summer team. I don’t know how they’re going to mesh and turn into an actual team but talent wise this team is as good as any summer collegiate team in the country.”
Head coach Bob Macaluso is also happy to see his team back on the field while he gets acclimated with his positions players and pitching staff.
“With position players that group looks experienced and strong,” Macaluso said. “There’s a handful of players that are good. A lot of them go to bigger schools, have a chance to play at the next level and are skilled players. That’s been a pleasant surprise.
“I’m not concerned about it but I’m curious about our pitching,” Macaluso said. “I know we have Max Meier, he should be a good arm but we’ll see what else we have. We definitely have a lot of numbers. I’m confident that we’ll have enough arms to get through the season.”
While Macaluso is confident in his teams skill, he expects the FCBL to be the toughest it has ever been during the shortened season.
“We have a nucleus of guys back from last year, they know the league,” Macaluso said. “And we have a lot of local players that are already familiar with each other.
“But during this time off the other teams are doing the same thing and getting good players too,” Macaluso said. “The league this year will be better than it’s ever been. I hope that everyone’s expectations are high, they should be going into the season, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy by any means.”
Overall, for January and his staff it’s been good to get back to Fraser Field as they continue to adapt to what’s been quite a difficult first year as new owners.
“We’re just dealing with the cards we’re dealt and you play the hand,” January said. “For us it’s about the players. Getting them in their work and getting them better, keeping them safe and keeping our staff and fans safe.”
