If a name and face on the Vancouver Canadians’ roster seemed familiar to Everett fans, it probably was because Vancouver catcher Ty Bubalo is the son of former Everett Giants manager Mike Bubalo.
And Mike Bubalo, who lives in Beaverton, Ore., was in town for the weekend to watch his son play.
“I think it’s awesome,” Mike Bubalo said about having the opportunity to watch his son play in the park where he used to manage. “I’m proud of him.
“I just want to see him get some hits,” Mike Bubalo added with a laugh, pointing out that Ty went 0-for-4 on opening night.
Mike Bubalo served as Everett’s manager in 1991 and as a Giants coach in 1992. The Giants were 37-39 and finished second in the division in 1991, then went 35-41 and finished third in 1992.
Nowadays Mike Bubalo teaches at Beaverton High School. He just retired as Beaverton’s baseball coach, ending his 26-year run as a prep coach. He still has fond memories of his two summers spent in Everett.
“I worked for (then owner) Bob Bavasi, who’s a great guy, and it’s a class organization,” Mike Bubalo said. “They treated me well and the Giants treated me well, so it was a great experience.
“I always enjoyed when the brass, in particular when Jack Hiatt (the San Francisco Giants’ director of player development) would come to town and we’d have catching workouts at 5 in the morning. His motto was, ‘An hour early is a minute late,’ so he’d say workout was at 6 and you’d better be there at 5. We didn’t have real great years, but we had very competitive teams. And every day I went to the ballpark I loved it.”
Ty Bubalo also has vivid memories of Everett. He temporarily served as a Giants batboy during his father’s tenure.
“The field looked a lot bigger than it does now, I’ll tell you that much,” said Ty Bubalo, who was drafted in the 26th round of the 2002 draft out of Beaverton High School.
“It’s always been a dream (to be a professional baseball player) ever since I was little, and definitely being around it since I was little helped.”
Infield shuffle: Everett manager Pedro Grifol wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to rotate the flashy trio of Oswaldo Navarro, Asdrubal Cabrera and Yung Chi Chen around the infield. In Everett’s first three games, Navarro, Cabrera and Chen each got a start at second base, shortstop and third base.
And so far all three have shown they have the defensive tools – good gloves, quick feet, strong arms – to succeed at all three of the infield positions.
“Those guys are going to play all over the infield,” Grifol said. “They need to make adjustments and learn different positions. It’s too early in their careers to say where they’re going to end up, all three of them. We’ll see where it takes them.”
Wild things: Saturday’s 9-5 Everett victory saw the pitchers for both teams struggle with their control. The teams combined to hit seven batters – five by Vancouver pitchers, two by Everett pitchers – though there was no apparent malice in any of the pitches. AquaSox catcher Omar Falcon was victimized twice.
“That’s to be expected here,” Grifol said. “These are young kids with good arms and they’re still learning and developing, for both teams.”
Nick Patterson
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