Canadians unveil 2022 schedule, Clarke named Player of the Week

Vancouver Canadians first baseman Phil Clarke has been named High-A West Player of the Week. Photo: Vancouver Canadians

September 13, 2021

Official Vancouver Canadians News Release

VANCOUVER, BC – The Vancouver Canadians have released their preliminary 2022 schedule.

It features 66 home games at Nat Bailey Stadium as part of a 132-game season slate, headlined by Opening Day on April 19 and Canada Day on July 1.

Major League Baseball has once again determined a format that features a “six on, one off” schedule with Mondays serving as the league-wide off day and two teams going head-to-head for six consecutive games Tuesday through Sunday. Promotions and first pitch times will be released in the coming weeks.

Canadians baseball returns to Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday, April 19 for Opening Day. When the C’s take the field after returning from a two-week road trip to start the year, it will be the first time they have played in front of home fans since August 30, 2019, a span of 963 days. Vancouver welcomes the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) for that first series.

Each month from May through July has parts of three home series. Everett (Mariners), Tri City (Angels) and Spokane (Rockies) visit in May, Spokane (twice) and Eugene arrive in June while Spokane, Hillsboro (Diamondbacks) and Everett make a stop in Vancouver in July.

The C’s start August with a six-game set against the Dust Devils before hitting the road for two consecutive weeks then coming home to take on the Hops August 23-28. They’ll make a final visit to Spokane before returning to Ontario Street to wrap up the season against Eugene September 6-11.

All told, the Canadians will host Eugene three times and the other four teams in the league twice. When they are away, Vancouver will head to Hillsboro thrice, visit Avista Stadium in Spokane three times – though through a quirk in the schedule will only play 12 road games against the Indians due to a pair of three-game series to start year and after the MLB All-Star Break – and make two stops with the other three teams in the circuit.

Season tickets, Nat Packs and more will be made available to the public well in advance, with more details to follow in the months ahead.

Clarke named High-A West Player of the Week

Minor League Baseball announced on Monday that Vancouver Canadians catcher Phil Clarke has been named the High-A West Player of the Week for September 7-12 after earning the distinction last week as well.

He becomes the first player in the league to win the award in consecutive weeks this season.

Clarke built off his huge series a week ago with another eye-popping stat line this week. After rapping out 13 hits in five games against Everett, the former Vanderbilt Commodore used six hits – including two doubles and a pair of homers – to drive in 12 runs, scored four times and worked two walks.

The highlight of his week was an eight RBI game on September 9 against Spokane. That night, he started his line with a bases-clearing double to score three in the bottom of the first, clubbed a three-run bomb in the fifth and doubled home another two in the sixth to lead the Canadians to a 14-5 rout.

A native of Franklin, Tenn., Clarke carried an eight-game hitting streak – a personal high – into the series and has a hit in nine of his last 11 games played. His September numbers are video game-like; in 10 games, he’s slashing.366/.429/.780/1.209 with five doubles, four home runs, nine runs scored, 17 RBI, three walks and 32 total bases across 41 at-bats.

Clarke has only improved amidst a remarkable rise in the second half. After injuring his thumb on July 2, he was out of action through July 14 when he entered play with a .195 batting average. After going hitless in his return to play and his average at .191, he started his meteoric ascent with three hits on July 15 and has since raised his mark to .250 as of September 12.

Clarke is a career .252 hitter in 120 games played over two professional seasons. He was a College World Series champion in 2019 with the Vandy Boys before Toronto took him in the ninth round of the draft that year.