February 5, 2025

Official Okotoks Dawgs News Release

Okotoks, Alta. – The Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Club and the Dawgs Baseball Academy are proud to announce that founding and managing director, John Ircandia, has been ranked as Canada’s 13th Most Influential Person in Baseball by the Canadian Baseball Network (“CBN”).

The annual rankings are a “Who’s Who” in the sport and include current and former major league owners, executives, players, scouts, and broadcasters. The 2024 rankings were led by Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.), who ranks among the top 100 position players in Major League Baseball and Freddie Freeman of the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Other notables included Edward Rogers, chairman of the Board of Rogers Communication, owners of the Toronto Blue Jays at No. 3, Alex Anthopoulos (Montreal, Que.), general manager of the Atlanta Braves at No. 4 and Vladimir Guererro Jr. (Montreal, Que.), first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays at No. 5.

In ranking Ircandia, the CBN recognized the phenomenal success of Ircandia’s Dawgs both on and off the field. With crowds exceeding 4,700 fans per game, 133,000 per summer season, the Dawgs were the third top draw in summer collegiate baseball according to U.S. online resource, Ballpark Digest. Further, based on a poll conducted by the same U.S. resource, Seaman Stadium, home of the Dawgs, was recognized as the “Best Ballpark in Summer College Baseball in North America”.

On the field, the college Dawgs captured their third straight WCBL championship in the Western Canadian Baseball League, Canada’s premier summer collegiate circuit, three-peating for the second time in franchise history. Not resting on past successes, the Dawgs have started construction on the expansion of their indoor training center, the Duvernay Fieldhouse. The state-of-the-art indoor facility will see major upgrades to the weight room, increasing its size over three times, fully equipped with custom squat racks, platforms, cable machines, and force plate technology. Furthermore, the Dawgs are adding a hitting and pitching lab that will feature five new batting cages and pitching lanes that will feature Trackman and other leading technology ensuring the best opportunity for players to develop.

The CBN also referred to the extraordinary success of graduating Dawgs in professional baseball. Among the Dawgs moving on to the professional ranks in 2024 were Eric Hartman (Atlanta Braves), Micah McDowell (Miami Marlins), Vicarte Domingo (San Diego Padres), Sam Stuhr (Oakland Athletics), Mason Guerra (Braves), Titus Dumitru (Atlanta Braves) and Jay Schuler (Blue Jays). The CBN also identified several former Dawgs making their mark in professional baseball, including Matt Wilkinson of the Cleveland Guardians (winner of the Wayne Norton Award as the CBN’s top pitcher in affiliated baseball), Tristan Peters, a standout for triple-A Durham (Tampa Bay Rays), who recently earned an invite to the Rays’ Major League Spring Training Camp, Justin King, who received an invite to the Miami Marlins Major League Spring Training Camp and Matt Lloyd, coming off a banner year at double-A Springfield (St. Louis Cardinals). The list goes on with former Dawgs Academy and summer college standout, catcher Gavin Logan (Arizona Diamondbacks), Brett Platts, double-A Frisco Roughriders strength coach (Texas Rangers); Jordan Procyshen, double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles bench coach (Arizona Diamondbacks) and original Dawgs star and former NY Mets and Milwaukee Brewers closer, Jim Henderson, now assistant pitching coach with the Brewers.

The CBN also referred to the success of the Dawgs Youth Baseball Academy led by general manager, Tyler Hollick, who this past year was honoured as WCBL “Executive of the Year” and head coaches Jeff Duda, Lou Pote, Matt Stairs, Bryan Donohue, Bretton Gouthro, Aaron Ethier and Tyler Milton.

Hollick, Pote and Duda received CBN Honourable Mentions for their exemplary work in developing Dawgs youth players. The Academy Dawgs have been identified as the third top travel team in North America by Perfect Game, the prestigious U.S. scouting service and have enjoyed phenomenal success in attracting scholarships for graduating players to elite U.S. baseball programs such as Oregon State University, University of Miami, University of Michigan, Washington State University, Illinois State University, University of Portland and Missouri State University.

Other Dawgs that made the top 100 include Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.), Dawgs Academy hitting coordinator and roving coach at No. 46 and Vincent Ircandia, founder and CEO of StellarAlgo Corp. identified as No. 76.

Stairs is a Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer and former MLB star, now serving as the hitting coordinator for the Dawgs Academy. He enjoyed an outstanding big league playing career which included 256 home runs and a World Series championship with the Philadelphia Phillies. At the conclusion of his storied MLB career, Stairs also served as hitting coach with the San Diego Padres and a broadcaster with the Phillies.

Former Dawgs standout and All American at NCAA D1, Niagara University, Vincent Ircandia went from senior vice president of business for the Portland Trailblazers of the NBA to founding and serving as CEO of the leading sports business analytics firm, StellarAlgo. In 2024, StellarAlgo was recognized by Deloitte’s Fast 500 as one of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and energy tech companies in North America. Clients include the NBA, the US Open Tennis Championship, and various MLB, NBA, NHL, MiLB and Premier League franchises. In addition, Front Office Sports recognized StellarAlgo for the fifth consecutive year as one of the Best Employers in Sports.

Dawgs extend congratulations to our honorees.