Elliott: Farmer Phil Aumont back in shape, Canucks lose on error
Right-hander Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) pitched a scoreless inning for Canada in their 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners in a World Baseball Classic exhibition game on Thursday. Photo: Baseball Canada (file photo)
March 10, 2023
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
PEORIA, Ariz. _ Scout Dick (The Legend) Groch, the Michigan man who signed Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, told me years ago the reason he liked scouting Canadians was because of their “hockey mentality.”
He would have enjoyed watching Team Canada face the Seattle Mariners in their second and final exhibition game before opening the World Baseball Classic Sunday against Great Britain. Canada dropped a 5-3 decision on three unearned runs in the eighth.
Reliever Phillippe Aumont came out of the right field bullpen to pitch the fourth inning, his team trailing 2-1. He worked a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one. Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) explained how he began throwing at Sport-Études de Nicolas-Gatineau in January with his former coach Stéphane Pétronzio in Gatineau ... and then it went like this:
“I fractured my back so I couldn’t throw for a month ... couldn’t even pick up my daughter,” Aumont said.
Hold on a second ...
This was not “I had a blister and it’s better now,” or “I’m OK now the swelling has gone down from where I was hit in the shin,” or “I think the worst of the flu bug is over.”
This was a fractured coccyx bone, a small bone at the bottom of the spinal column.
The audience was impressed. Aumont shrugged his shoulders covered by his red Canada undershirt.
“Ah, a guy got underneath me, as I was cutting to the net and down I went, I was playing hockey,” said Aumont.
The 6-foot-7 Aumont was playing in the Carleton University men’s league. The guy who felled the tall timber was given a two-minute minor for tripping. Aumont was assessed a two-minute penalty for roughing. Why?
“Because I wanted to beat him up,” Aumont said. “He was a little tiny guy ... but then most of them are tiny alongside me.”
Aumont guesses he is 6-foot-10 on skates.
From going in the first round (11th overall) to the Mariners in 2007, to loading the bases and then escaping the jam against Team USA at the 2009 WBC at the Rogers Centre -- New York Mets star David Wright lined to short, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis and Curtis Granderson both struck out swinging -- Aumont, an ABC alum, has always impressed.
This can be added to his list of accomplishments: to have not thrown a pitch in pro ball since 2019 with the Ottawa Champions of the independent Can-Am league, to not beginning regular bullpen sessions until February -- that is last month, right? -- to Thursday afternoon in the desert.
From unable to lift his daughter in January, to picking up a ball Thursday and registering 92-93 mph with his fastball.
My goodness. Anyone who has a back injury knows what a difficult feat that is.
Is Aumont a superhero? What is his nickname?
“Just Farmer Phil,” Aumont said, who admitted he looked at the scoreboard readings on his fastball, “but (Bo) Naylor buckled me, we started the first guy with two curve balls.”
He is known as Farmer Phil for the 221 acres he and his fiance work north of Gatineau. He has four pigs, four lambs and a donkey to protect them, plus a couple of his litters of animals. And “we’re fully organic.”
Aumont faced Jake Scheiner, who was at double-A Arkansas last season, and bounced out to 3B Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.), struck out Mason McCoy, from triple-A Tacoma, and walked Jonatan Clase, who played at class-A Modesto in 2022.
“You know me ... I have to keep things even,” said Aumont, “strike one out, walk one.”
Then Sam Haggerty, coming off 83 games with the Mariners, grounded out.
Aumont reviews:
Manager Ernie Whitt: “If the teams (the Mariners and the Philadelphia Phillies) he pitched for had treated him like a man and left him alone, he would have had a 10-year career. Both moved him back and forth between starting and relieving. Both tried to change his mechanics. That’s why I begged him to play. He’s a beast.”
Co-pitching coach Denis Boucher (Lachine, Que.) “He is a force of nature. The friendly giant is something else. He gets up off the couch and is able to perform like he never stopped throwing.”
Boucher said one of Aumont’s best days was pitching against Cuba at the World Cup qualifier in Puerto Rico. Aumont struck out seven of the first nine hitters and finished with 11 strikeouts in five innings as the Canucks won. At the time, Cuba had Yuli Gurriel and Alexi Bell, who took Stephen Strasburg into another area code at the Olympics.
“I had butterflies before I went in. When you play, you want to do well,” Aumont said. “Scott Mathieson and I were teasing each other about who would throw the hardest.
“It’s why we play. I told Greg Hamilton as soon as I hurt my back, had an MRI, and saw the doctor.”
It was surprising a super human would need to be seen by a medical expert, but Aumont did the right thing.
“Greg and I decided to play it week-to-week, day-to-day. I didn’t want to come here, get hurt and then it’s like a free trip,” said Aumont.
Now, he can lift his daughters Gabrielle, 4, and Raphaelle, 2. His fiance Fredrique has been doing all the work on the farm.
“I thanked her 100 times before I left,” Aumont said. “The farm is a lot of work for one person. I guess I should get her a pretty good present.”
What if a pro team calls after the WBC and asks him to give it another try. Aumont, 34, said maybe Asia, “but the game is getting younger, my time has passed.”
So when this is over, he’ll fly into Ottawa, cross the bridge to Gatineau and become Farmer Phil again.
The outing was impressive to everyone. Aumont was nonchalant.
Fractured back? Big deal.
“I play with a hockey mentality,” he said. And when this is over ... he can play hockey with a hockey mentality.
And maybe look for a tiny guy who tripped him. Maybe.
Going, Going, Gone: FieldHouse Pirates Owen Caissie hit a two-run homer to right-centre off Prelander Berroa, who has pitched at double-A Arkansas, class-A Eugene and class-A Everett in the San Francisco Giants and Mariners systems. Berroa allowed five homers in 100 2/3 innings last year.
The bomb by Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) was a no doubter and gave Canada a 3-2 lead.
“It was a fastball in,” Caissie said. “I was always taught to sit fastball. To be as quick as possible. My swing was too big in the first two at-bats (two whiffs).
“I’ve shown I can hit and want to show I can play for my country.”
Speaking of the hockey mentality ... saying “there is a reason we should not feel intimidated. We’re in a good spot.
“People say Canadians can’t play baseball -- not in Canada -- but that seems to be the narrative.”
The Z-Man: Leonys Martin, back with the Mariners after three seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines and before that nine years in majors, tripled off the top of the right field wall with one out in the second facing lefty Rob Zastryzny (Edmonton, Alta.). Scheiner doubled home Martin. Then McCoy, who spent 2022 with triple-A Tacoma, blooped a run-scoring single.
In two innings, Zastryzny allowed two runs on five hits, with one strikeout. He starts against Mexico on Wednesday. He has not made a start since 2022 at triple-A Syracuse.
The Good: Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.) had a scoreless inning as did Ben Onyshko (Winnipeg, Man.), Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, BC), Cade Smith (Abbotsford, BC) and Aumont ... Canada had only four hits: A run-scoring triple to left by Toro, plus singles by Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) and Naylor, plus the Caissie homer ... Toro made an outstanding play at third on Haggerty ... Freeman came off the bag to catch a high throw and tag the runner, saving both a wild throw and recording the out.
The Bad: 3B Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC) bobbled a grounder by Zach DeLoach, leading off the eighth against Scott Mathieson (Aldergrove, BC). After allowing a double, to Kean Wong, Mathieson induced a pop up and a ground ball to Freeman, which should have been the third out. Kaden Polcovich then homered to right.
Sweet revenge?: Albers pitched a scoreless third inning. Speedy Tommy La Stella, flew out to centre fielder Tyler O’Neill to begin the frame. Cal Raleigh, 119 games with the M’s, single, Evan White, triple-A Tacoma single. Then Albers struck out George Feliz, from the Arizona Complex league and Martin.
Albers and the Mariners had agreed to terms with Seattle in 2021, so he stayed at home last season. He is looking for another chance at pro ball.
Who has Albers seen in the two exhibition games, that he has never seen before, that impresses him?
“Watching Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) was fun, his arm was electric,” Albers said. “I like the defence of Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) and Toro. We have to catch some breaks ... same with every team in this.”
Big Zone: Whitt wanted to use eight pitchers in the game. When Canada went down 1-2-3-4 (a walk by Pickering’s Denzel Clarke) it was 5-3. Seattle had agreed that it would hit in the bottom of the ninth, so R.J. Freure (Burlington, Ont.) could work. Freure pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
“Seattle was good enough to hit in the bottom of the ninth, but the umpires said if the game was over after 8 1/2 the game was over and they were gone,” said Whitt. Freure pitched a 1-2-3 inning with C Kellin Deglan (Langley, BC) calling balls and strikes. He used his right hand and is now known as someone with a “large zone.”
Don’t Your Dare Move: Tim Hevly, the Mariners legendary vice-president of communications, remembers going downstairs to the visiting clubhouse at the Rogers Centre late in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series last October.
At the time, the Toronto Blue Jays had an 9-5 lead. He was doing what all P.R. execs do get ready for the arrival of the media horde. And so he stood watching TV. The Mariners got a hit, then another and then another. He didn’t move.
“Guys were walking by looking at me standing in the same spot,” said Hevly. “Finally a player asked why I hadn’t moved and I explained we’ve been hitting since I’ve been standing here. He said ‘Stay there.’”
Hevly did not move and Jays fans know the rest of the story -- Seattle scored four in the sixth, four more in the eighth and one the ninth, erasing an 8-1 lead for a 10-9 victory and ending the game. MLB Network voted the comeback as the game of the year.
The Horsies are in town: The world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales were at Peoria Stadium. Never ever had a Bud, but man those horses are handsome beasts and star in their own Super Bowl on commercials on Thursday. Remember the first time I saw them: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, post-season 1982. The gate opened, the horses came clumping out, circled the stadium and fans went crazy, since St. Louis is a Bud town and home of Anheuser-Busch. Only one problem when the horses made a turn in the infield the wheels of the beer wagon went over the side of the mound and for an instant it looked like the beer wagon -- which included Cards owner Gussie Busch -- would tip over.
A dry heat: Arizona is nice -- not as much traffic as Florida and the distances between parks is not as great. However, the downtown core is full of four-lane roads turned into two lanes, cement trucks, barricades, 100s of blinking orange lights and traffic. It’s like being in a hotel near Eglinton and Bayview ... well, when I was there last summer. They are installing a light rail system.
As they told us in Toronto: “Construction won’t be as bad after the Pan-Am Games. That was in 2015.”