OF Mac Galvin (Calgary, Alta.) scores a run for the Okotoks Dawgs. Galvin is the most recent winner of the Canadian Baseball Network Dawgs’ scholarship award.

April 19, 2024

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Coaches are not supposed to have favourites.

Especially when the subject is a coach at the Okotoks Dawgs Academy which has seven teams: two at the 18U age group, one at 16U, two more at 15U and two at 13U, plus the summer college team in the Western Canadian League.

Yet, after the player has left the building and moved down the road to the next level, it’s OK to say someone was an “all-time fave.”

Listen to Dawgs’ coach Doug McPhail, a member of Canada’s first Olympic team which competed in Los Angeles in 1984.

“Mac Galvin was a favourite player of every coach at our academy,” said McPhail. “He’s a quiet leader who outworked everyone. He’s a 5-foot-10, 185 pounder. When I coached him in my first year (15U Red), he was much smaller.

“But, he was very mature. Even at that age. He took command at the plate and was quietly, the ‘King of the Dugout.’”

Well, the King of the Dugout is now a member of the Skagit Valley College Cardinals ... and Galvin (Calgary, Alta.) is also the winner of the 14th annual Canadian Baseball Network Okotoks Dawgs scholarship.

While McPhail did not have a say in the voting it appears McPhail and Galvin are co-members of the same Mutual Admiration Society.

Galvin’s most influential coach in his ball-playing days?

“Probably Doug McPhail,” Galvin said from Mount Vernon, Wash., answering quickly like a quiz-show contestant trying to beat the buzzer. “He was the first coach to really bet on me when I played for him on 15U Red team. He put me in spots to succeed — I hit No. 3 hole in a competitive environment. Before that, I really wasn’t believed in.”

Galvin is batting .277 with five doubles, a homer and 16 RBIs, after Friday’s doubleheader against the Shoreline Dolphins. In 28 games he has seven stolen bases and a .723 OPS.

The Cardinals play in the Northwest Athletic Conference with the New Westminster-based Douglas College Royals -- near where the Justin Morneau (Westminster, BC) statue should be erected -- playing a partial schedule. Mount Vernon is an 80-mile drive from Vancouver, with Douglas making an April 27 for a doubleheader against the 11-18 Cardinals.

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Previous Canadian Baseball Network Dawgs winners -- we can remember -- include: INF Ben Swennumson (Calgary, Alta.), 1B Calder Eagleton (Calgary, Alta.), INF Ricardo Sanchez (Okotoks, Alta.), OF Danny Donnelly (Okotoks, Alta.) and OF Tucker Zdunich (High River, Alta.).

“Mac Galvin is a hard worker, he is easily coachable,” said Jeff Duda, Dawgs Academy head coach. “He plays the game the right way and does all the little things that will help a team win. His compete level and make up allow him to play beyond his tools and he brings a toughness to the team that is hard to find in youth athletes today.”

McPhail first saw Galvin inside the Duvernay Fieldhouse before players had been assigned to teams.

“He did not necessarily stand out, as there were many good players,” McPhail said. “He was placed on the 15U Red team, where he stood out in my mind. He is extremely coachable. He is a tough out, and a great base runner. I gave him the green light every time. I don’t recall him being thrown out at all that year.

“I would have Mac on any team that I coach. He’s smart, honest, athletic and determined. He’s a great leader.”

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Galvin’s best day on the field?

A right-handed hitter, he doubled off the left field wall at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, as the Dawgs beat Tri-State Arsenal 18U. The wall at JetBlue -- actually two walls -- is similar to at the Green Monster at Fenway Park. In Boston, the Green Monster is 37 feet, two inches high.

At Fenway South the wall is taller overall at 42 feet, 11 inches. Yet, the second wall in left -- the Mid-Monster wall -- is 23 feet.

Galvin made the all-tournament team at the Perfect Game 18U BCS 2022 national championship in Fort Myers after hitting .400 (10-for-25) in eight games with two doubles and an RBI. He stole three bases, scored seven times and finished with 1.608 OPS.

Jacob Gillies (Fergus, Ont.), who headed to Bossier Parish Community College Cavileers and Ben Swennumson (Calgary, Alta.) who went to the Jamestown University Jimmies, a former scholarship winner, were also on that team, coached by Bretton Gouthro.

The best player Galvin has ever been on the same field with. He picked LHP Matt Wilkinson.

“Matt and I were on the same fall ball team four years ago,” Galvin said. “He was great leader always covering bases, does what he was supposed to do. Greatness goes beyond what position you play.

“How many scoreless innings has he pitched?” Galvin asked. Well, Wilkinson does not have an ERA after two starts in the Cleveland Guardians system at class-A Lynchburg, striking out 17 in nine innings.

During the 2021 season he spent 16 games with the Okotoks Dawgs Red in the Western Canadian League hitting .194 with three RBIs.

Growing up in Calgary, he played Little League for Calgary South before joining the Dawgs program. He has a younger brother, Hayden, with the 18U Dawgs.

Galvin’s mother Kelly is a teacher at Janet Johnson school and his father is a gas tank liner for Sherwin-Williams.

Sounds like besides teaching and lining gas tanks, the parents did a pretty good job raising Mac.

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How his season has progressed to date as he

_ Singled in a 3-0 loss to the Pierce Raiders in the second game of the season.

_ Knocked in a run in a 5-3 loss to Pierce.

_ Doubled and knocked in a run in a 12-10 win against Pierce.

_ Singled twice in a 10-0 romp over the Olympic Rangers.

_ Singled twice again in a 7-5 loss to Olympic.

_ Was perfect with a 3-for-3 days and knocked in a pair of runs in a 3-2 win against the Spokane Squatch.

_ Hit a solo homer and added a singled in an 8-6 loss to Spokane.

_ Again was 3-for-3 driving in a run in an 11-5 triumph against Spokane.

_ Doubled and knocked in a run in a 6-5 loss to the Wenatchee Valley Knights.

_ Singled in a 7-1 loss to Wenatchee.

_ Singled in a 12-2 loss to Wenatchee.

_ Doubled, singled, drove in a run and scored three times in a 7-5 win against the Shoreline Dolphins.

_ Knocked in a run in a 9-4 triumph against the Edmonds Tritons. Edmonds is where Dawgs and Prairie Baseball Academy Hall of Famer Blair Kubicek coach. Kubicek, it seems built almost every new diamond west of Saskatoon.

_ Singled and drove in a run in a 4-1 loss to the Bellevue Bulldogs.

_ Doubled home a run in a 5-3 victory against Edmonds.

_ Singled home a run in an 11-3 loss to Edmonds.

_ Singled twice in a 4-1 loss to Edmonds.

_ Homered and drove in three in a 6-5 win against Edmonds.

_ Doubled, singled and knocked in two runs in a 5-4 loss to Shoreline on Friday in the opener of a doubleheader.

_ And doubled in a 2-1 loss to Shoreline.