Brooks Bombers 2025 Preview

albertadugoutstories

11 months ago

Get in and win.

That’s the goal of the Brooks Bombers in 2025.

The Bombers have now experienced the playoffs in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) on two occasions – in 2022 and 2024 – but Brooks has yet to win a postseason contest.

Can the “Bomb Squad” up their game this summer?

In the playoffs last summer, the Bombers put up a good fight against the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the opening round. They dropped Game 1 of the best-of-three by a 4-0 score and then carried a 1-0 lead into the 8th inning of the second game before the Gulls stormed back and claimed a 4-1 series-clinching victory. The pitching for Brooks held firm, but the Bombers needed some more bite from their bats to secure a better outcome for the Elks Field faithful.

Will the roster assembled by President/General Manager Jason Wandler be capable of elevating their game? Can they not only qualify for the postseason but win when they get there?

We’ll see what the future holds for the southern Alberta squad.

Jason Wandler, general manager of the Brooks Bombers, is always on the lookout for WCBL talent … *photo by Ian Wilson*

COACHING

The Bombers will be led on the field this season by head coach Dylan DeBrouwer.

DeBrouwer has worked as the assistant coach and director of strength and conditioning at Westmont College, an NCAA Division 2 school. With the Warriors, he worked with outfielders, infielders and hitters and served as the first base coach.

In 2019, he was a volunteer assistant coach at Valparaiso University, where he was an infield instructor and strength and conditioning coach.

Prior to that, DeBrouwer worked for two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Greenville University in Illinois. At that school, he was the recruiting coordinator, hitting coach, infield coach and strength and conditioning coach.

DeBrouwer – who played collegiately at Whittier College – was also the head coach of the Chesterfield Vipers in the Mid Atlantic Collegiate League in 2018. He led that team to a summer league championship.

“I am excited and thankful for the opportunity to lead the Brooks Bombers. Thank you to GM Jason Wandler and the Board of Directors for believing in me to lead the club for the 2025 season,” said DeBrouwer.

“I am looking forward to bringing my passion for player development and building championship culture to the Bombers organization.”

PITCHING

The pitching staff with the Bombers will have a challenge keeping the ball in the yard at the smallest park in the WCBL.

One new recruit is 6-foot-4 righthander Brian Walters, who has worked as a starting pitcher at Adams State University in Colorado the last two years. He has a 7-11 record and 99 strikeouts over 111.1 innings with the Grizzlies.

San Francisco State University will be represented by a pair of righthanded pitchers. River Diaz De Leon, who can also play in the outfield, is a sophomore reliever with 29 strikeouts, a 2-0 record and a save in 35-plus innings over the last two college seasons. Skyler Sievert is a 6-foot-3 freshman from Laguna Niguel, California.

College of the Canyons in Santa Clara, California will have two hurlers on the roster. In 16 games with the Cougars this season, five of them starts, Chad Stanchfield has a 4.41 ERA, three saves, one win and 32 Ks in 49 innings, while Derek Hughes is 4-5 with 29 strikeouts in 43.1 innings as a reliever.

Other new righties include Hudson Groh (College of the Sequoias); Lucas Graniero (Three Rivers College); Aidan Maxwell (Okanagan College); Zion Palea (Chaminade University); Cedric Leblanc (Vauxhall Academy of Baseball); and Lucas Mahoney (Bellevue University).

Groh has logged 52 innings this year and made 10 starts and 16 appearances. He’s 2-6 with a save and 55 strikeouts.

Graniero has pitched in five games with the Three Rivers Raiders, while Palea turned in a K-per-inning performance in his 13 innings and seven appearances with the Silverswords.

Mahoney is an Okotoks Dawgs Academy grad from Revelstoke, B.C. who is committed to play for Bellevue University, and Leblanc is a Vauxhall Academy product.

Maxwell is a local pitcher who has worked 12 innings out of the bullpen for the Okanagan College Coyotes.

The Bombers have also inked a number of southpaws to the team.

Kody Butt is a St. John’s, Newfoundland pitcher at Bellevue University, where he’s 2-3 with 28 strikeouts in 27 innings with the Bruins. Of his 10 games, six have been starts. Butt was a reliever with the Fort McMurray Giants in 2023.

Kethan Vaquera has worked primarily as a reliever at Long Beach City College, while Martin Zhang has been a bullpen arm for the Columbia University Lions the last two seasons.

BATTING

The Bombers have a pair of important returning hitters who will be back in Brooks this summer.

Payton Matthews is an outfielder who led the club in runs (54) and stolen bases (29) in 2024. The Chicago native who is a senior at Mid-America Christian University also had a .279 batting average, 24 runs batted in (RBI) and 11 doubles in 51 games in the WCBL last year.

McCook Community College sophomore Maddox Shaver will also be back patrolling the Elks Field infield. In 51 games with the Bombers last summer, the Belleville, Ontario product recorded 46 hits, 38 runs and 24 RBI.

Joining Walters from Adams State University are outfielder/first baseman Christian Altamirano and third baseman Seth Reker. Altamirano hails from Denver, Colorado and is a .373 hitter with 84 runs, 70 RBI with 21 stolen bases in 98 games and two seasons with the Grizzlies. Reker has also played 98 games over two years at Adams State University and has a .311 batting average, 88 runs, 64 RBI and 12 homers in that time.

Modesto Junior College has three hitters on the roster. Shortstop J.R. Bedford had 19 runs, 17 RBI and nine stolen bases in 39 games this year, while infielder Tyler Dorn had two homers and four steals in 32 contests. Outfielder Troy Morrow is a freshman from Manteca, California who joins the Bombers from Modesto Junior College.

New outfielders on Brooks also include Ben Fishel (Columbia University); C.J. Snowden (University of Arkansas-Fort Smith); and Taber’s Langdyn Cummins (University of Jamestown).

Heath Hachkowski is a two-way player from Red Deer. The 6-foot-5 pitcher and outfielder attends Benedictine University.

Other new infielders on the club include Lucas Rick (Western Michigan University); Zach Barnao (Regis University); and Calgarian Deri Steiert-Couture (Cerro Coso Community College).

Wyatt Ormonde, from Long Beach, California, attends Cerritos College and plays in the outfield and the infield.

Dish duties will be split by Liam Kirsh and Kai Hopfel. Kirsh is a Toronto, Ontario catcher who is in his freshman year at Indiana State University. Hopfel is a Corona, California native attending Fullerton Junior College.