By IAN WILSON

They’ve been so close.

The Fort McMurray Giants have missed the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) postseason by the narrowest of margins the last two summers.

In 2024, the Giants lost a tiebreaker to the Brooks Bombers for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division after finishing with an identical record to their southern Alberta rivals.

Last year, Fort Mac finished just a game-and-a-half out of postseason contention.

Those frustrating finishes to both seasons came after the Giants qualified for the playoffs in consecutive years.

So, what will it take to get back to some extra games in August?

Perhaps the return of their ace will help, or some added motivation in celebrating their 10th year in the WCBL.

The Giants will certainly have plenty of off-field reasons to celebrate the last decade when considering the circumstances they entered the league under. Back in their inaugural season of 2016, the Fort McMurray wildfires sent the team packing and forced the club to call Edmonton home until late June.

Will they have more to get excited about when it comes to the on-field product? Let’s take a look at their roster and see how things are shaping up heading into the 2026 WCBL season.

BATTING

The Giants will have a pair of catchers on the club who know their way around Legacy Dodge Stadium at Shell Place.

Calgarian Nick Sauve was solid for Fort Mac in 37 games last year. In 133 at bats, he hit .271 with 23 runs, 15 RBI, five stolen bases and three homers. Sauve has played 62 games for Okanagan College in the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) over the last three seasons. With the Coyotes, he has a .327 batting average, 46 runs, 48 runs batted in (RBI), 18 doubles, nine stolen bases and six home runs.

Local product Braden Iannetti will also mask up for his hometown Giants in 2026. The lefty batter got into seven WCBL contests with Fort McMurray in 2023, including a pair of playoff matchups, and another two games last year. Now attending the University of Calgary, he’ll look to carve out a bigger role with the Giants in the summer.

Xariel Maldonado is a switch-hitting utility player who has signed on to play in Fort McMurray. The product of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico is capable of handling catching and infield duties. Through 34 games at Labette Community College, the freshman has 26 hits, 16 runs and 11 RBI this season.

Slated for time at first base is Dylin Walters, a sophomore from Ontario who has been at Southwest Tennessee Community College the last two years. In 48 games this season, the 6-foot-5 righty batter has a .321 batting average, 12 homers, 48 RBI and 37 runs scored.

Another corner infielder, Jatnier Torres, is expected to handle third base for the Giants. The Puerto Rican sophomore suited up in 102 games at Fisher College in 2024 and 2025, where he produced a .385 batting average, 39 RBI, 36 runs and 14 stolen bases in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Torres is smacking around baseballs at the NCAA Division 2 level with Spring Hill College this year.

Marcos Arocho and Keita Fujino have been inked to pluck grounders out of the middle infield positions.

Arocho is yet another import from Puerto Rico who has taken to the diamond in 151 games for Oakland City University since 2024. The junior has a .304 batting average, 117 runs, 117 RBI, 31 doubles, 17 long balls and 11 stolen bases in his 539 at bats with the Mighty Oaks.

Fujino has been a consistent hitter at Otero College in Colorado. He’s logged 104 games with the Rattlers the last two years and posted a .340 batting average, .448 on-base percentage, 88 runs, 71 RBI, 29 doubles, 15 stolen bases and 10 home runs.

Other infielders the Giants are bringing in include Miguel Tetreault and Julian Minor. Tetreault is a Fort McMurray native who is attending Cloud County Community College, while Minor is batting .282 with 26 runs, 21 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 33 games this season at Cerro Coso Community College.

For outfield service, Fort McMurray has imported a pair of players from Keystone College, a team that also goes by the Giants name. Jaxson Monroney is a junior from Camden, Delaware who has a .538 on-base percentage, .383 batting average, 17 runs, 14 RBI and eight stolen bases in 22 games this season. Colson Bennett attended Caesar Rodney High School in Camden with Monroney and he now roams the outfield with him at Keystone College. In 33 games, the junior has 26 runs, 32 RBI and five stolen bases this year.

Oakville, Ontario product Braedyn Dyck is mashing during his junior season at the University of Texas Permian Basin. In 50 games, the outfielder/infielder is batting .323 with 27 runs and 32 RBI.

Arwin Burgos has been a consistent performer at Point University in Georgia over the last two seasons. Through 91 games, the Puerto Rican has a .396 on-base percentage, .332 batting average, 66 RBI, 64 runs, 22 doubles and 23 stolen bases.

Other outfield options include Jason Avila, a 5-foot-8 junior from Riverdale, Georgia who is in his junior season at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, and Adiesele Santiago, a teammate of Maldonado’s at Labette Community College.

PITCHING

Strikeout maestro Ashe Ammerlaan is back for another summer in the WCBL with Fort McMurray. The Oranjestad, Aruba native was masterful with the Giants in 2025. In 12 games – including six starts – and 36 innings last year, the lefthander piled up 70 strikeouts while going 2-3 with a 4.25 earned run average (ERA). The senior has made 20 appearances at Montreat College over the last two seasons and has 111 Ks in 69 innings.

View this post on Instagram

Local lefty Riley Burns will make his return to Legacy Dodge Field, as well. The 5-foot-8 moundsman has toed the rubber in 38 games, including 15 starts, for the Giants over the last three years. In 117-plus innings, the University of Calgary pupil has 75 strikeouts, one save and a 3-10 record.

Another southpaw option is Luis Marrero, a relief pitcher at New Mexico Junior College who is originally from Puerto Rico.

The bulk of the pitching staff, of course, will be comprised of right-handed hurlers.

Torontonian K.J. Jones was superb with the Giants last year. The 5-foot-10 pitcher appeared in 11 games and made six starts for Fort McMurray and went 2-0 with a 3.11 ERA. In his 43-plus innings, Jones also picked up one save and had 30 strikeouts. Jones has spent this season as a starting pitcher in the CCBC with Vancouver Island University, where he is a K-per-inning hill topper.

Competing against Jones in the CCBC is Eli McKeen, who has been pitching for the University of Fraser Valley since 2024 as both a starter and a bullpen option. The 6-foot-3 Calgarian will reunite with Jones at Legacy Dodge Field this summer. In 2025, McKeen appeared in 15 games for the Giants and made one start. He recorded 25 punchouts in 30.1 innings while nabbing a save and posting a 2.37 ERA during WCBL play.

Pelham Statton worked out of the Fort Mac bullpen in 2025. He went 0-1 in 10 relief appearances and recorded four strikeouts in six innings of work. Statton trained at Dawgs Academy in Okotoks and has been a solid relief option at Chemeketa Community College this season. Through 11 appearances and 16.1 innings, he has 19 strikeouts, a 4.96 ERA and one save.

Another two additions to the pitching staff are coming from Keystone College.

In NCAA Division 3 play this year, freshman Nico George has been deployed as a reliever. George has five strikeouts and one save in five games and 4.2 innings. Hist teammate, Aidan Lehane, is 1-0 in his five appearances, which includes one start. Lehane has nine Ks and a 6.23 ERA this year.

Other new righthanders on the roster include Kissimmee, Florida’s Jabdiel Perez (South Florida State College), reliever Gabe Smitherman (Eastern Oregon Universty), and Texan Sam Pyland, a 5-foot-11 junior at Kansas Wesleyan University, who has been working out of the bullpen.

Rounding out the pitching staff is high schooler Dayan Gonzalez, a 5-foot-9 hurler from Cuba.

COACHING

The Giants have made some major coaching moves over the offseason.

Ray Brown guided the team as head coach for a third summer in 2025. The former skipper with the Edmonton Prospects, who led the Giants to their first playoff appearance in 2022, narrowly missed the postseason last summer. Fort McMurray went 20-35 during the 2025 season, finishing just behind the fourth-seeded Brooks Bombers, who claimed the final playoff spot in the West Division.

Taking over from Brown in 2026 is Dylan Cooper, who was a member of Fort McMurray’s coaching staff last season. The assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at West Virginia Wesleyan College has been with the Bobcats since 2023 and specializes in working with catchers and infielders. Prior to his time at Wesleyan College, Cooper was an assistant coach at Richland Junior College in 2022 and he spent four years at Arlington Baptist University (ABU) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. The ABU graduate also brings summer collegiate baseball experience to the Giants. Cooper worked as a head coach in the Metro Summer Collegiate League for four summers, and as an assistant in the Cape Cod League for two years.

“I am excited to begin working with the outstanding group of players we have brought in, along with our excellent coaching staff,” said Cooper.

“I am also grateful for the opportunity to coach within the Fort McMurray Giants organization and look forward to the season ahead.”

Joining Cooper is new pitching coach Omar Rosado, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico. The former draft pick of the Montreal Expos has worked as a GM, head coach and pitching coach in Double-A baseball in Puerto Rico.

Tanner Hess, who was an All-Star infielder with the Giants in 2019 and an assistant coach in Fort Mac in 2025, is back with the coaching staff this year.

Home Ballpark: Legacy Dodge Field at Shell Place

Home Opener: 7:05 p.m., Friday, May 29th vs. Energy City Cactus Rats

2025 Regular Season Results: 5th place in West Division with 20 wins & 35 losses

2024 Playoff Results: Did not qualify