Rookie manager Gil Velazquez had to wait two extra days to make his managerial debut. The Dodgers Low Single-A affiliate Great Lakes Loons had their scheduled April 7 Opening Day against the Lansing Lugnuts snowed out for the second year in a row and the subsequent rescheduled doubleheader on Friday rained out. This forced the two teams travel to the Loons home park in Midland, Michigan to try to salvage the third game of the series on Saturday afternoon. And though it didn’t rain or snow at Dow Diamond, the two teams “take three” game was a bit cold for baseball – like 29 degrees at first-pitch cold.

After being snowed out on Thursday and rained out on Friday in Lansing, Loons new manager Gil Velasquez ponders his lineup for Saturday’s home opener at Dow Diamond.
(Photo courtesy of @greatlakesloons)

Although Velazquez is new to the manager’s role, he has a long baseball résumé that has without question prepared him for his new role.

Velazquez was born in Los Angeles, California and was drafted out of Paramount High School by the New York Mets in the 14th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft and made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Mets in 1998. His last year as an active player was in 2014 when he hit .288 and had an OBP of .375 with the Yucatan Leones of the Mexican League.

Over his 17-year career, mostly as a shortstop, he played parts of five seasons in the MLB with the Red Sox, Angels and Marlins. As a minor league player during that span Velazquez played in 1,585 games with 879 of them at the AAA level.

In 2015 he retired from active duty to become the fourth coach for the Arizona League Dodgers. The fourth coach role didn’t seem to be carefully defined but most likely meant the coach would be plugged into whatever role he was needed at and could speak Spanish. The first-year coach appeared to have made an impression. In December – amid the revamping of the Dodgers minor league coaching staffs – he was named manager of the Class-A Great Lakes Loons.

Velazquez is just two years removed from playing minor league baseball so the memories of what it was like to be a player working against almost impossible odds are still fresh on his mind. His longevity in carving out a career that took him to at least 20 different teams – some of them multiple times – is a testament to his love of the game and his determination to continue on in the game and help those young players now on the track he once followed.

In an interview with Hugh Bernreuter of MLive, Velazquez gave an indication of what his managerial style will be like.

“I want to make it a point to talk to the players, at least to say ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Hi’ or ‘How are you doing?’” Velazquez said. “Everybody is important on the team, whether you’re one of those top or priority prospects or the 25th guy.

“It’s important to keep everybody involved. It’s not easy for a manager to do that, with everything else on his mind and with his priorities somewhere else,” Velazquez added. “But I think it’s important, just to say something to all the players. I expect them to be focused on their job, but I want to make sure they’re having fun.”

Infielder Matt Jones has already picked up on the Velazquez approach.

“I would say, based on spring training, that he’s a manager who wants to have fun playing the game,” Jones said. “It’s a game. He lets you have fun playing it.”

Velazquez gets it, for his players and for himself as a rookie manager.

“We’re young. We’re going to make some plays that look good and some that don’t,” he said.

After waiting for three days it was perhaps fitting for the rookie manager to make his debut on his home field amid the Opening Day festivities in Midland. His first official game line up card was handed in at home plate to umpire Tom Hanahan at Dow Diamond.

Velazquez’s inaugural line up featured a quartet of youngsters including 18-year old third baseman Brendon Davis and 18-year old second baseman Omar Estevez, along with shortstop Christian Gomez and right fielder Ariel Sandoval, both of whom turned 20-years of age in the past four months.

First baseman Matt Jones rounded out the infield along with catcher Garrett Kennedy. Jordan Paroubeck and Frederico Celli were penciled in the Opening Day line up in left field and as the designated hitter respectively. Celli is from Rimini, Italy, having been signed by the Dodgers in July of 2014. Center fielder Logan Landon was slotted in the lead off spot for the Loons.

Michael Boyle delivered the first pitch of the Loons 2016 season. The 21-year old left-hander was selected by the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 2015 First Year Player Draft. He was matched up against left-hander Jon Harris who was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the 2015 draft.

The Loons scored three runs in the first inning on two hits and four walks. Omar Estevez, in his first professional at bat, hit an opposite field single to right field. Matt Jones followed with an opposite field double to left field. Harris exited the game with two outs in the first inning.

Boyle held the Lugnuts in check for four innings, giving up a hit, one walk and striking out five. In the fifth inning Lansing tied the score at three with a single, a walk, and two doubles. Nolan Long got the final out of the inning and along with Alex Hermeling, the two combined to limit the Lugnuts to just two hits over the next 3.1 innings while striking out six.

Ariel Sandoval drove in Brendon Davis with a go ahead run in the sixth inning. They tacked on another run in the seventh inning with two two-out hits, a double by outfielder Logan Landon and another single by second baseman Omar Estevez.

Omar Estevez’s 7th-inning single drove in what would prove to be the winning run as the Loons topped the Lansing Lugnuts 5-4 in their twice-postponed season opener on Saturday afternoon.
(Photo courtesy of @greatlakesloons)

Right-hander Marcus Crescentini came on to pitch the top of the ninth inning. He gave up one run but preserved the win for rookie manger Gil Velazquez.

“It was great to get the first win,” Velazquez said. “It’s always nice to win. I can’t take the credit. Those guys went out there and played in the cold, put some good swings on some pitches and made the throws.”

“It’s nice to get Gil his first ‘W’ today,” said Matt Jones after the game. “It’s nice to play here in front of a good crowd. It was cool to see a lot of people show up today, even with it being kind of cold. Opening Day is a big deal, especially around here. I was glad we could get them a win.”

All Loons games during the 2016 season can be heard on ESPN 100.9-FM, the Loons flagship radio station, while all 70 home games can also be seen on MiLB.TV.