June 6, 2024

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

The Great Lakes Loons are located in Midland, Mich.

A Los Angeles Dodgers’ High-A affiliate, the team has had some great players -- maybe even a loon or two.

The franchise has also hosted numerous Canadians throughout the years: Max Hewitt (Midhurst, Ont.), Jeff Hunt (Cambridge, Ont.), Brant Stickel (Veteran, Alta.), and big leaguer Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) who spent part of 2018 with the Loons before being promoted to double-A (and then later traded to Baltimore in the Manny Machado deal).

The latest Canuck to don a Loons uniform is Lucas Wepf (Georgetown, Ont.), a product of Team Ontario, the Brampton Royals, the Oakville A’s and the Georgetown Eagles program. He then played his college ball with the Pratt Beavers and Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks of the Sun Belt Conference.

After a stellar performance out of the bullpen, Wepf takes home the Canadian Baseball Network’s minor league Player of the Week honours.

Wepf pitched a total of 4 2/3 innings and allowed two hits and two walks while striking out 10 batters – accounting for ~71% of his outs. Each strikeout was a swinging strikeout and he notched his sixth save of the season, which leads the squad.

Following his senior season with the Warhawks, the 6-foot-6 right-hander signed as an undrafted free-agent with the Dodgers for $15,000. He didn’t pitch in 2022 following the signing and split the 2023 season between single-A Rancho Cucamonga and high-A, where he returned for the 2024 season.

This past week, the Loons were facing the West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit Tigers) on the road at LMCU Ballpark. The Loons were putting their winning record on the line against the Whitecaps, who were flirting with the .500 mark entering the series.

Wepf’s first appearance in the series came Wednesday when he entered in the bottom seventh inning with the Whitecaps holding a 2-0 lead. The Royals alum got to work quickly, getting batter Peyton Graham to strike out swinging on four pitches. He retired the next two batters via the swinging strikeout, using seven pitches to retire Danny Serretti and Josh Crouch. Wepf threw 11 pitches of which 10 were strikes, his one ball being an inch or two below the strike zone.

The 24-year-old returned for the eighth and continued his strikeout ways, getting both Seth Stephenson and Dom Johnson to strikeout swinging on eight pitches, throwing only one ball in the process. Wepf generated a ground ball to short to finish the outing – racking up five strikeouts on the day.

His next outing came two days later with Wepf being brought in to save the game with the Loons carrying a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. A double to the leadoff batter put Wepf in a tough spot but he bounced back quickly, striking out Luis Santana on three pitches. A walk to Izaac Pacheco had runners on first and second with one out and with the go-ahead run at the plate, but Wepf got the job done.

He started the fourth batter of the inning with two strikes before a fly to left. Facing Serretti again, he was able to repeat his earlier week results and was able to get the Tigers prospect to strikeout swinging on five pitches. Even with the walk, Wepf finished with a 66.6% strike rate to pick up his sixth save of the season.

His third and final outing of the week came in the second game of the finale on Sunday, when he was asked to clean up a mess left by a fellow reliever in the seventh with the game on the line (doubleheaders are seven innings in the minors).

With one out and runners on first and second in a 2-2 game, Wepf got to work, striking out Max Anderson on four pitches. The next batter singled to left, which could have spelled trouble, but the Loons’ defence was on display as Dylan Campbell threw out the runner at the plate.

With a runner on second to start the extra-inning, Wepf was given a clean frame and dug himself a bit of a hole by walking the leadoff batter. He bounced back quickly, striking out Pacheco before getting a weak grounder for the out at first. Now with runners on second and third, a familiar foe was at the plate in Serretti.

The outcome remained the same – a swinging strikeout on four pitches. The Loons lost the game in the 10th on a throwing error but one of the main reasons the proceedings went into extras was Wepf’s composure in the high-pressure situations.

His stellar week on the mound dropped his ERA to 1.85 on the season and he has held opposing hitters to a .134 average on the year with a 0.78 WHIP. Defined as a pitcher with lots of movement in his delivery, with Dodgers prospect pundits stating lots of “knees and elbows” and some additional tricks to hide the ball, Wepf hits the mid-90s with his fastball offering while mixing in a slider and a solid splitter offering, both of which sit in the mid-80s.

He ranks seventh across all high-A in K% (37.6) and leads the Loons relief corps in terms of total strikeouts (35). With his high strikeout rate and ability to shine in pressure situations for the Loons when called upon, Wepf has earned this week’s Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Week honours.

Former Winners

Opening Day to May 6 – LHP Matt Wilkinson (Lander, BC), Guardians.

May 7-12 – INF Charles LeBlanc (Laval, Que.), Angels.

May 13-19 – RHP Adam Maier (North Vancouver, BC), Braves.

May 20-26 – INF Trei Cruz (Toronto, Ont.), Tigers.

May 27 – June 2 – RHP Lucas Wepf (Georgetown, Ont.), Dodgers.

Stats Compiled by Pete Berryman

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