Fisher Cats ready for home opener

MANCHESTER, N.H. – With beautiful weather expected in the Granite State over the next few days, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats look to welcome their fans to their 2023 season with a home opening series this week with the Portland Sea Dogs.

The Fisher Cats, now in their 19th season as the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, seek to improve on a 59-79 record after the 2022 campaign. That 59-win mark was the lowest ever over a full season since the team moved from New Haven, Conn.

New Hampshire will expect to lean on its pitching, especially Ricky Tiedemann, the only Top-100 Baseball America prospect left in the Blue Jays organization. While Tiedemann will not be starting the season in New Hampshire, he’s expected to be promoted soon and baseball analysts expect the Fisher Cats to have several members of its bullpen that could contribute at the Major League level before the season is out.

However, infielder Will Robertson hopes that the team’s bats will also play a role in the team’s success.

“As an offense, you’re always trying to be relentless and trying to keep your foot on the gas pedal,” he said. “(The pitchers) have a job to do and (the batters) have a job to do and I think as long as we focus on each section, we will come together and play well.”

Robertson returns to New Hampshire for his second year, having lost much of last year to injury. Unlike last year, the Fisher Cats has begun their campaign on a hot streak with three road wins last week against Altoona to begin the year. Robertson thinks the experience and hunger to turn the page from returning players alongside a cadre of new players has created a positive and energized clubhouse.

“I think having some of the guys from last year along with some new guys, we can make something that’s a little new with a different perspective,” he said. “We’re excited. We’ve worked hard and we’ve got some talented guys on the team and we’ve got some guys that weren’t here last year that I think can help out.”

Fisher Cat Manger Cesar Martin enters his third season at the helm of the team, technically the fourth if the cancelled 2020 season is counted.

Like Robertson, Martin feels that this year’s squad has a strong balance and a good approach after the Altoona series.

“If we can put everything together, we have a lot of talent on the team. I know this is a young team, but we have some good hitting, we have some power hitters here, we have some good starting pitching and the bullpen is a lot better this year,” he said. “I think with that combination if we can put it together, we can win a lot of games.”

“I think at the end of the day, if you can get a little bit better every day, it make a huge impact,” he added.