Vancouver Canadians named top minor league baseball organization

View from the pressbox (image courtesy of Charlie Caskey)

According to the Vancouver Sun (and Shi Davidi at Sportsnet) the Vancouver Canadians have been named the 2013 recipient of the John H. Johnson President’s Trophy, which recognizes minor league baseball’s top organization.

The C’s are the first Canadian team to receive the honour in the 40-year history of the award. Team owner Jack Kerr released the following statement after receiving the prestigious honour:

“Andy Dunn and his staff have been extraordinary in developing this team into something our community can be proud of. We are extremely honoured to be recognized as the top franchise in baseball by accepting the John H. Johnson President’s Trophy, baseball’s highest award.”

Dunn is known as a marketing guru and oversaw the successful transition of the Washington Nationals to RFK Stadium in 2005. The Canadians set a franchise attendance record for the fifth year in a row with Dunn as their President and drew nearly 200,000 fans to Nat Bay Stadium this year.

The Vancouver Canadians’ roster featured some of the Toronto Blue Jays best prospects at some point in 2013, including Chase DeJong, Dawel Lugo, Mitch Nay, L.B. Dantzler and Tom Robson. Recent graduates of the C’s include Marcus Stroman, Roberto Osuna, Daniel Norris, D.J. Davis, Dwight Smith Jr., Andy Burns, Aaron Sanchez as well as traded prospects Noah Syndergaard and Justin Nicolino.