Former MLB pitcher Albers enjoying full-circle return to Cairns Field with Saskatoon Berries

California’s Michael Singleton is quickly emerging as the early-season ace for the WCBL’s Saskatoon Berries, leading the team with three starts and 15 innings on the mound through the first three weeks of the team’s inaugural season.

Like the rest of the Berries’ rotation, he’s been able to soak up major league advice from first-year pitching coach Andrew Albers.

“He’s not really forcing me to do all of these things,” said Singleton. “He’s just giving me good suggestions and I can take it or I don’t. But most of the time I take it because it’s good suggestions.”

Transitioning from an elite-level player to a coach of summer collegiate baseball, Albers said it’s been an enjoyable process to see how young pitchers like Singleton are beginning to evolve their game to the wooden-bat WCBL environment.

“He does a great job of attacking the zone,” said Albers. “He throws a lot of strikes, that fastball has got a lot of life and it’s really tough for guys to square up that first or second time through.”

After five seasons pitching for the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays, the 38-year-old Albers has moved into the next stage of his career on the staff of Berries head coach Joe Carnahan.

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It’s been a different change of pace for the North Battleford product, who most recently is coming off representing Canada at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

“It’s a little bit different level than the last time I played, so it’s a little bit of an adjustment that way,” said Albers. “But at the same time, I’m learning and trying to pass on what I see and my knowledge to the guys that we have here.

“You’re just hoping to help them get better.”

The Berries will have plenty of experience to draw upon this season from Albers, who pitched in 31 MLB games between 2013 and 2021.

Set to be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in his home community of North Battleford later this summer, Albers also comes to the Berries with significant international experience.

Albers represented Canada at three career World Baseball Classics, as well as a pair of gold medals won at the Pan-American Games in 2011 and 2015.

“He’s played at the level everybody wants to play at,” said Carnahan. “To have him right here working with the players is just a great opportunity for them.”

Albers has been responsible for leading the Berries’ pitching staff, which like the rest of the team is a brand new assortment of players working together with Saskatoon’s expansion into the WCBL this year.

For Singleton, it’s a chance to pick the brain of someone who has committed his life to reaching the highest levels of professional baseball in the world.

“I feel like he has a good mentality, obviously, being in the league for years,” said Singleton. “I just try to be like that because I would say my mentality lacks a little bit in that sense, so I feel like he can help me there for sure.”

It’s a storybook return to Cairns Field for Albers, who was a member of the now-defunct Saskatoon Yellow Jackets during their 2004 season.

Returning to the same ball diamond where his baseball career began to take off, he’s aiming to use his knowledge gathered between stints in the league to better Saskatoon’s group of young pitchers.

“It’s interesting how that comes full circle,” said Albers. “I have some good memories here, so it’s been great. It’s nice to be a part of the community, I’m starting to settle in now and getting to be a part of Saskatoon and the community close to where you grew up in. It’s a lot of fun being back here and a lot of fun being a part of this inaugural season.”

After Monday’s game against the Swift Current 57’s was postponed due to rain, the Berries (5-8) will return to action on Wednesday at 7:00 pm to kick off a two-game series with the Medicine Hat Mavericks.