Cole Armstrong during a Zoom interview with CFJC Today on Friday (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

COLE ARMSTRONG

NorthPaws manager putting on major recruiting miles day into new job

Oct 9, 2020 | 4:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — Not even a day after being hired by the Kamloops NorthPaws, the team’s first manager Cole Armstrong is already busy recruiting, travelling from his home in Wichita, Kansas to Oklahoma City and back.

“The second I saw the job posting went up, you already start running through your mind all the things you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it,” he said, talking with CFJC Today on the side of the road on his way home from Oklahoma. “You don’t even apply for a job like that without having some things already put in place.”

He plans to do a lot more travelling in the coming months. Days into his new job, Armstrong, who has spent the last six year in the Chicago White Sox organization, is prioritizing pitching.

“Absolutely. We’re trying to get the best players that are available to us, no question about it, but I’m going to take a personal interest in the arms that we select,” noted the 37-year-old Armstrong. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you score 10 if you give up 12. Even on a bad night, you score two and win if you have a pitching staff to hold you.”

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The NorthPaws were officially unveiled as the West Coast League’s 14th franchise last month. It’s uncertain whether their inaugural season 2021 season will go ahead, but Armstrong is putting on the miles as if the team will start play next week. He says his biggest strength is his focus on development.

“I’ve managed and fulfilled a hitting coach role in the minor leagues where I’ve had to deal with pitching staffs with innings restrictions. I understand the development part of the game as well, which is going to be a big part of us developing relationships with high-end schools. If you’re lucky enough, fortunate enough to get a top-notch, a Top 10-type school to send you players and then they go back better than when they came, they’re going to send you more players.”

A native of Surrey growing up, Armstrong says being hired in Kamloops and coming back to B.C. is a dream come true.

“What I remember about growing up in British Columbia is the summers and I haven’t seen a summer in B.C. since I was 20 years old,” he said. “I can remember being 15 years old and playing at Norbrock Stadium and that was the first stadium I really played in thinking, ‘God, imagine what it would be like to play in that every day.'”

Armstrong will get his chance to manage at Norbrock when the NorthPaws start their first West Coast League season.