Vauxhall Jet alumni named San Diego Padres minor league pitcher of the year

By Lethbridge Herald on October 4, 2025.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

It was the definition of a perfect bounce back season forVauxhall Jets alumnus Garrett Hawkins.

The 25-year-old Biggar, Sask. product was named the minor league pitcher of the year by the San Diego Padres after posting a 9-1 record, a 1.50 Earned Run Average and registered 80 strikeouts in 60 innings of work split between the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps and Double-A San Antonio Missions.

Hawkins says he was glad to get the recognition from the organization.

“It’s really cool, just knowing how far I’ve come. Definitely something you don’t really think about as the season’s going on, you’re just trying to do your best day by day. It’s really cool to get that award.” 

Hawkins missed the entirety of the 2024 minor league campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Upon his return, Hawkins was tasked with making the transition from a starting pitcher into a high leverage, late inning reliever.

“Going into the start of the season, I didn’t really know what to expect.” Hawkins explained. “Just coming back from injury and I wasn’t sure if they would maybe have me start again or put me in the bullpen. Even at the beginning of the year, I was starting off going two innings and just slowly slid into more of a one inning role, which I was happy doing as well. I think as the season got on, my routine and just the mentality of being in a bullpen and not knowing when your name’s going to get called to get in the game took a bit to get used to. As the season got on, I got more comfortable and it worked out pretty well.”

A portion of Hawkins baseball career can be traced back to southern Alberta. Hawkins graduated from the Vauxhall Jets baseball academy in 2018 and earned a scholarship to the University of British Columbia out of high school.

After a strong college career, Hawkins was selected in the ninth round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, 240th overall.

In an interview with the Herald, Vauxhall head coach Les McTavish says Hawkins has put in the work and has found success because of his command of the strike zone.

“He was really good for Vauxhall in high school, but wasn’t famous by any means. He went to UBC and performed well there, came out of the COVID side of things and got an opportunity. It’s a super huge honour, we’re just proud of him as a program but it’s all G Hawk that’s created those opportunities. “

“The one thing about G Hawk is he always throws strikes. He threw 80 miles an hour as an 11th grader in high school and then continued to get better. He was upper 80s by the time he got out of high school and then continued to get better going forward but he’s always been a strike thrower.”

Looking back on his experience with Vauxhall, Hawkins says the lessons he learned as a Jet have paid dividends for him after graduating from the program.

“I’d say the biggest thing I’d taken is probably the off the field stuff, just learning how to be a pro, whether that’s like interacting with your teammates, especially here bouncing around different teams and meeting new faces all the time. Lots of long bus rides and how to deal with that. Building those routines from a younger age definitely helps you learn what your body needs to prepare and get ready. They change as you learn more and get to know yourself a little, but having that base and just the mentality of getting ready each day is probably the biggest things.”

Hawkins makes his living thanks to a potent fastball, which sits between 94-96 miles per hour that he throws about 70 percent of the time complimented by a slider. Because of the spin Hawkins generates on his fastball, it appears faster than what the radar gun will indicate to a hitter leading to a lot of swing and misses.

McTavish says the ability to get hitters to swing through pitches will be a valuable asset for Hawkins moving forward.

“I think it’s a huge bullet for him. You get swing and miss and the game is built around swing and miss right now. There’s a young guy that came up with the Blue Jays that throws out of a really high slot with vertical ride and a good split finger in Trey Yesavage. I’m not saying that G-Hawk is Yesavage, but it’s similar in certain aspects.” 

Hawkins is eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft if he is not added to San Diego’s 40-man roster this offseason. Rule 5 draftees must spend the full season on a club’s 26 player active roster or be offered back to their original club. 

Four other Vauxhall Jet alumni are currently in affiliated minor league baseball. Damiano Palmegiani and Adam Macko reached Triple-A this season with the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Wesley Moore (Philadelphia) and Tyler Boudreau (New York Yankees) consist of the other two active Jet alumni.