{"id":16784,"date":"2025-10-09T15:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T19:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/thunder-bay-border-cats\/?p=16784"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T19:18:12","slug":"cats-sign-manager-ellison-to-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/thunder-bay-border-cats\/2025\/10\/09\/cats-sign-manager-ellison-to-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"CATS SIGN MANAGER ELLISON TO CONTRACT EXTENSION"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Thunder Bay, Ont., &#8211; The Thunder Bay Border Cats are excited to announce that field manager Joe Ellison has agreed to a new three-year contract extension through the 2028 Northwoods League season. The 34-year-old native of Toronto, Ont., was named the 15th manager in franchise history on September 5, 2024, and is the second Canadian born skipper to lead the club, joining Mike Steed, who guided the Cats in 2010 and 2011.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Under Ellison this past season, the Border Cats compiled a 40-30 record, the most wins since the team\u2019s NWL championship season in 2008.\u00a0 The Cats had the ninth best overall record in the 24-team league and finished third overall in the Great Plains East Division with a .571 winning percentage.\u00a0 Thunder Bay also had a 26-11 mark at Port Arthur Stadium.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ellison is currently the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at the University of the Science &amp; Arts of Oklahoma.\u00a0 He previously held the titles of general manager, head coach, pitching coach, director of baseball operations, and recruiting coordinator during his 11 years with Ontario Blue Jays junior baseball program from 2012 to 2022.\u00a0 Ellison has also coached at McPherson College in Kansas and played collegiately at Cisco Junior College, Connors State College, and South Dakota State University.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cWe are thrilled to extend Joe\u2019s contract for three more years,\u201d stated team Vice President &amp; General Manager Bryan Graham.\u00a0 \u201cHaving continuity in our manager position is very important for the program and helps maximize roster retention.\u00a0 Our players really enjoyed playing for Joe this past season and having him return is also a bonus for recruiting top Canadian talent to Thunder Bay as well.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ellison is looking forward to the challenge of returning to the Border Cats dugout. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cWe had a great season this past summer, and while it was disappointing to not secure a playoff berth, we have set the bar very high in 2026. This will only fuel the players returning and those joining us moving forward to push the needle even further to return to the championship days of Border Cats baseball, which our loyal fan base certainly deserves,\u201d added Ellison.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">For 2026 Border Cats season tickets, email <\/span><a href=\"mailto:info@bordercatsbaseball.com\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">info@bordercatsbaseball.com<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> or call (807) 766-CATS.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thunder Bay, Ont., &#8211; The Thunder Bay Border Cats are excited to announce that field manager Joe Ellison has agreed  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":16785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-permanentslider","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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