Canaries slugger Logan Landon recalls time in Brandon

Tom Savage

For the Brandon Valley Challenger

Logan Landon, center, enters the dugout after the first inning of a Canaries game against the St. Paul Saints on Wednesday August 12, at the Birdcage in Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls native Logan Landon was selected in the 10th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015 after spending two years at Hutchinson (Kan.) Junior College and two years at Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

He played Class A and AA ball for Great Lakes, Tulsa and Rancho Cucamonga and got as far as the Dodgers’ AAA team in Oklahoma City, where he played in 14 games.

Landon was released by the Dodgers last year and signed with the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association this summer. He hit .333 with 10 home runs for the Canaries in the regular season, helping the Birds reach the American Association championship series for the first time since 2010.

Logan Landon runs to third base during a Canaries game against the St. Paul Saints on Wednesday August 12, at the Birdcage in Sioux Falls.

All told, in six years of professional baseball, Landon hit 43 home runs.

He was also a power hitter in college, belting multiple home runs in Hutchinson and at Rio Grande.

But he didn’t get his first home run until his senior season of high school while playing at Sioux Falls Lincoln.

And that came in Valley Springs.

“We played Brandon Valley all the time growing up,” Landon said. “I remember that Valley Springs field well. I think back at it now and it’s hard to believe I didn’t get my first over-the-fence home run until my senior year. That was special. I’ll never forget it.”

Last year while playing for the Tulsa Drillers in Class AA, Landon played against former Brandon Valley standout Jake Adams, who was playing for Corpus Christi.

“That was pretty cool. A couple of guys from South Dakota playing professional baseball against each other,” Landon said. “I watched him when he played for Iowa and I knew he was from Brandon.”

Despite being released by the Dodgers, Landon said he’s enjoyed being back in South Dakota this summer playing for the Canaries. It’s something many minor-leaguers didn’t get to do this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the Dodgers liked him on defense, but they were hoping for a more consistent bat.

“I wasn’t sure for a while if I’d be playing at all this summer because of all this COVID stuff,” he said. “But I’ve gotten into the mindset that I’ll play it day-by-day and reevaluate at the end of the season. I’m hoping some team will want to pick me back up and send me to AA club somewhere. That’s what I want to happen.”

If that doesn’t happen, Landon said he may be back in Sioux Falls next summer, or with another American Association team. Although the Canaries fell short of winning a title and lost in six games to Milwaukee, Landon said he’s happy with the numbers he put up this summer.

At the very least, it got him back home to see some familiar sights, which included the new First National Bank Field in Brandon. Landon and his father drove to Brandon earlier this year just to get a glimpse of the new facility.

They stood outside the facility on the right field side and watched a couple of innings of a Little League game. Landon said he took it all in.

“We didn’t stay very long, but the field definitely looked a lot better than when I was growing up, that’s for sure,” he said. “It was quite a place. Very cool.”