By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter
Welcome to “The Boys of Summer,” a series of articles about the Vermont Lake Monsters baseball organization. Throughout the coming weeks, the Standard will follow several players and staff on their journey through The Futures League. This week, we start with senior vice president C.J. Knudsen and a little background.
C.J. Knudsen has been involved with baseball in Vermont for over 30 years.
Knudsen first took the trek to Burlington before the Vermont Lake Monsters were even a blip on area residents’ radar. In 1995, as a Sports Management major at Keene State College, Knudsen took an internship working for the Vermont Expos, the state’s Single-A Minor League Baseball franchise.
“I took the internship, and it was awesome,” he recalled. He quickly climbed the ranks, becoming the team’s Assistant General Manager in 1997, before taking the top GM position in 2000. “At the time, I was the youngest in the country,” he said.
In 2003, he was named the New York-Penn League Executive of the Year. In 2005, he oversaw the team’s transition from the Expos to the Lake Monsters.
C.J. Knudsen
He stayed with the organization until 2009 before taking over as the Senior Vice President of the Connecticut Tigers.
When it was time for team President & CEO Chris English to find a Senior Vice President after he took control of the team in 2021, he knew who to call. “I came back to Vermont when Chris called,” said Knudsen. “I finally said yes on his third try, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
Knudsen’s day-to-day is ever-changing, as he oversees operations of the team on a micro and macro level. “I’m in charge of overseeing the team, keeping the ballpark maintained, working with vendors and sponsors, and making sure the fan experience is successful,” he explained.
One of his biggest obstacles, especially this summer, he explained, is battling the weather. “The weather this year has been a big challenge,” he said. “We’ve battled rain and the heat. One game was rained out, another suspended because of rain, leading to a doubleheader. But when the weather is beautiful, it makes for a beautiful day at the ballpark.”
The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team that plays in The Futures League. The league’s closest comparison is the famous Cape Cod Baseball League, which was portrayed in the film Summer Catch. Knudsen and his staff bring in players from Vermont, several other states, and, in some cases, from across the globe to compete.
“When we were a Single-A affiliate, we didn’t have much connection to Vermont,” he said. “Now, we have several players from in-state. The baseball is better, and we have been embraced by the community.” Currently, the Lake Monsters field five Vermonters on the 38-man roster.
To recruit players, Director of Baseball Operations Morgan Brown and Coach Matt Fincher take to the phones and email throughout the offseason to find the right athletes. “We want our players to be good people first, good baseball players second,” said Knudsen.
While the nature of a summer team filled with college players means high turnover, some return year after year. “We usually have a handful come back,” he said. “The rest is all recruiting. But for those returnee players, the fans fall in love and support them.”
So far, Knudsen’s tenure has been a huge success. In 2021, the Lake Monsters won the league title. Knudsen has won Executive of the Year three times (2021, 2023, 2025), and the team has won Organization of the Year three times as well (2021, 2022, 2024).
This year’s team is off to a hot start, sitting in first place in the league standings with a 23-10 record at the time of publication, riding a five-game winning streak. “People are having a blast,” he said.
