Josh Naylor leads young Team Canada into promising new chapter

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It feels like we’re entering an exciting new era of Canadian baseball, led by big league stars and waves of talent coming behind them.

Canadian baseball has always had its stars, like Justin Morneau and Russell Martin, but Tuesday morning at TD Ballpark, they were Team Canada coaches watching on as the next generation prepared for the World Baseball Classic in a 10-7 exhibition loss against the Blue Jays.

Team Canada’s young core of position players is particularly impressive, something this national team can continue to build around in this WBC and for years to come. They have Josh Naylor, Bo Naylor, Owen Caissie, Denzel Clarke, Tyler O’Neill, Otto Lopez, Edouard Julien, Tyler Black, Liam Hicks and more.

“I think it’s great,” said Josh Naylor, who will wear the “C” for Team Canada. “We have power through the lineup and speed through the lineup with a lot of intelligence and experience. I really hope the young guys pick the brains of the veteran players here and gain some knowledge for their careers. Maybe one thing sticks with them which could be valuable for their careers.”

Naylor is one of the faces of Canadian baseball now, and given how young much of this position-player group is, you can call him one of the vets at just 28 years old. He’s a favorite among Canadian kids coming up with dreams of playing pro ball -- a big slugger with swagger.

“Even as the so-called vet I am, I still try to learn from them, even though they’re younger than me,” Naylor said. “I still try to pick their brains and get ideas from their games, maybe their swings or their defensive routines and add it to mine. No one is a full-written book. You can always learn and grow.”

Naylor is coming off a great postseason run with the Mariners, which Blue Jays fans won’t remember so fondly. In the ALCS against Toronto, Naylor went 10-for-24 (.417) with three home runs in seven games. He quickly became a key piece of Seattle’s identity after being traded over from Arizona at the Deadline, so he’s the right man for a team of young Canadians to rally round -- and quickly -- before they fly to Puerto Rico following Wednesday's exhibition against the Phillies to begin pool play Saturday.

There’s also an understanding of what it means to play for Canada, especially with the “C” on his chest. Fresh off the Winter Olympics in Italy, we all have a sense of the national sporting pride in Canada for best-on-best. If Team Canada can make some noise, the audience will be there.

“You take a lot of pride in wearing your country across your chest. There’s so much that goes into this,” Naylor said. “As a player, you sometimes get caught up playing for the name across the back. It’s a very individual sport, obviously, and you want to be successful on your own.

“At the same time, when you play for your country, you’ve got to represent everyone who came before you, your family, everyone that’s from your area, your friends from that area. It’s super cool to wear your country across your chest and I take a lot of pride in that as a player.”

They’ve got a shot. In Pool A, Canada will run up against Colombia, Cuba, Panama and Puerto Rico.

Team Canada has a real chance to advance from the group stage here, which would be a huge step for the national program on the biggest stage in international baseball.

“I think the goal is to always advance and win, but I think this year we have a really good shot based on the pool,” said Caissie recently, “but you never know what is going to happen. It just shows that we always have a shot and we’re never out of it. But we do have a strong chance to advance this year and we are all pumped for it.”

The WBC doesn’t have a 162-game season or a best-of-seven series waiting at the end. Team Canada just needs to get hot at the right time, and a lineup full of young, athletic players with big league talent is a fine place to start. This still feels like the early days for this group, but they can take one big step into the future together.