This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
TORONTO -- Less than a full year into his big league career, Denzel Clarke’s career milestones have quickly become synonymous with his home country of Canada.
Shortly after getting called up last May, Clarke’s first road trip with the Athletics concluded in Toronto for a homecoming in which he estimated around 150-200 friends and family members showed up to watch him play over four games. During that series, Clarke dazzled in multiple ways, notching his first big league home run robbery with a jaw-dropping catch at the wall in center before launching his first home run in the Majors one day later.
On Friday night, Clarke was back at Rogers Centre to take part in his first Opening Day as a Major Leaguer. Back in the same building where he watched baseball heroes such as Vernon Wells and José Bautista take the field for the start of every new season, dreaming of one day walking in those same footsteps.
“It’s a place of firsts for me,” Clarke said with a huge smile on his face before Friday’s season opener. “It’s special. … As a kid, I remember just getting so excited for Opening Day and watching the Blue Jays play. Now, I’m part of the team that the Jays are playing for Opening Day.
“It’s kind of a crazy, full-circle moment. I’m super excited to go out there and put on for everybody.”
With the A’s flying to Canada immediately after their final Spring Training game on Monday, Clarke was able to spend most of the week with family at his own home in nearby Pickering.
Tickets were much harder to come by this time around than last season’s series in late May/early June, so Clarke is expecting a smaller contingent of supporters in the stands over the three-game series, leaving tickets for his mother and sister.
Of course, the A’s center fielder will no doubt receive a warm ovation throughout the weekend from the Canadian crowd, especially after he represented the country in the World Baseball Classic for a second time this spring.
“Opening Day can get a little crazy,” Clarke said. “There’s going to be a lot of people here, so I’m keeping it low key this time. Nothing crazy like last time.”
The environment inside Rogers Centre was electric as Blue Jays fans welcomed back the reigning American League champions. That same energy is expected throughout this opening series, something Clarke got a taste of while attending all four Blue Jays World Series home games last year as a special guest of MLB.
“It’s going to be fun,” Clarke said. “I got to see the last four games played here at this stadium. Now I’m going to be part of the first three to open up this new year. It’s a crazy feeling. I know how this place can get, energy-wise.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun for me and all the guys here. We’re young and we’re here to feed off some energy and have a great series.”
As Clarke enters his first full big league season, he does so looking to change the early narrative placed on him as a glove-only player.
Yes, his defense is elite, and the A’s foresee multiple Gold Gloves in Clarke’s future. But there’s a hit tool in there that they hope to see come out a bit more, like it did some in that last series he played in Toronto, going 4-for-11 (.364) with a homer and three RBIs over four games.
“He’s worked hard to get himself in a position to have an impact on this team, both offensively and defensively,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “His series last year here probably couldn’t have gone better. He had a pretty solid offensive series here. We’re hoping for the same to start the season for him.”