Open this photo in gallery:
Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor had two home runs and three runs batted in through the first four games of the American League Championship Series.Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Canadian Josh Naylor has provided some big moments for the Seattle Mariners in this American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, from home runs to ambitious baserunning.
The native of Mississauga was one of the few Mariners to make contact against Max Scherzer in Game 4 when he clobbered a homer over the centre-field wall at T-Mobile Park, just over the glove of a leaping Daulton Varsho. It was one of several three-hit nights Naylor has had in this postseason.
In Game 2, the lefty hitter and first baseman became the first Canadian-born player to slug a postseason homer at Rogers Centre against the Blue Jays. He also stole a base, thrilling his family and friends in the stands. Having grown up nearby admiring the Jays, the 28-year-old told MLB Network “it was a little kid moment.”
Greg Hamilton remembers what Naylor was like as a hard-slugging teenager, having coached him with Canada’s junior national baseball team from 2012 to 2015.
“The bat was extra special, and his confidence around the bat was way beyond the years,” said Hamilton. “In every phase of his career, he’s just always hit and had complete belief in his ability to swing the bat and compete at the plate.”
Naylor, at first, as a ninth grader, was part of a group assembled to play against the Canadian junior team in Toronto to help prepare it before it left for the 2012 18U Baseball World Championship in South Korea. Naylor’s at-bats in an intrasquad game were so impressive – against 11th- and 12th-grade kids – that Hamilton quickly talked to his family and added him to Canada’s roster to go to Seoul.
Open this photo in gallery:
Seattle Mariners first baseman Naylor helped Team Canada to a silver medal as a ninth-grader at the 18-and-under World Baseball Championships in Seoul in 2012.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
He was a rare ninth-grader at that event, but he hit in a significant part of Team Canada’s order and stood up against the world’s best 18-and-under pitchers. The Canadians earned a silver medal.
“What makes him extra special is he’s super talented, but he’s also going to run through a wall for his team and his teammates and to try to win on the field,” said Hamilton. “He’s also got huge empathy and care for teammates.”
It was the first of several times Naylor suited up for Canada. He also played for the Ontario Blue Jays of the Canadian Premier Baseball League, a travel team of players from the Toronto area, and attended St. Joan of Arc Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga.
The Miami Marlins drafted Naylor in 2015, 12th overall, and he’s been part of the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians and Arizona Diamondbacks before the Mariners traded for him this past July.
In the four-plus seasons he spent in Cleveland, Naylor grew close with several players who he’s now facing in this series: Blue Jays infielders Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez, outfielder Myles Straw, and pitcher Shane Bieber. When Naylor barrelled hard into third base and Clement in Game 4, he told reporters that night, “I didn’t mean to make a collision with Ernie. I love that guy, I felt bad about it.”
Clement joked it was “like getting hit with a freight train.” Just like many of the Jays who know Naylor, they’ve had the kindest things to say about him.
Open this photo in gallery:
After being drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2015, Naylor had played for San Diego, Cleveland and Arizona before landing in Seattle this past July.Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press
“To me, he reminds me a lot of Vladdy,” Clement said. “He’s a guy with a ton of power, but he just is such an advanced hitter in his approach. He has the 40-home-run power, but he just goes up there and just – he can hit a little single the other way or do some damage.
“His approach is just so advanced. He knows the game really, really well. He’s got some of the best instincts I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.”
Naylor flashed some savvy defensive skills in Game 5 on Friday, catching a zippy line drive from Giménez in the air, and then from one knee, zinging the ball to second base to pick off a lurching Isiah Kiner-Falefa for the double play.
Naylor has endeared himself to Seattle fans. He rolled up to T-Mobile Park before Game 3 wearing a vintage Kevin Durant Seattle SuperSonics jersey, and KD himself responded to a photo on social media by saying, “Good luck Mariners … good throwback Josh.”
After the Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers in the division series, Naylor celebrated while rocking a Seattle Kraken jersey.
“Every day you wake up ready to win or at least try to be ready to win. Things may go your way, things may not,” said Naylor earlier in the series. “Whether you lose, win or draw, if you work hard, play smart, and have fun during it, I feel like you can go to bed content.”
