August 24, 2025
By Kevin Glew
Cooperstowners in Canada
Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week:
Josh Naylor belts 100th MLB home run
On Friday, Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) clubbed his 100th major league home run. It was a solo shot in the seventh inning off Athletics right-hander Elvis Alvarado that proved to be the difference in the Mariners’ 3-2 win.
With that, Naylor became the 12th player born in Canada to hit 100 big league homers.
Here’s a list of the other players born in Canada who have clubbed 100 MLB homers:
- Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) – 383
- Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) – 356
- Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) – 265
- Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) – 247
- Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.) – 222
- Jeff Heath (Fort William, Ont.) – 194
- Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.) – 191
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) – 181
- Corey Koskie (Anola, Man.) – 127
- Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) – 117
- George Selkirk (Hunstville, Ont.) – 108
- Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) – 100
Pivetta for National League Cy Young Award?
San Diego Padres right-hander Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C.) is starting to be mentioned in conversations for the 2025 National League Cy Young Award.
And rightfully so.
On Tuesday, in his latest start, he limited the San Francisco Giants to one run in six innings, while striking out 10, to improve his record to 13-4 and lower his ERA to 2.81.
The Canadian right-hander ranks among the National League leaders in many pitching categories, including first in hits per nine innings (6.2) and second in wins, WHIP (0.943) and winning percentage (.765). He is fifth in WAR (4.4) and innings pitched (147 1/3) and seventh in ERA.
Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler had been considered the National League Cy Young Award frontrunner until he was sidelined with a blood clot in his right arm last weekend. Unfortunately, he is likely to be out long-term. Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes, Phillies lefty Cristopher Sanchez and Chicago Cubs southpaw Matthew Boyd are also strong candidates.
Quantrill debuts with Braves
Right-hander Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) permitted three runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings to the New York Mets in his first start with the Atlanta Braves on Saturday. He was the losing pitching in the Mets’ 9-2 win.
Quantrill was claimed off waivers by the Braves from the Miami Marlins on Thursday.
In 24 starts with the Marlins this season, Quantrill was 4-10 with a 5.50 ERA. He struck out 82 batters in 109 2/3 innings.
Quantrill, 30, signed a one-year, $3.5-million contract with the Marlins in February.
In all, Quantrill has toed the rubber in seven big-league seasons for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Marlins and Braves and is 47-45 with a 4.27 ERA in 186 appearances (148 starts).
On Saturday, he became the first Canadian pitcher to start a game for the Braves since Michael Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) on September 5, 2023.
Lopez played first Little League ball in Montreal
Please take some time to read MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola’s excellent feature about Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez that was published last Sunday. In the article, De Nicola shares that Lopez’s father, Otto Sr., was a truck driver seeking a better life for his children when he moved his family from the Dominican Republic to Montreal in 2007.
The elder Lopez wanted his son to study and get a good education in Canada, but instead the youngster became obsessed with baseball. His interest in the sport peaked after his Montreal Little League team competed in a tournament in Toronto and he got to see the Rogers Centre for the first time.
When Lopez was 14 and struggling with his French at Édouard-Montpetit School in Montreal, he asked his father if he could go back to the Dominican Republic and focus on playing baseball year-round. His father eventually agreed and Lopez’s uncle helped get him into the Niche Academy, the same academy Juan Soto attended.
Two years later, Lopez was signed as an international free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays. He had a couple of short big league stints with the Blue Jays, but he is now the Marlins starting shortstop. He is batting .240 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs in 111 games this season.
Lopez’s father still has a residence in Montreal and his son has never forgotten his formative years in Canada. Lopez plans to play for Canada in the World Baseball Classic for the second time this coming March.
Toro designated for assignment
Infielder Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) was designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox on Thursday.
Toro had been one of the Sox best hitters in May and June, batting .296 and .279 respectively, but he has struggled over the past two months. And the writing was on the wall after the Red Sox signed veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
Overall, Toro batted .239 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 77 games as part of a platoon at first base for the Red Sox after Triston Casas suffered a season-ending left patellar tendon rupture.
“I think Toro did an amazing job for us,” Alex Cora told reporters after Toro was designated for assignment on Thursday. “We’re not here without him. Obviously, we had to make a move but we’ll see what happens . . . He did an amazing job. Yeah, he struggled at the end numbers-wise, but even the ball, he hit the other day, he hit that ball hard. If that ball goes through, we win that game.”
If another team doesn’t claim the 28-year-old Canadian, he could end up back with the triple-A Worcester Red Sox, where he started the season.
In total, Toro has played in parts of seven major league campaigns with the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, A’s and Red Sox.
A’s shut down Clarke
The Athletics have shut outfielder Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) down from baseball activities indefinitely after he suffered a second abductor strain during his rehab assignment with the triple-A Las Vegas Aviators on August 15. The strain is classified as Grade 2 and is in a slightly differently spot than the one that has sidelined him since July 21.
The 25-year-old Toronto Mets and Junior National Team grad, who dazzled with his defence in centre field with the A’s earlier this season, batted .230 in 47 major league games prior to his injury.
Selected by the A’s in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB draft, Clarke is in his fifth pro season.
42 years ago today, Tippy Martinez picked off three Blue Jays in same inning
The first baseball game I can remember watching with my dad was 42 years ago today.
In that game, Baltimore Orioles reliever Tippy Martinez picked three Blue Jays baserunners off first base in the same inning. I remember asking my dad, “What just happened?”
Forty-two years later, I have the same question.
In that game, Martinez picked off Barry Bonnell, Dave Collins and Willie Upshaw in succession in the 10th inning at Memorial Stadium. In the thick of a pennant race for the first time, the Blue Jays were trying to capitalize on the fact that infielder Lenn Sakata had been pushed into emergency catching duties. With this in mind, each of the Blue Jays players that reached first base took a substantial lead before being picked off. Sakata also got the last laugh in the bottom of the inning when he hit a three-run, walk-off home run to give the Orioles a 7-4 win.
Listen to Buck Martinez talk about that inning here:
Anniversary of Reimer’s six-hit game
It was 32 years ago today that Kevin Reimer (Enderby, B.C.) became the only Canadian (since 1900) to register six hits in a major league game. He recorded two doubles, four singles and scored four runs for the Milwaukee Brewers in their 7-6, 13-inning win over the Oakland A’s at County Stadium.
Fittingly, Reimer’s sixth hit initiated a rally in the bottom of the 13th inning and he eventually scored the winning run when catcher Dave Nilsson singled with two outs to give the Brewers the victory.
“I knew I was having a decent day,” noted Reimer in a phone interview in April 2016. “And the A’s were just one of those teams that I had some success off of. They had been such a great team, so maybe I was more focused against them. I don’t know what it was.”
26 years ago, Ducey had five hits in a game
Six years after Reimer’s six-hit game, another Canadian had a career day.
Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.) had five hits for the Phillies in their 18-2 win over the Padres at Veterans Stadium.
Batting leadoff and playing centre field, Ducey had four singles and a double. He also scored four runs.
“I got some good pitches to hit,” a modest Ducey told The Philadelphia Inquirer after the game. “Everyone played well. It was just a good game, offensively, defensively and pitching.”
Ducey singled to centre field in the first and second innings and socked a two-run double in the third. He added another single to centre in the sixth and a single to right in the seventh.
He narrowly missed a home run in his sixth at bat when he flied out to the wall in left-centre in the eighth. After that out, the 18,126 fans in attendance gave him a nice ovation as he ran back to the dugout.
Congratulations to Allen Tait!
Congratulations to Allen Tait (Grimsby, Ont.) who has been recognized as this year’s recipient of the 2025 SABR Founders’ Day Award.
The award recognizes a SABR member who has contributed significant or enduring service as a leader of a regional chapter or research committee.
Tait, who has been a SABR member since 1976, has served as president of the Southern Ontario-based Hanlan’s Point Chapter since 2005.
“I feel honoured and this means a lot to me,” Tait said in a SABR release. “But there is no ‘I’ in team. I have a very strong team that helps keep me going . . . Everyone on that team means a lot to me and does a lot for SABR.”
One of the highlights of Tait’s tenure as a local chapter president was his involvement in the fundraising efforts in 2016 to install a historic plaque at Hanlan’s Point on the Toronto Islands to honour the location of Babe Ruth‘s first professional home run in 1914.
In 2022, with Tait as president, the Hanlan’s Point chapter published two Canadian baseball books: Our Game Too: Influential Figures and Milestones in Canadian Baseball and We Are, We Can, We Will: the 1992 World Champion Toronto Blue Jays.
“The chapter may well have ceased to exist without Allen’s participation,” said chapter secretary Elena North in the SABR release. “On behalf of the chapter, thank you for your years of selfless service.”
Fun Fact of the Week:
Most MLB wins in a season by a Canadian pitcher since the 2005 season:
17 – Ryan Dempster, 2008
17 – Jeff Francis, 2007
15 – Dempster, 2010
15 – Erik Bedard, 2006
14 – Francis, 2005
15 – James Paxton, 2019
15 – Cal Quantrill, 2022
13 – Francis, 2006
13 – Bedard, 2007
13 – Michael Soroka, 2019
13 – Nick Pivetta, 2025
Trivia question
This week’s trivia question: What pitcher holds the record for most major league wins in a season by a CANADIAN? (Hint: It’s not Fergie Jenkins). Please share your answer in the “Comments” section below.
Last week’s trivia question answer
The answer to last week’s trivia question (Six Montreal Expos players hit for the cycle. Name two of them.) was any two of Chris Speier, Tim Foli, Tim Raines, Rondell White, Vladimir Guerrero or Brad Wilkerson.
Thanks for by Sunday morning Canadian baseball fix.
Would the answer be John Hiller?
Thanks for your support. Hiller is a good guess, but it’s not him. Thanks again.
Thanks for another informative Sunday Morning Canadian Baseball news.
Thanks for your support.
Phil Marchildon – 1947 Philadelphia A’s
That’s a good guess, Bob. It’s not Marchildon.
Russ Ford?
Good guess, Pierre. The answer was Bob Emslie who won 32 games for the American Association’s Baltimore Orioles in 1884. Thanks again for your support.