Three Award Winners at Baseball Canada Banquet
This past weekend marked the 18th Baseball Canada National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser, a staple in the Baseball Canada calendar to honour players from the past and present at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel in the Rogers Centre. Three former Ontario Blue Jays turned professional players took home awards during the annual festivities including recent OBJ graduate Dasan Brown and the Naylor brothers.
Outfielder Dasan Brown (Oakville, ON) took home the Baseball Canada Junior National Team MVP Award after his strong performance, including a home run, in the annual Junior National Team/Blue Jays spring training game in Dunedin and later became the first Canadian selected in June’s MLB Draft when the Blue Jays chose him in the third round. After signing a contract and making his professional baseball debut, he capped a three-year stint with the Junior National Team program by hitting .345 with 10 hits and 8 RBI at the U18 World Cup in Korea.
Catcher Bo Naylor (Mississauga, ON) was presented with the Canadian Futures Award. The former two-time Junior National Team MVP award winner, was a first round pick of the Cleveland Indians in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft. In 2019, he was challenged with a full season assignment as a 19-year-old and earned rave reviews for his work behind the plate and in the batter’s box making him a candidate to move quickly through the system and become a key part of the next wave of Canadian baseball stars.
Outfielder Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) won the Baseball Canada Special Recognition Award after making his big league debut last May at home inside Rogers Centre as a member of the San Diego Padres and soon after, with upwards of 300 close friends and family looking on, he recorded his first big league hit while going 3-for-6 and made a nice sliding grab in right field for good measure as teammate and fellow countryman Cal Quantrill picked up his first big league win. Naylor went on to slam his first major league home run one week later at home in San Diego before belting seven more with plenty left in the tank for years to come.
A great evening filled with familiar faces, friends and family of not only Baseball Canada but Ontario Blue Jays.