MINNEAPOLIS – Canadian national junior team slugger Josh Naylor settled for second place in the MLB Select Junior Home Run Derby on Monday after a 7-4 loss to American Luken Baker, but he did leave an impression on at least one big-leaguer.
"He’s got a good swing," fellow Canuck Justin Morneau said. "Being a Canadian I always look out for those guys that are next and he’s a left-handed hitter like the rest of us, so he looks like he’s got a chance. To put them that far in this ballpark is impressive."
Naylor was unable to find the same rhythm that earned him a spot in Monday’s final, he hit six homers in Sunday’s semis to Baker’s eight, but hit one ball into the second deck in right field and another off a temporary tent set up in the right-field concourse.
"My first one I felt best about, going second deck," he said. "I don’t know what I did that swing, but I tried to repeat it, tried a little too hard."
The 17-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., one of the top Canadian prospects for the 2015 draft, tried to chat up as many all-stars as he could, and spent time speaking with Morneau about the 2008 derby and their junior national team experiences.
"It was a good evening, I soaked it all in, it was fun," Naylor said. "It didn’t go the way I expected but it was fun. It was a fantastic night though, I love all of it."
The pressure was different from his past derby experiences with a crowd of 40,558 on hand.
"The atmosphere changes, you kind of get a little nervous, the first two swings I couldn’t really feel my legs, then I kind of got with it a little bit," Naylor said. "It definitely changes with the crowd and stuff, all the major-leaguers watching you, you don’t want to get judged the wrong way, you want to show off a little bit. It was really exciting."