DUNEDIN, Fla. – Days like Sunday reinforce the notion that at its heart Baseball Canada is a family. It also reinforced, in the mind of Dalton Pompey at least, that major-leaguers know what they’re talking about when they list “staying healthy” as their No. 1 priority during these six weeks.
A sneeze. Think about that. Kevin Pillar, who at worst has a spot locked down on the Toronto Blue Jays as a fourth outfielder and is Michael Saunders’ powers of recovery away from being the opening day left-fielder, could be out for a week to 10 days after sustaining a Grade 1 strain of his right oblique. “He sneezed before Saturday’s game,” general manager Alex Anthopoulos said, after results of an MRI came back. “That’s what he said.” Pillar has had an impressive spring, and while it’s a stretch to say he was pushing Pompey for the centre fielder’s job in the event of a Saunders return to left – well, let’s just say that to the Blue Jays’ immense pleasure Pompey was treating it as a challenge.
There were reminders about the importance of health all over the place for Pompey. Ramon Santiago, a 35-year-old switch-hitting infielder whom many in the organization wanted as a bench player, suffered a broken collarbone in the Blue Jays split-squad’s 10-5 win over the Atlanta Braves. Then, there was Cal Quantrill.
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From the way major-leaguers produced by the program offer financial and moral support on an on-going basis, to the opportunities that potential first-round draft picks Josh Naylor and Demi Orimoloye receive when they face pitchers like R.A. Dickey, to the fact that you can have brothers Tristan and Dalton Pompey competing against each other – the bonds between Baseball Canada and its players are remarkable. So there, before the Canadian junior team lost 17-3 to the Blue Jays in an exhibition game at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, was Dalton Pompey listening in rapt concern as Paul Quantrill, the former major-league pitcher from Port Hope, Ont., told the Blue Jays centre fielder that Cal Quantrill – his son, a product of Baseball Canada and a brilliant pitching prospect at Stanford – had blown out his elbow and was in the process of lining up Tommy John surgery. Quantrill was taken in the 23rd round by the New York Yankees in 2013 but, as expected, chose the college route.
Quantrill’s eyes were moist. Pompey understood. “Thing is, with scouts, they’re probably going off what he’s done already,” Pompey said of Quantrill, who was eligible for the June draft. “But, I know: he’s hurting, isn’t he?”
Quantrill senior nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, he is.”
The Canadian junior team is on one of their annual excursions to Florida, where they will face minor-leaguers from other major league spring training complexes as part of their preparation for the World Cup in August. The place was lousy with scouts on Sunday due to the presence of Naylor and Orimoloye. Naylor, a product of Mississauga, is considered one of the top high school age pure hitters in the draft, while Orimoloye is out of the Nepean Canadians program and was listed 39th on Baseball America’s Top 50 draft list. Starting pitcher Mike Soroka from Calgary is of interest to the Blue Jays – but he seems bound for Cal-Berkeley, in what is considered to be one of the deepest Canadian talent pools.
Pompey, a Mississauga native whose brother Tristan plays for the Canadian juniors and was held hitless in four at-bats, was essentially ceded the centre-field job when the Blue Jays traded away Anthony Gose, and all but kicked Colby Rasmus to curbside on Free Agency Way. But any sense that he is resting on his laurels, let alone his birth certificate, is false. Pompey put on a show in the outfield Saturday against the New York Yankees and there are those within the organization who now say he might be put into the No. 2 spot in the batting order sooner than expected.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has maintained that catcher Martin will be his No. 2 hitter to start the year, because of his polished approach. But the Blue Jays would love Pompey’s switch-hitting bat and speed nestled behind Jose Reyes at the top of the order; having Martin in there opens the possibility of four right-handed hitters – Martin, Jose Bautista and/or Edwin Encarnacion or Josh Donaldson – following up the switch-hitting Reyes. Pompey will admit he likes to think he can eventually handle the role. Gibbons will only say: “He’s got to prove he belongs with these guys a little, first.” But down the road? “Hell, yeah, Dalton could handle it,” Gibbons said with a shrug.
In the meantime, Pompey continues to hone his craft with an approach that belies his age. As a switch-hitter, it is imperative that he find a balance of lefty-righty opportunities – or, more importantly, take advantage of them when his manager gives him a chance. But as Sunday also reminded him, first things first means one thing for a major-leaguer: staying on the field, even if you have a job. “The stuff they told me was comforting,” Pillar said after Anthopoulos announced the MRI results. “But, you’d still like to be able to go out on the field.”
At this time of the year, where else would you want to be?