By Melissa Couto
Hard work, timing, and a handful of other factors brought Toronto Blue Jays prospects Daniel Norris and Dalton Pompey together as teammates last season.
But a five-minute conversation sealed their friendship, and — in Pompey’s words — “jump-started” their success.
After a brutal 11-4 loss to the Dayton Dragons last May, Norris sat at his locker in the visitor’s dressing room, looking distraught after giving up eight runs (six earned) on seven hits and a walk through just 1.1 innings for the single-A Lansing Lugnuts.
It was one of the shortest starts of his young career, which at that point wasn’t going as smoothly as he’d hoped.
Then Pompey pulled him aside.
“I told him that he was the best left-handed pitcher I’ve ever seen. He needed to believe that,” the centre-fielder said. “He has unhittable stuff, but he was pitching timidly. I told him he just needed to go out and dominate like he’s capable of, and that’s what he’s doing now.”
Norris took the conversation to heart.
“It was huge. It meant so much to me,” said the southpaw, who gave up three earned runs and struck out 30 over his next five starts (21 innings) combined. “He told me how much he believed in me, and I’ll never forget that, honestly.”
Pompey, from Mississauga, Ont., went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple in that loss to Dayton, but he was also in the midst of a rough patch, hitting a season worst .158 through the month.
At Pompey’s lowest point, Norris returned the favour.
“One day, he was having a particularly rough game and I could tell he was frustrated,” the pitcher said. “So I took him back in the tunnel and told him he was the best player we have. I told him he was fun to watch.”
Nearly 14 months later, Pompey says those words of encouragement “went a long way.”
As each prospect continues to work his way up the Blue Jays’ organizational ladder, neither is struggling now.
The two started the 2014 season with the high-A Dunedin Blue Jays, where Norris went 6-0 with a 1.22 ERA before earning a promotion to double-A New Hampshire two weeks ago. He earned his first win with the Fisher Cats Tuesday night, striking out 10 and giving up one run on three hits through 5.2 innings.
Pompey is still in the Florida State League, but the 21-year-old is enjoying a breakout season, hitting .313 with 12 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 34 RBIs, and 27 stolen bases in 29 attempts.
His consistency at the plate is a welcome change from previous years.
“I’m just taking the positives out of everything,” Pompey said of his new approach to the game. “Baseball is tough, mentally especially, and it breaks me down at times. But when I stay with the process and focus on what I did well versus what I did wrong, it helps me stay positive into the next day.
“I show up every day with confidence and know that I’m a great player and I’m capable of playing at a high level.”
On Tuesday, that confidence paid off as both Toronto prospects were named to 2014 MLB Futures Game rosters. Norris, a native of Johnson City, Tenn., will be taking a spot on the U.S. team, while Pompey will be Canada’s lone representative on this year’s World squad.
There’s a long tradition of Canadians finding success in the major leagues after playing in the Futures Game, which takes place during the MLB All-Star break.
Current big leaguers Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.), Brett Lawrie (Langley, B.C.), Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.), Jeff Francis (North Delta, B.C.), George Kottaras (Markham, Ont.), Russell Martin (Montreal), James Paxton (Ladner, B.C.), Michael Saunders (Victoria), and Erik Bedard (Navan, Ont.) all played on the World teams in years past. Last season, Detroit Tigers triple-A first baseman Jordan Lennerton, also of Langley, represented the Red and White.
“It’s a tremendous honour to play in this game,” said Pompey, who was drafted in the 16th round by the Jays out of John Fraser Secondary School in Mississauga in 2010. “To be the only one who represents our country this year is special. (I’m) just trying to prove that we can compete with the rest of the world.”
Though Norris and Pompey have grown accustomed to playing alongside each other, they’ll be on opposite ends of the diamond when the game begins July 13 at Minnesota’s Target Field.
That won’t be a problem for either player, however. Pompey has one strikeout and one triple in two spring training at-bats against the 21-year-old Norris, so it can go either way.
“I’ll just be trying not to smile when he comes up to the plate,” Norris said.
Kidding aside, Norris is thrilled his former teammate will be in Minneapolis with him.
The two players got in touch immediately upon hearing the news, and quickly began reminiscing about old times — including that pep talk in Dayton.
“The first thing I thought of was that talk we had last year,” Norris said.
Added Pompey: “We congratulated one another on how far we’ve both come since then. … It’s awesome that I’ll be able to experience this event with him.”
This article was originally published at the Canadian Baseball Network.
