CLEARWATER, Fla. - After a 5-3 win over the Phillies on Wednesday, Canada’s World Baseball Classic team heads to Puerto Rico with the hope of advancing beyond the first round for the first time ever.
“It’s a good vibe,” said manager Ernie Whitt. “We want to win every game we play, but it’s a learning (opportunity) for us, too.”
A wide range of arms contributed against a Phillies lineup featuring the likes of Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, Adolis Garcia and Bryson Stott. Veterans like James Paxton and Phillippe Aumont needed the tune-up since they aren’t in affiliated baseball right now, while minor-leaguers like Guardians left-handed starting pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson seized their first chance to make an impression.
As the team leaves for Puerto Rico, Whitt believes this group has a real chance to advance beyond the first round for the first time in six attempts.
“Just a feeling, a gut feeling I have,” a smiling Whitt said from the first base dugout at Phillies camp, a Canadian flag pinned behind him while he spoke. “I guess that's the biggest thing. I don't have an analytic feeling about it. No, it’s just a gut feeling, you know, and I think we’re pooling both our guts together and the analytics.”
Canada will practice twice in Puerto Rico before opening the tournament against Colombia on Saturday. In the meantime, here’s a closer look at what we learned in the course of their brief training camp in Florida:
Important reps
Each day matters with less than a week to prepare for the tournament, so it’s helpful that Canada faced some talented big-league pitchers like Kevin Gausman, Aaron Nola and Jhoan Duran in their exhibition games.
“It’s good,” Whitt said. “Whether we'll see that type of pitching with a lot of the countries, we don't know. But, we're going to try to be prepared for it.”
Beyond the results of the games, the Canadian coaches were impressed by the mental resilience their team showed on Tuesday, coming back to tie the game against the Blue Jays after falling behind 7-0.
“There's no give-up,” Whitt said. “That's not what we accept with Baseball Canada. And I mean, perfect example, you look at the Blue Jays last year, how they never gave up, and they kept grinding the at-bats. That's something that we're trying to instil into these players here.”
Stacked lineup
From veterans like Josh Naylor and Tyler O’Neill to up-and-comers like Denzel Clarke and Owen Caissie, there’s a lot of position player talent on Team Canada.
“I think it’s great,” said Naylor, Canada’s first-ever captain. “We have power through the lineup and speed through the lineup with a lot of intelligence and experience. I really hope the young guys pick the brains of the veteran players here and gain some knowledge for their careers. Maybe one thing sticks with them, which could be valuable.”
Canada’s lineup started with Edouard Julien, Abraham Toro, Naylor and O’Neill on Wednesday, but Whitt said he “might tweak it a little bit” once the games count for real. Regardless of how Whitt and GM Greg Hamilton line things up, there’s a lot of offensive talent in place – and that’s before you even get to the stacked coaching staff featuring Russell Martin and Justin Morneau.
“You take a lot of pride in wearing your country across your chest,” Naylor said. “There’s so much that goes into this. As a player, you sometimes get caught up playing for the name across the back. It’s a very individual sport, obviously, and you want to be successful on your own. At the same time, when you play for your country, you’ve got to represent everyone who came before you, your family, everyone that’s from your area, your friends from that area. It’s super cool to wear your country across your chest, and I take a lot of pride in that as a player.”
Whitt's legacy
Only one person in WBC history has managed all six tournaments, and it’s Whitt. The 73-year-old veteran of 15 big-league seasons has a 5-10 record at the WBC and has led Canada to gold medals at the Pan Am games in 2011 and 2015. Ahead of his sixth WBC, Whitt reflected on what the role has meant to him.
“I’m honoured,” Whitt said. “I mean, I am very honoured to be able to put the country across my chest. They keep asking me back, and as long as they ask me back, I think I'll continue on. Of course, we want to succeed a little bit farther; we want to move forward. Anytime I take the field, I want to win. I don't care who it's against. Our ultimate goal is we win, and we know that this is a sprint, so we just have to grind.”
Closer not yet determined
Michael Soroka and Jameson Taillon will start Canada’s first two games, but how they’ll handle late-game situations is less clear as the team flies south. With potential late-game options like Cade Smith and Matt Brash off the roster, Whitt said there’s no clear-cut closer on the team.
“Not yet,” Whitt said. “A lot might depend on match-ups and what we see, who we feel would be the best for it at that time.”
On Wednesday against the Phillies, it was the Vancouver native Wilkinson who pitched the final two innings, but that’s not necessarily reflective of how Canada will handle WBC games. Of course, there’s one way around the closer question: use that formidable offence to build comfortable leads against the likes of Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico and Cuba.
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