TORONTO — Momentum from Canada’s strong showing at the 2023 World Baseball Classic is carrying over into the buildup for the 2026 event, where advancing beyond pool play for the first time will be a real possibility for the national team.
The young core that emerged during a 2-2, third-place finish last time looks set to return largely intact, with the significant addition of slugger Josh Naylor, who missed the previous event due to caution around his recovery from a 2021 ankle injury.
With him and brother Bo Naylor behind the plate, Edouard Julien at second, Otto Lopez at shortstop, Abraham Toro at third, an outfield of Tyler O’Neill, Denzel Clarke and Owen Caissie and Freddie Freeman, health-permitting, aiming to again split time at first base/DH, Canada is poised to field one of the better batting orders it’s taken to the Classic.
As always at the spring-time event, piecing together a pitching staff is more of a challenge, although starters Michael Soroka and Cal Quantrill and relievers Matt Brash, Rob Zastryzny and perhaps even Jordan Romano — all currently on board with playing — offer a solid base.
Combined with the tournament shifting the Canadians into a group away from the United States and Mexico — they’ll play out of Pool A in San Juan with the host Puerto Ricans, Colombia, Cuba and Panama — a quarterfinal appearance seems like an attainable goal.
“We're going to start potentially a major-league lineup and have some depth off the bench that will be of major-league quality as well. We haven't really had that too many times. That's exciting,” Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada’s director of national teams, said last week at the winter meetings in Orlando, Fla. “Obviously pitching is everybody's variable, but I do think we're going to have enough. It's going to be a really competitive pool, but it's a very balanced pool, one where on any given night, anybody's got a realistic chance. We're going to be one of those teams that definitely aspires to get out of the first round.”
Canada lost win-and-advance games to Mexico at the inaugural Classic in 2006 and in 2023, and to the United States in 2013, while going winless at the 2009 and 2017 editions.
Provisional rosters were submitted Dec. 3, with the final 30-man teams due Feb. 3. Participation is the primary challenge for all involved, as players face a variety of issues tied to their preparations for the season, roster status and contractual situations. Attrition hits countries like Canada particularly hard because they draw from smaller talent pools.
Those likely unavailable this time include Nick Pivetta, the San Diego Padres righty who logged a career-high 181.2 innings last season, and Cleveland Guardians relievers Cade Smith, one of the busiest pitchers in the sport with 150 outings the past two seasons, and Erik Sabrowski, who’s had two Tommy John surgeries and missed time with elbow inflammation last year.
Lefty Mitch Bratt, the prospect who started against the U.S. in 2023 and acquired by Arizona from Texas in the Merrill Kelly deal at last year’s trade deadline, and right-hander Jonah Tong, who debuted with the New York Mets late last season, both may very well feel they need to be at camp with their teams, too.
That thins out a pitching mix set to include Curtis Taylor (Cardinals system), Adam Macko (Blue Jays system), Jordan Balazovic (Tigers system), Eric Cerantola (Royals system) and Logan Allen, a free agent American lefty born to a Canadian father who logged 173 innings in the Korean Baseball Organization last year.
Lefty James Paxton, who retired after the 2024 season, and national team stalwart Phillippe Aumont are in, as well.
On the position player side, Miami Marlins catcher Liam Hicks, Milwaukee Brewers utilityman Tyler Black and Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Tristan Peters are in a grey zone, with Canada perhaps not having enough at-bats to offer them while they’re away from their clubs.
They would boost a bench that looks set to include outfielders Jared Young of the Mets and shortstop Trei Cruz, the Toronto-born son of former Blue Jays outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. in the Detroit Tigers system.
No matter how it all plays out and whatever happens with the approval process between now and March 1, when the Canadian team gathers in Dunedin, Fla., for a short camp hosted at the Blue Jays’ Player Development Complex, manager Ernie Whitt expects his team to make some noise.
“The pride and the passion that the Canadian players bring — not to shortchange the U.S, but we've been doing it a lot of years and we've seen it, what comes out of them when they put on the uniform,” said Whitt, who’s managed the national team at each tournament so far. “There's a lot of excitement from the players that we've spoken with, so we'll see what happens.”
