OTTAWA- Junior National Team alumnus Josh Naylor (Mississauga, ON) has been called up by the San Diego Padres and is set to make his Major League Baseball debut this weekend at Rogers Centre in Toronto as the Blue Jays host the Padres for a three-game series.
The Padres are promoting the 21-year-old from Triple-A El Paso where he’s hitting .299 with ten home runs and 35 RBI in 45 games played this season.
Naylor is set to become the tenth Canadian-born player to appear in the big leagues in 2019 and the 27th graduate of the Junior National Team program to reach the big leagues since 2003. Naylor joins former Junior National Team teammate and current Padres teammate Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON), who will start on the mound against the Blue Jays on Saturday, as Junior National Team grads who have made their MLB debuts in 2019.
Drafted by the Miami Marlins 12th overall in 2015, the highest a Canadian position player has ever been drafted, the Marlins dealt Naylor to the Padres in a July 2016 swap for big league pitcher Andrew Cashner.
Naylor has represented Canada at two MLB Future’s Game events (2016, 2017) and has been named to five minor league All-Star teams over the course of his five-year professional career.
A four-year member of the Junior National Team (2012-2015), and former Junior National Team Most Valuable Player (2015), Naylor helped Canada win a silver medal at 2012 IBAF 18U Baseball World Cup in Seoul, South Korea and a bronze medal at the 2014 COPABE 18U Pan Am Championships in La Paz, Mexico. He also represented Canada at the 2013 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Taichung, Taiwan and the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Osaka, Japan, and is the only Canadian to compete in three different U-18 Baseball World Cup events. He most recently represented Canada at the 2017 World Baseball Classic in Miami.
Naylor is the older brother of Bo Naylor who is a graduate of the Junior National Team program and a former first round draft choice (28th overall in 2018) of the Cleveland Indians.
