Although his Cleveland Indians squad was eliminated from Major League Baseball’s Wild Card Series last night by the New York Yankees, Mississauga’s Josh Naylor had a pair of games to remember and became a social media sensation with his play.
A four-for-four performance in game one of the series including a mammoth home run off Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole put the baseball world on notice of Naylor’s prodigious talent.
The former Junior National Team star, who was acquired by Cleveland in a massive trade deadline deal with the San Diego Padres in August, picked up right where he left off on Wednesday belting a two-run double in his first at bat and in doing so became the first player in MLB history to record a hit in his first five postseason plate appearances.
Late in the game, with Cleveland trailing the Yankees by a pair of runs, Naylor was pinch-hit for in favour of Jordan Luplow who delivered a game-tying double.
Showing what the kind of teammate and competitor he truly is, Naylor took the high road in the dugout, loudly cheering for the player who replaced him in the game for coming up with a clutch hit.
The Yankees went on to win the game and eliminate Cleveland from the postseason, but the 23-year-old Naylor surely gained some fans with his new team and around the baseball world for his performance and actions both on and off the field.
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