Stroman throws to Naylor -- no, not that Naylor

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Noah Naylor has a Baseball Canada bantam championship under his belt.

And now he has caught a bullpen from a full-fledged major leaguer.

Naylor caught Toronto Blue Jays Marcus Stroman recently at the Ontario Blue Jays facility in Mississauga when the right-hander was on site to shoot a TSN interview and film a commercial.

“His first pitch caught me right on the thumb,” Naylor said. “It didn’t matter, it’s not every day I can say I was catching Marcus Stroman.”

Stroman posed for pictures and mingled with the players from age 12 to 18. 

Naylor, the former Mississauga North Tigers, was asked if he thought Stroman was good enough too make coach Shawn Travers Ontario Blue Jays 16U rotation.

But Stroman will be busy down the road this summer at the Rogers Centre.

Travers will use Harley Gollert (Toronto), Lukas Barry (Mississauga), Evan Schenier (Georgetown), Alex Jones (Bowmanville) and Dimitri Stamatopoulos (Scarborough) in the rotation this season. 

Naylor’s older brother Josh Naylor was selected 12th over all from the Ontario Blue Jays by the Miami Marlins receiving a $2.5 million US signing bonus. He is already ranked the No. 2 prospect in the organization by Baseball America.