Former Toronto Mets OF Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) is at the Rogers Centre this weekend with the Athletics.

May 29, 2025

Clarke recalls Aaron Hill, Kotsay sees some Devon White as Canuck returns home

By Matt Betts

Canadian Baseball Network

Denzel Clarke pointed off into the distance while sitting in the dugout prior to the Blue Jays and Athletics opener of a four-game series in Toronto on Thursday night.

“Now I remember,” he says when asked about his earliest memory at Rogers Centre.

“We were sitting in the Carlos Delgado section, maybe a little lower, it would’ve been when Aaron Hill still played here. We were with family and friends and we were about to leave. I don’t remember the game, I don’t remember anything but Aaron Hill hit a walk-off home run and it almost hit us.”

(On Sept. 15, 2006, the Blue Jays were trailing the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 entering the bottom of the 10th. Gregg Zaun led off with a line drive single to right. Hill followed by hitting a 1-0 pitch from Brian Meadows to left-field for the walk-off, one of two he hit during his eight-year career. The Delgado section was in Level 200.)

Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) proceeded to rattle off Blue Jays names of the past like an encyclopedia of recent franchise history: Jose Bautista, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, John McDonald and J.P. Arencibia all came to mind as players he idolized growing up.

Canada’s newest big leaguer, Clarke couldn’t give an exact number of family and friends that will be present over the next four days, settling on “a lot, maybe between 150 to 200.”

Hoping a call up would be coming at some point this season, it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

He was promoted on May 23 and made his debut that night at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, the team’s midway home en route from Oakland to Las Vegas, going 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Seven days later, the Athletics arrived in Toronto. He replaced Tyler Soderstrom in the Athletics’ batting order in the sixth, taking over in centre as Drew Avans moved to left.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” Clarke quipped about knowing a trip north was approaching on the Athletics’ schedule.

“I checkmarked it on the calendar. Obviously, I can’t control if they call me up or down, but my goal is to put myself in the best position to be called up.”

It’s been an adjustment, especially offensively, for the former Toronto Met and Cal State Northridge Matador slugger.

Through 19 at bats, he has one hit (.053) and has struck out 15 times. It’s well off his impressive start to the season at triple-A Las Vegas where he had a .286 average and .855 OPS in 105 at bats. On Thursday, Clarke struck out against Mason Fluharty in the seventh and fanned facing veteran Jose Urena in the ninth.

Despite the struggles, Clarke is confident he’ll find his way.

“You can tell by the numbers, it’s not the greatest start so far, hitting is hard,” he said. “I trust myself, I see the baseball but now I have to put my body in a position to hit it. I think that’s the biggest thing. I have a lot of moving parts with my swing, long arms, long legs and learning to control that.”

A second cousin of the Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) brothers — Josh with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Bo with the Cleveland Guardians and Myles, also in the Athlletics system, has the backing of his manager, Mark Kotsay.

Kotsay pointed to early struggles in the careers of players like Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman and Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday as examples of how tough the transition to big league baseball can be.

“It’s challenging, there’s no question about it,” Kotsay said. “As a young player when you get here to the big leagues, there’s a lot to adjust to. The biggest adjustment comes on the offensive side and we’ve seen that from a lot of young players. It’s not from a lack of effort, it’s not from a lack of work.”

Kotsay, who spent 17 seasons primarily patrolling major league outfields, even went as far as to mention Clarke in the same breath as a former Blue Jay great.

“My comp for him is he is very similar to Devon White,” Kotsay said. “By stature and stride and the way he goes and covers ground. He’s a Gold Glove calibre centre fielder and I can speak because I’ve played that position. He makes it look pretty easy out there.”

Clarke said he’s more excited than nervous for his return and for good reason, he’s been here before, albeit as a high schooler at the Canadian Futures Showcase in 2016 and 2017.

This time will no doubt be different, though, with tens of thousands of eyes on him and the country cheering him on.

“It’s just a blessing to be able to be here,” he said.

“I’ve been blessed by God with the abilities I have.”