April 30, 2019

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Former Ontario Terriers and Junior National Team pitcher Cal Quantrill will make his major league debut on Wednesday.

AJ Cassavell of MLB.com first reported Quantrill’s promotion on Tuesday morning.

The 24-year-old Quantrill, who hails from Port Hope, Ont., will get the start for the Padres on Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves.

With the promotion, Quantrill will become the eighth Canadian to play in the major leagues this season, joining Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que., Toronto Blue Jays), Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont., Cincinnati Reds), Russell Martin (Montreal, Que., Los Angeles Dodgers), Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C, St. Louis Cardinals), James Paxton (Ladner, B.C., New York Yankees), Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta., Atlanta Braves) and Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C., Philadelphia Phillies.).

Also when Quantrill takes the mound for the Padres, it will mark just the second time that a Canadian father and son have played in the major leagues. His father, Paul, was an all-star right-hander who enjoyed a 14-year big league career from 1992 to 2005 in which he pitched in a Canadian record 841 games. For his efforts, he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010. Dave McKay and Cody McKay, both born in Vancouver, were the first Canadian father/son duo to play in the big leagues.

Selected eighth overall by the Padres in the 2016 draft, the younger Quantrill is in his fourth professional season after a successful collegiate career at Stanford. The 6-foot-3 right-hander fared well (3-1, 3.48 ERA in six starts) in his first taste of triple-A action with the El Paso Chihuahuas in 2018 and has followed that up with a 3-1 record and a 4.68 ERA in five starts at the same level this season.

In January, he was presented with Baseball Canada’s Canadian Futures Award at the organization’s annual banquet at the Marriott City Centre Hotel at the the Rogers Centre.