Elliott: T12, Day II - Jenkins, Naylor, Quantrill, Walker UPDATED

T12 coaches and scouts select Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) as the best major league hitter they have seen.

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

We had a four-part question of Day II of the sixth annual Tournament 12 at the Rogers Centre.

The audience was mostly coaches of the eight teams -- although we did not catch them all on a busy workout day, asking 22 of 29 coaches -- and some scouts.

The answers varied greatly due to age and time a coach or scout has been in the game. Our people with the answers had different levels of experience -- from 59 years to eight seasons coaching and or scouting baseball. Our calculations had the average time of those surveyed at 33.9 years.

On with our questions and the scientific survey …

Former Cy Young award winner Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) is the only Canuck in Cooperstown.

Who was the best Canadian major-league pitcher you have ever seen in person?

10 _ RHP Ferguson Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.)

From the start of the day Jenkins battled Soroka -- five starts in the majors -- in voting before making a strong finish during the two games on Friday’s schedule.

Jenkins had a career record of 284–226, with a 3.34 ERA and 3,192 strikeouts in his 19-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox. He was named to the all-star team three times and won the 1971 Cy Young award going 24-13 with a 2.77 ERA working 325 innings. He walked 37 and struck out 263 in his 39 starts. He did go through the order a third time.

He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame at St. Marys in 1987, and in 1991 was elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Jenkins was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and was inducted onto Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2001. Yet probably his greatest honour came in 1979 when he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

7 _ RHP Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta.)

5 _ RP Eric Gagne (Mascouche, Que.)

4 _ RP Paul Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.), LHP Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC) and LHP James Paxton (Ladner, BC).

3 _ LHP Rheal Cormier (Cap Pele, NB), RHP Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC) and LHP Jeff Francis (North Delta, BC)

1 _ RP Phillippe Aumont (Hull, Que.), LHP Denis Boucher (Lachine, Que.) and RHP Shawn Hill (Georgetown, Ont.)

Who was the best Canadian major-league hitter you have ever seen in person?

This was a close race between three legit contenders in Larry Walker, Joey Votto and Justin Morneau, but Walker maintained control.

Walker was named on 34.1% of the Baseball Writers of America Association up from 10.2% in 2014. He was selected to five all-star games, won three National League batting titles (1998, 1999 and 2001) and the 1997 NL Most Valuable Player.

In his 17 year career, Walker played in 1,988 games with 2,160 hits, 383 homers, 1,311 RBIs and a .965 OPS.

17 _ RF Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC)

12 _ 1B Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.)

6 _ 1B Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC)

4 _ Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC)

1 _ Brett Lawrie (Langley, BC) and Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB).

Loewen had votes both in both pitching and hitting categories. One Loewen backer said while Loewen “made it,” he really didn’t make it due to injuries, so he should be really be considered in our set of questions.

Ontario Terriers grad RHP Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) is a prized San Diego farm hand.

Who was the best Canadian pitcher you have seen, who did not or has not made the majors, is in college or the minors or has retired?

Quantrill did not throw a pitch for the Stanford Cardinals in the spring of 2016. He did throw bullpens and the San Diego Padres selected Quantrill eighth overall and gave him a $3,963,045 US signing bonus.

Quantrill entered this season as the 40th best prospect, according to MLB.com and was 52nd according to the highly-respected Baseball America. He began the season at double-A San Antonio and was promoted to triple-A El Paso. Combined on the season at both spots, he was 9-6 with a 4.80 ERA. In 28 starts he walked 43 and fanned 123 in 148 innings.

6 _ Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.).

4 _ RHP Jeff Duda (Surrey, BC).

3 _ RHP Chris Begg (Uxbridge, Ont.)

2 _ RHP Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.), RHP Brent Crowther (Burnaby, BC), LHP Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ont.), LHP Mike Meyers (Tillsonburg, Ont.), RHP Shawn O’Connor (Pakenham, Ont.), RHP Vince Perkins (Victoria, BC) and RP Philippe Valiquette (Montreal, Que.).

1 _ LHP Jason Bailey (Dartmouth, NS), RP Andrew Case (St. John, NB),LHP Jordan Gerk (Kelowna, BC), RHP Brett Gray (Wyoming, Ont.), RHP Ryan Grantham (Oakville, Ont.), LHP Sean Grimes (London, Ont.), RHP Steven Inch (Edmonton, Alta.) LHP Jay Johnson (Sussex Corners, NB), RHP Yan LaChapelle (Hull, Que.), RHP Zak Miller (White Rock, BC), RHP Mike Monster (Kelowna, BC), RHP Jamie Richmond (Mississauga, Ont.) and RHP Donnie Smith (Winnipeg, Man.),

Ontario Blue Jays grad Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) of the San Diego Padres farm system.

Who was the best Canadian hitter you have seen who did not or has not yet make the majors, or is in college or the minors or has retired?

With free-agent 1B Eric Hosmer signing an eight-year deal with the Padres, Naylor could have hung his head. His future at first blocked, he moved to the outfield and fared well.

James Clark of the East Village Times wrote:

“I have been saying for years that he gets a bad rap on his defense and footwork as he has athleticism for a big man. Most evaluators judge Naylor by his looks without actually watching him play the game. He started the 2018 season on fire as he hit .379 in the month of April with seven homers and a 1.123 OPS. He cooled down, but still recorded a .297/.383/.447 batting line 128 games and 501 at bats. Naylor is not afraid to walk as he showed much more patience this year in searching for better pitches to hit. He walked 64 times this year, while only striking out 69 times. The left-handed hitter is still only 21 and that is amazing considering his offensive output. The power is starting to show as he slugged 17 homers this year. Naylor has decent upside and should start the 2019 season in El Paso. He is very close to being a big leaguer.”

12 _ INF Josh Naylor (Missiissauga, Ont.)

5 _ Todd Betts (East York, Ont.)

3 _ 1B Randy Curran (Kitchener, Ont.) and 1B Jordan Lennerton (Langley, BC).

2 _ C Noah Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) and OF Tim Smith (Toronto, Ont.),

1 _ INF Shawn Bowman (New Westminster, BC), INF Hyung Cho (Toronto, Ont.), OF John Cole (Ottawa, Ont.), RHP Theo OF Marc Griffin (Quebec City, Que.), INF Vincent Guay (Sherbrooke, Que.), OF Jeff Guiel (Langley, BC), INF Sean Jamieson (Simcoe, Ont.), C Aaron Johnson (Sussex Corner, NB), OF Ryan Kenning (North Vancouver, BC), RHP Theo Milas (Burnaby, BC), OF Ntema Ndungidi (Montreal, Que.), OF Tristan Pompey (Mississauga, Ont.), INF Ken Rogers (York, Ont.), INF Warren Sawkiw (Etobicoke, Ont.), 1B Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, and C Andrew Yerzy (Toronto, Ont.)