JOSHUA-DOUGLAS JAMES NAYLOR...His younger brother, Noah (Bo), was the club's first round (29th overall) pick in the 2018 MLB Draft out of the same high school...Attended St. Joan of Arc Catholic Secondary School (ON)...Made the Canadian Junior National Baseball Team at age 15 that won the silver medal at the 18U Baseball World Cup (2012)...Was on the 18U Baseball World Cup team that won the bronze medal (2014) and competed in the 2015 18U Baseball World Cup...Ranked by Perfect Game among the Top 50 available prospects in the 2015 First-Year Player Draft and was named to the Baseball America High School All-American First Team...Enjoys listening to Ed Sheeran.
2023
Led the club in RBI (97) and average (.308) despite falling seven plate appearances short of qualifying...Would have been sixth-highest total in MLB...Was also the ninth-hardest player in the AL to strikeout and finished T8th in the AL in RBI, T4th in iBB (9)...Was on his way to a career-year when he was felled for the month of August (8/1-9/2) with a right oblique strain...Was third in the AL in RBI (79) and fourth in average (.306) at the time of the injury...Was on pace for 118 RBI at the time, but still led all AL primary 1B in RBI...Awarded The James “Tip” O’Neill Award following the season, presented annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals...Previous winners include the likes of Justin Morneau, Joey Votto & Larry Walker...Caught fire at the end of May after a season-high 6 RBI on May 31 at Baltimore, hitting .352 (103-for-293) with 26 2B, 10 HR, 65 RBI over his last 75 games after May 29...Was the highest avg. in MLB over the span...Had three four-hit games over an 18-game span (22 days) from May 31-June 21...His 25 RBI in May were T1st in AL with Aaron Judge...Homered in three straight games (club season-high, 5/12-14), all coming after eighth inning that gave club lead (first time, club history)...First MLB player in Expansion Era (since 1961) to hit a go-ahead HR in the eighth inning or later in three straight games...Eight go-ahead HR since 2021 after seventh inning (leads MLB)...Was T5th in AL with 24 go-ahead RBI, T4th in AL with 13 game-winning RBI...Made 87 starts at 1B, 27 at DH, appeared in one game in RF (GS DH, 1G RF in ’23 (4/2 at Seattle)...Batted .336 (80-for238) with runners on and .363 (50-for-146) with RISP...Struck out just 11 times over his last 141 plate appearances (33-G)...Following his Sept. 3 return from IL he batted .315 (29-for-92) with 6 2B, 2HR, 18RBI in 25 games (11K)...He and brother, Bo, became first set of Cleveland (AL) brothers to HR in same game, 7/14 at TEX (seventh brothers to HR in same inning since 1900, first since BJ/Justin Upton in Apr. 2013, ninth time).
2022
Finished second on the club in homers (20) and RBI (79), collecting career-highs in virtually every offensive category… Finished the year T6th in the AL in RBI after the 6th inning (30), T10th in int’l walks (4) and T20th in RBI…13 of his 20 homers either tied game or gave the Guards the lead… Enjoyed a streak of five straight multi-hit games, the longest for a CLE batter since Tyler Naquin in July 2019 and T3rd longest streak of the year in the AL...Started the year on the 10-day IL rehabbing from right ankle surgery the year before and battled through ankle soreness the entire season…Positionally he made 84 starts at first base, 27 starts at DH and five starts in RF, the last of which came on Apr. 29...Enjoyed a historic night on 5/9 @CWS, becoming the first player to record 8+ RBI in 8th inn. or later (since RBI became a stat in 1920)…Career-high 8 RBI; first career grand slam(9th inn.); first multi-HR game (also hit a three-run HR In extra innings) to lift Guards to a 12-9, 11IP win after trailing 8-2 entering the 9th (had 0.2% chance of winning entering 9th)…Tied single-game RBI record by a Canadian-born player (fifth player, 7x)… First in MLB history to club two homers that drove in three or more runs in the ninth inning or later in the same game… Third player in Cleveland history (after Willie Kirkland and Earl Averill) to hit two homers in the ninth inning or later...Hit a combined .194 (6/31) in seven Postseason games and has now hit in seven of his nine career PS games…Owns an .842 career PS OPS…Collected first career walk-off homer on June 29 vs. Minnesota, a three-run, 10th inning shot that erased a 6-4 Twins lead (off Jharel Cotton)…Hit .173 for the year off LHP and batted .309 (38/123) with RISP.
2021
Enjoyed a solid three-month campaign before sustaining a season-ending injury in Minnesota on June 27, colliding with second baseman Ernie Clement in shallow RF on a fourth-inning single by Jorge Polanco...Suffered multiple fractures to his right fibula and damaged ligaments in the ankle, which were repaired surgically on July 2 at the Cleveland Clinic (Dr. Mark Berkowitz)... Began rehabbing in Arizona in mid-September... The injury came at an unfortunate time, as he was coming off a season-long six-game hitting streak and over his previous 9 games (6/17-27) he batted .357 (10-for-28) with a 2B, 2 HR and 5 RBI...Over his previous 24 games (5/30-6/27) he had batted .273 (21-for-77) with 4 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI (.759 OPS)... On the year he appeared in 51 games in RF (50 starts), 15 games at first base (11 GS) and made 4 GS at DH...Posted a .977 fielding pct. in RF (86 TC/2E) and was credited with -2 Defensive Runs Saved...Posted a slash line of .287/.331/.473/.805 vs. RHP and hit .250 (23-for-92) with runners on base.
2020
Acquired at the trade deadline, held his own over his first month with the club before shining in the postseason...Was acquired from San Diego on August 31 in a nine-player swap, saw considerable time over the final month of the season, making 16 starts in LF (19 games)...Also appeared in 2 games at first base...On the season as a whole appeared in 22 games in LF (18 GS), 5 games at 1B, 4 games in RF (2 GS) and 6 GS at DH...Spent entire season in the big leagues save a ten-day stretch, Aug. 6-15, at the SD Alternate Training Site...Hit .321 (9-for28) in 16 Aug. games for SD…Tenure with Cleveland started slowly, going 5-for-34 (.147) over his first 12 games (0 XBH, 2 RBI) before batting .333 (9-for-27) w/5 RS, 3 2B, 2 RBI over the final 10 games of the season (.824 OPS)...Collected hits in each of his first five postseason plate appearances in the two-game AL Wild Card Series vs. New York-AL, Sept. 29-30...Became the first player in MLB history to record a hit in his first five career postseason plate appearances (Stats LLC) and just the second player in MLB history to have four extra-base hits (3 2B, HR) in his first five career postseason at-bats, joining Chris Burke with four in 2005 (Elias)…Second player in Tribe history to record one-or-more extra-base hits in each of his first two Postseason games, joining Johnny Peralta (2007)...Ended the series 5-for-7 w/3 2B, HR, 3 RBI.
2019
Split the season between El Paso (AAA) and SD, making his ML debut in his home country of Canada at TOR on May 24...Became the 7th Canadian-born player to make their ML debut for the Padres (also: Cal Quantrill in 2019, Rowan Wick in 2018, Chris Robinson in 2013, Jason Bay in 2003, Eric Cyr in 2002 and Kevin Nicholson in 2000)...While with ELP prior to his call up, he slashed .299/.378/.538 through 209 plate appearances with 10 HR and walked as many times as he has struck out (24 apiece)...Matched his career high with 3 hits in his 2nd big league game on May 25 at TOR in SD's 19-4 victory...Hit his 1st ML HR on June 1 vs. MIA in the Padres' 9-3 win...From June 1-5, hit safely in a career-high 5-straight games, hitting .333 (5-for-15)...Optioned to ELP on July 20…during his 1st stint in the majors, made 24 starts from May 24-July 20, slashing .225/.274/.326…while with ELP, he hit safely in 7 of his 9 games, including 2 4-hit efforts...Recalled by SD on August 1 and spent the rest of the season with the big league club, slashing .271/.349/.444 in 39 starts...Hit safely in 8 consecutive starts from August 26-September 4, going 11-for-30 (.367) in that time...Among all ML rookies, he ranked 4th with RISP/2 out (.370, min. 25 PA), 6th with RISP (.333, min. 50 PA)...His .444 SLG as a PH ranked 2nd among all ML rookies (min. 30 PA) behind Ildemaro Vargas (.472)...His .208 AVG (32-for-154) and .396 SLG with 2 strikes against him were the highest on the Padres...Made 63 total starts, including 30 in RF, 29 in LF and 4 as the DH...Entered 2019 rated as the Padres No. 9 prospect by Baseball America, No. 11 by MLB Pipeline and No. 14 by ESPN.com.
2018
Spent the entire campaign with San Antonio (AA) and set career highs offensively across the board, earning Padres Minor League Player of the Year honors...Among all SD farmhands, he ranked third in batting average (.297), tied for third in RBI (74) and tied for fourth in HR (17)... Earned Texas League Player of the Week honors the opening week of the season (4/5-15), slashing .472/.545/1.000 with six HR, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored...collected six multi-hit efforts and two multi-HR games in the 10-game span...His 54 RBI led the TL in the first half and he was one of a leaguebest nine Missions selected to the TL All-Star Game...homered in the bottom of the third for the South Division All-Stars to even the score at 1-1...the South eventually won the contest after a 2-2 tie was decided on a home run contest...Hit .277/.374/.417 with eight doubles, seven HR, 20 RBI, 30 runs scored and 30 BB against 30 SO in his 55 games in the second half, earning TL Post-Season All-Star honors...Made 89 starts in LF, the first non-1B appearances in his career... also made 26 starts at 1B on the season...Hit .303 (10-for-33) with two doubles and six RBI in his eight postseason games during the TL playoffs...Entered 2019 rated as the Padres No. 9 prospect by Baseball America, No. 11 by MLB Pipeline and No. 14 by ESPN.com.
See Also
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Split the season between Lake Elsinore (A) and San Antonio (AA), playing in a combined 114 games while posting a .280 batting average (123-for-439) with 25 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, 64 RBI, 59 runs scored and a career-high 43 walks...Earned California League Player of the Month honors for Lake Elsinore during the month of April, hitting .306 (30-for-98) over 23 games with 23 RBI and 21 runs scored...Missed time while on the seven-day disabled list from 4/30-5/11 after getting hit in the face by a pickoff throw...Named a Cal League Mid-Season All-Star roster, hitting .299 (69-for-231) in 59 games before the All-Star break...Selected to the World Team roster representing Canada for the second consecutive season in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Marlins Park during the All-Star break and singled in the first run in the World's 7-6 loss to the U.S...Promoted to San Antonio on 7/11 and hit .250 (39-for-156) in 42 games with the Missions...Recorded a season-high four hits on 7/31 vs. Corpus Christi...Received his first career postseason action in the Texas League semifinals against Midland, going 1-for-13 (.077) in four games...Following the season, was named to the Arizona Fall League Top Prospects Team, playing in 19 games for the league champion Peoria Javelinas...hit clean-up as the starting first baseman for the West Division in the Fall Stars Game and led the league's primary first baseman in batting average (.304), hits (24), home runs (three) and doubles (six)...Also named a Rising Star while in the Arizona Fall League...Entered 2018 rated as the No. 10 prospect in the Padres organization by MLB.com.
2016
Began the season with Greensboro (A) and finished with Lake Elsinore (A) after being traded from MIA to SD on 7/29...Recorded career-highs in hits (127), doubles (29), home runs (12), RBI (75), stolen bases (11) and games played (122)...Named a South Atlantic League Mid-Season All-Star for Greensboro...Selected to the World Team roster representing Canada in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Petco Park during the All-Star Break, going 2-for-3 with an RBI the World's 11-3 victory over the U.S....Over 23 games in July while with Greensboro, hit .326 (28-for-86) with 1 1 RBI with RISP...While with Lake Elsinore, hit .355 (11-for-31) with two home runs when leading off an inning...Tabbed as the No. 10 prospect in the Padres organization following the season by Baseball America.
2015
Made his professional debut with the GCL Marlins (R), hitting .327 (32-for-98) over 25 games...Hit .340 (18-for-53) over 13 games at home and .311 (14-for-45) in 12 games on the road...Hit .329 (24-for-73) vs. RHP and .320 (8-for-25) against LHP...Rated as the No. 14 prospect in the Gulf Coast League...Ranked by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect in the Marlins organization following the season.
