MESA, Ariz. – Teenager Mitch Bratt showed that he can hang. Jared Young delivered the type of damage needed from the clean-up spot. Matt Brash came as advertised and will be a weapon at the back of the bullpen. Roles for other leverage arms remain in doubt. Some messy defence needs cleaning up.
There was both good and bad for Canada to draw from in Wednesday’s 11-7 exhibition loss to the Chicago Cubs, the national team’s first of two test runs ahead of their World Baseball Classic opener Sunday against Great Britain.
Rob Zastryzny starts Thursday against the Seattle Mariners in the last chance for manager Ernie Whitt and the Canadian coaching staff to sort through their puzzle pieces and build out their roster picture.
That isn’t much time, especially with the Canadians quickly trying to figure out how to get the most out of players both young and old that will be counted on to support pillars like Freddie Freeman, Tyler O’Neill and Cal Quantrill.
“We’ve got options,” said Whitt before adding aptly that, “everything is subject to change.”
Some of the parts began falling into place before a crowd of 8,713 at Sloan Park, starting with Bratt, the 19-year-old left-hander who pitched at low-A in the Texas Rangers system who will be tasked with facing the defending champion Americans on Monday.
The native of Newmarket, Ont., showed no fear of the spotlight while facing big-league hitters for the first time, working around a two-out single by Ian Happ and a walk to Trey Mancini in a clean first and then inducing a grounder to second by Eric Hosmer in the second.
Quantrill ran through the lineup with him before the game and Bratt then rode his cutter and changeup, pointing to a swing and miss by Cody Bellinger ahead of a flyout to centre that really proved to him that his stuff will play.
“I was a little anxious, a little nervous and just excited to get out there and compete,” said Bratt. “But Cal just said, ‘They’re hitters, they’re going to get themselves out. They may be a little bit more polished, but they’re not going to get a hit every single time.’ That helped calm my nerves and go through it that way.”
Quantrill is slated to start the tournament opener against Great Britain, a decision made to help ensure that Canada wins its first game and also lines up the Cleveland Guardians right-hander for the quarter-finals, should the team get there.
The Canadians then lined up Philadelphia Phillies prospect Noah Skirrow to start Tuesday against Colombia while Zastryzny, the Pittsburgh Pirates lefty, gets Mexico in the first-round finale, and if they win those three games their trip to the second round is booked.
A win against the Americans would be nice but not essential, which led to the decision for the Canadians to save their bullets and go with Bratt against the pool hosts. It’s something they’ve done before, with Adam Loewen throwing 3.2 shutout innings against the U.S. in 2006 and Jameson Taillon nearly helping them pull off another upset in 2013.
The hope is Bratt, who’ll be under a strict 50-pitch limit for that outing, can manage the game and give the Canadians a chance.
“You roll the dice, sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t,” said Whitt.
Bratt was so focused on the Cubs outing that he hasn’t thought much about the looming challenge, but said, “I feel like it’s going to kick in in the next little bit.”
“It’s keeping the same mindset, you’re still attacking hitters, still doing everything the same,” he added. “The quality of hitters are going to be very good but as long as I do what I do best, I think I’ll be OK.”
More than OK Wednesday was Young, the hard-hitting lefty who can play all around the diamond and debuted with the Cubs last year.
The first choice as Whitt’s cleanup hitter, Young delivered a two-run double against his own team in the first inning, taking Justin Steele off the centre-field wall, maybe a foot shy of a homer.
“A couple more push-ups and maybe it’s got a chance,” he quipped.
Young also laced a grounder to first, walked and lined out to left field in the eighth with runners on second and third, usually a ball deep enough for a runner to tag home if not for the familiar face to reel it in.
“Brennan Davis is one of my best friends, and I was like, ‘Ugh, I wouldn’t tag on him either,’” said Young. “He threw a seed to home plate. But it was fun. That’s a game I’ll remember for a long time.”
Whitt likes both Young’s swing and mature approach at the plate, skills that have carried the late-blooming 26-year-old from Prince George, B.C., up the system. In the absence of Josh Naylor and Joey Votto, Young makes sense in the cleanup spot to take pressure off talented youngsters like Bo Naylor, Owen Caissie (who impressed with the quality of his at-bats on an 0-for-4 day) and Denzel Clarke and protect Freeman and O’Neill.
“I take great pride in that,” said Young. “Those are unbelievable players you’ve got an MVP and Tyler O’Neill is going to have a Silver Slugger. When you’re behind them, you know you’re going to get pitches that they aren’t, especially in games like this so you’ve got to be ready to go and you’ve got to be aggressive because they’re going to be on base. It’s a great honour and I know I can do it. You put yourself in that situation and if you expect to have success, I think you will.”
Brash, the hard-throwing Seattle Mariners righty from Kingston, Ont., delivered a stress-free fourth and showed why he’ll be the team’s closer. But how Canada bridges to him is a much bigger question.
Trevor Brigden, a righty from Toronto in the Tampa Bay Rays system, threw a clean fifth but gave up three loud outs while Curtis Taylor, the Port Coquitlam, B.C. native traded from the Rays to the Blue Jays in 2019 for Eric Sogard and now with the Cubs, gave up a leadoff homer to Bellinger in the sixth and needed Caissie to throw out a runner at third to end the inning.
Things got messier from there as Loewen, pitching competitively for the first time since 2018, gave up a three spot on three hits, a walk, two wild pitches and a passed ball in two-thirds of an inning while Evan Rutckyj got tagged for four more runs in the eighth.
Those two innings also included Caissie throwing the ball to no one at second base on Dom Nunez’s triple in the eighth and Dasan Brown bobbling a Kevin Alcantara base hit in left and then shortstop Otto Lopez deflecting a relay throw meant for Abraham Toro at third, erasing a chance to get the lead runner at home.
“It was sloppy,” Whitt said of his team’s defensive play. “It’s something that we’ve got to clean up.”
An opportunity for the Canadians to do just that comes against the Mariners on Thursday, one last chance to work out the kinks before the results start to count.