May 12, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week:

-Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there! And especially to my mom, Glenyce Glew, who my dad and I have dragged to enough Toronto Blue Jays games over the years that she has become one of the team’s more spirited fans. I’m very fortunate in that not only does my mom enjoy baseball, she’s also loving, supportive, compassionate and generous. She also reads this blog. I love you, mom.

-This is one of my favourite photos of Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) (below). Here he is pictured with his mother Delores at Wrigley Field. Jenkins’ mom lost her vision after giving birth to him, but that didn’t stop her from coming to many of his games. She would sit in the stands and listen to the game on a portable radio.

-Colorado Rockies right-hander Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) earned his second win of the season on Thursday. He started and allowed just one run on five hits in six innings in the Rockies’ 9-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. The Ontario Terriers and Junior National Team alum now owns a 2.35 ERA and has 21 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings in his past five starts. With this strong stretch, Quantrill has lowered his season ERA to 3.94 in eight starts. The 29-year-right-hander was traded to the Rockies by the Cleveland Guardians on November 17 after being limited to 19 starts by shoulder woes last season.

-Right-hander Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) has been one of the few bright spots in the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen since he was recalled on April 30. He tossed a scoreless inning and earned a hold in the Blue Jays’ 5-3 win on Wednesday. Overall, he has allowed just two runs in six outings since being promoted. Pop began the season in triple-A Buffalo where in nine relief appearances he recorded a 1.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings. Last year, Pop cracked the Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster but was sidelined on May 4 with a hamstring injury. Following his recovery, he was assigned to triple-A Buffalo where he registered a 5.51 ERA in 31 contests. The Blue Jays acquired Pop, who is a Toronto Mets and Junior National Team alum, from the Miami Marlins on August 2, 2022.

-Happy 40th Birthday to former big league catcher and fellow Dorchester, Ont., native Chris Robinson! Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the third round of the 2005 draft, Robinson made his major league debut with the San Diego Padres on September 4, 2013. His first big league hit was a three-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning off Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Eury De La Rosa in a Padres’ 12-2 win on Sept. 25, 2013. Robinson also suited up for Canada’s Senior National Team in numerous competitions, including the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, 2008 Olympics, 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games (where Canada won gold at both) and 2006 and 2013 World Baseball Classics. He is now the director of baseball operations and catching coordinator for the Great Lake Canadians based in Dorchester.

-The Milwaukee Brewers sent infielder Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) to triple-A Nashville on Wednesday when they activated outfielder Christian Yelich from the 10-day injured list. Black went 5-for-22 with two doubles in seven games with the Brewers. Prior to his call-up, Black, who’s in his fourth season in the Brewers’ organization, owned a .303/.393/.525 slash line with five home runs, three triples and 18 RBIs in 25 games for the triple-A Nashville Sounds this season. He went 2-for-5 in his first game back with the Sounds on Thursday. Unfortunately, he left Friday’s game after fouling a pitch off his leg in his first at bat and did not play on Saturday.

-Happy 26th Birthday to Seattle Mariners reliever Matt Brash! Unfortunately, the Kingston, Ont., native will have to celebrate while recovering from Tommy John surgery which he underwent on Wednesday. He will miss the rest of the 2024 season and likely the first couple of months of the 2025 regular season. Brash had been diagnosed with medial elbow inflammation in early March and had been attempting to work his way back without surgery before suffering another setback during rehab and being shut down indefinitely. Last season, in his second big league campaign, Brash developed into a go-to late-inning reliever for the Mariners. He led major league pitchers with 78 appearances and had a 9-4 record and a 3.06 ERA. His devastating slider helped him fan 107 batters in 70 2/3 innings, good for a 13.6 strikeout-per-nine-inning rate.

–Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) is quietly putting together an excellent season for the Oakland A’s. In his past five games, he has gone 11-for-28 (.393 batting average) with two doubles and four runs. In total, the ABC alum, who has taken over as the A’s everyday second baseman, is batting .293 with three home runs. He is leading A’s hitters with 39 hits in 38 games. Acquired from the Brewers on Nov. 15, Toro signed a one-year, $1.275-million contract with the A’s just two days later. This is his sixth big league season.

-Happy 89th Birthday to legendary Montreal Expos manager and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Felipe Alou! Alou was part of the Expos organization as a player, instructor or manager for 27 seasons. He joined the Expos as an instructor following a successful 18-year playing career in which he hit .286, collected 2,101 hits and was selected to three All-Star games. Born in Bajos de Haina, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, Alou won multiple championships as a minor league manager before he was hired as the Expos big league skipper on May 22, 1992. In accepting the position, Alou became the first Dominican manager in major league history. In parts of 10 seasons as Expos manager, he accumulated a franchise-record 691 wins and led the budget-conscious club to three second-place finishes (1992, 1993, 1996) and had the Expos sitting in first-place in 1994 when the season was cancelled due to a players’ strike. For his efforts, Alou was named National League Manager of the Year in 1994 and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

-Former Blue Jay Otto Lopez is 8-for-25 (.320 batting average) with two home runs and two doubles in 15 games with the Marlins since being called up on April 15. He has split time between second base and shortstop. Lopez, who lived in Montreal for part of his youth, had his contract sold to the San Francisco Giants by the Blue Jays on February 13. He spent spring training with the Giants before he was designated for assignment and claimed on waivers by the Marlins. He had gone 15-for-27 (.556 batting average) with four doubles and two home runs in seven games for the Marlins’ triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp before he was called up. His tenure with the Marlins marks his first big league action since 2022. Last season, he batted .258 in 84 games with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons, but he missed a large chunk of the season due to a left oblique strain. Born in Santo Domingo, D.R., Lopez was signed as an international free agent by the Blue Jays prior to the 2017 season.

-My condolences go out to former Blue Jay Jeff Burroughs and his family on their passing of their son Sean, who also played in the big leagues. Bob Nightengale, of USA Today, reported on Friday that Sean collapsed and died while coaching his son’s Little League game on Thursday. Sean was just 43. In parts of seven major league seasons with the San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins between 2002 and 2012, Sean batted .278 with 463 hits in 528 games.