Saturday’s annual all-Canadian Spring Training tilt between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Canadian Junior National Team was significant for a couple of different reasons.
First off, Braden Halladay took the mound for Team Canada at his father’s old Spring Training stomping grounds, and faced the team that Halladay made his mark with in the MLB.
Secondly, Marcus Stroman, who was limited in Spring Training with inflammation in his throwing shoulder, made his first unofficial start of 2018, and had some candid thoughts on the future of Blue Jays prospects Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
That leads us to the fact that there were seven different players with big league bloodlines taking part in the all-Canadian duo down in Dunedin.
Along with Halladay, Bichette (who’s father Dante played 13 seaons in the MLB) and Guerrero Jr, Kacy Clemens (Roger Clemens), Cavan Biggio (Craig Biggio), Brandon Grudzielanek (nephew of Mark Grudzielanek) and Dwight Smith Jr. all partook in the game.
Clemens, Biggio, Bichette and Guerrero managed to go 8 for 14, and drove in seven runners and touched the plate seven times in the Jays 11-3 over the Under-18 team.
Halladay threw a 1-2-3 inning in the eigth and managed to get Bichette to ground out after two fly outs.
Wearing the No. 16, Halladay is spitting image of his father by his delivery and the way he throws the ball, besides not bringing his glove over his head.
While scouts will target bloodlines when targetting players, the fact that the Blue Jays have so many second generation professional baseball players is pretty neat, and it certainly gives Jays fans a glimmer of hope when looking towards the future of the ball club.
