Guardians becoming baseball’s premier destination for Canadian talent

CLEVELAND, Ohio — While other MLB organizations focus their international scouting efforts on traditional baseball hotbeds like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the Cleveland Guardians have also quietly established themselves as the premier destination for Canadian baseball talent. Their selection of Will Hynes on Day 1 of the 2025 MLB Draft is just the latest example of this unexpected strategy.

“Hynes is a 6-foot-2 right hander out of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Home of the Naylor brothers,” Joe Noga explained on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast when discussing the Guardians’ fourth-round selection.

The connection between Cleveland and Canadian baseball talent has become impossible to ignore. Paul Hoynes quickly pointed out the pattern: “Cleveland has become the collection point for Canadian players. Cade Smith, the Naylor brothers, Erik Sabrowski and now Will Hynes.”

This didn’t happen by accident. The Guardians have established a systematic approach to scouting Canadian talent, particularly through their connection to the Canadian junior national team. Both Josh and Bo Naylor, along with pitcher Cade Smith, gained valuable experience with this program under manager Greg Hamilton before joining the Cleveland organization.

The Guardians’ scouting department has found creative ways to evaluate these Canadian prospects. “While the Canadian team was down in the Dominican, the Guardians Dominican scouting complex got to basically see these kids play and see Will Hynes,” Noga explained. “He really stood out to the Guardians scouts in the Dominican playing as a Canadian national player.”

What makes Hynes particularly intriguing is his elite-level spin rate — a metric that has become increasingly valuable in modern pitching development. As Noga detailed, “It’s one of the things that sort of jumped off the page. Those metrics are screaming at scouts with Hynes. It’s up to elite levels for a high school kid… somewhere in that 2700-2800 rotations.”

This combination of physical tools and advanced metrics makes Hynes a perfect fit for Cleveland’s player development system, which has shown remarkable success at maximizing pitcher potential.

The Naylor brothers represent the crown jewels of Cleveland’s Canadian connection so far. Josh established himself as a fan favorite and middle-of-the-order bat with his infectious energy and clutch hitting. Bo has shown flashes as one of baseball’s promising young catchers. Their success not only validates Cleveland’s scouting approach but likely makes the organization more attractive to future Canadian prospects.

What’s particularly interesting about Cleveland’s Canadian pipeline is how it combines old-school scouting with modern analytics. The organization isn’t just grabbing any Canadian player — they’re identifying specific talents that fit their development model. With Hynes, they see a high school arm with professional-level spin rates that their pitching development staff can mold into a major league contributor.

As the Guardians continue building their Canadian connection, they’re creating a competitive advantage in a market that many other organizations overlook. In baseball’s constant search for untapped talent pools, Cleveland may have found their niche by looking north of the border.

For Guardians fans, this growing Canadian contingent adds another dimension to the team’s identity — and perhaps a few more reasons to celebrate with a collective “O Canada!” when these prospects make their way to Progressive Field.

Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.

Podcast transcript

Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie. All Star game is tonight in Atlanta. Stephen Kwan will be there. Will be in the. Not in the American League starting lineup, but we’ll, we’ll play some in the outfield later on in the game. Jose Ramirez elected to start. Will. Will not be there. Not choosing to attend to, to focus on his recovery and his health. So as far as what Cleveland’s interest should be in this game, last night the Home Run Derby took place. Big Dumper, one of our favorite nicknames, Cal Raleigh goes out there and he outlasts the competition. After o’ Neill, Cruz put on quite a show. But for guardians fans, for the, the front office, for the executives who traded away Junior Caminero pretty much breathing a sigh of relief this morning that Camino didn’t come through and make headlines as the Home Run Derby champion.

Paul Hoynes: He came close. Joe just, it looked like he just ran out of gas at the end. He started taking too many pitches and just ran out of time, but put on quite a show. That, that was a, that was an impressive performance by the young man.

Joe Noga: What do you think of the. The Home Run Derby as like sort of one of the, the jewel events of All Star weekend of the season four, Major League Baseball. It’s sort of grown and evolved into this bigger showcase and, and as they’ve added different rules, you know, bonuses and, you know, you know, time and distance and all that kind of stuff. And as, as the, the home runs are able to be tracked and measured electronically, more than it’s, it’s more than just going out there and, you know, just swinging for the fences these days. Yeah.

Paul Hoynes: You know, I remember when Jim told me was invited to the Home Run Derby at Progressive Field. I think he was at Cedar Point and you know, he was a late entry. They called him. They see if he wanted to do it, he rushed back and, you know, just kind of jumped into uniform and he did not do very well. But these guys, this is, this is serious business now. You know, with a million dollars prize money, they’ve upped their ante here. It’s, it’s pretty good. It’s fun viewing, if you like that stuff.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And, and nowadays you get the players out on the field in the, in the leather couches, you know, sort of watch your teammates and your, your peers are out there. There’s a lot more pressure. It’s done at night. You know, the 97 one you’re talking about with Jim Tomi where I think he either hit zero or one home runs. Like he didn’t hit very many home runs in that, that derby, which is just amazing for a guy who hits 600 for his career. It’s, it’s turned into sort of like this, this showcase and you get the belt afterwards, you get the chain, you get all that kind of stuff as the, you know, it’s, it’s more like a WWE event if you look at it. But for, for a guy like o’ Neil Cruz, who, you know, he plays what he plays in Pittsburgh, not a lot of people see a lot of what he can do, you know, from coast to coast nationally. That’s a big like, exposure thing for him to, you know, for, for people to see what kind of power he has.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he’s a tremendous athlete, Joe. Not, not a real good baseball player though, unfortunately for the Pirates, he, he’s got a lot of rough edges. He needs to, you know, that, need to be refined. But he can hit the, he’s got power. Look at it. You look at his frame. What is he, six, six something? He reminds me of De La Cruz almost. You know, they’re built along the same lines and he can generate some pop.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And, you know, we’ll talk a little bit about what a 6, 6, 230 pound frame can do for a prospect here, here in a little bit. But just to, to stick with the All Star theme and what to expect tonight. You were looking, you, you and I were just commenting on the, the lineups. The American League versus the National League here. Aaron Boone has a, you know, he can, he can feel a little more reassured with, you know, penciling in a, A, an Aaron Boone or I’m sorry, an. An Aaron Judge’s name in the lineup because he knows what he’s getting there. But the rest of that lineup for the, the al kind of lacking in star power.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely, Joe. You know, they’re, they’re leading off with Gleyber Torres, you know, former Yankee. Now with Detroit, you’ve got, you know, Ryan O’Hearn in there at DH. You know, there’s a guy that was released by DFA by Kansas City. Junior Caminero has worked his way into the starting lineup at third base with Jose Ramirez withdrawing. Javi Baez is the starting center fielder. I know that kind of irks you a little bit. And Wilson, the shortstop from the Athletics. Nobody even knows where the Athletics play, Joe. And this guy’s in the All Star Game, right?

Joe Noga: Yeah. He can’t even say Oakland anymore. Jacob Wilson certainly a deserving candidate, but he’s not Bobby Witt Jr. He’s not the guy that finished second in the American League voting for MVP last year. Year. So yeah, a little bit of lack of star power but on the NL side when you’re leading off with Shohei Ohtani, you pretty much can’t go wrong.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah. Ohtani Acuna, Freddie Freeman, Machado, Kyle Tucker, Cisco Lindor. That’ll, that’ll put, that’ll put Fanny’s in the seats. If you’re going to watch, you know, a lineup like that.

Joe Noga: Yeah, the, the indication there with Francisco Lindor batting eighth in that lineup, I guess you know this is a, this is a $300 million player and he’s batting in the bottom third of your order and tells you that you’re stack. But the pitching matchup I think is at least for the first inning or so is going to be what everybody’s talking about. And everybody’s looking at Paul Skeens, the, you know, the darling of the league. Pittsburgh Pirates starter. We’ve seen him up close. The Guardians beat him in Pittsburgh. But Tarek Scubal obviously a guy that Cleveland’s very familiar with when he’s hot, there’s nobody better.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Scubal is in a class by himself right now, Joe. We’ve seen him twice this year and the Guardians haven’t stopped swinging and missing since they. I mean he’s got electric stuff, dominant pitcher and Skeens has you know, quote unquote star power. We were both at, at PNC park when it was his bobblehead night day and they were lined up across the Roberto Clemente Bridge to get into the ballpark to get a bobblehead. You know you gotta love Skeens and great pitching. Max Skeins school. It doesn’t get any better than that. That’s, that’s, that’s an All Star Game pitching.

Joe Noga: Yeah, that should be fun to watch. So the only, the All Star Game, not the only thing happening in Atlanta this week of note of course they’ve, they moved the, the draft now takes place in concurrence with the, the All Star Game and that just wrapped up. It’s a two day event now Yesterday the, the majority of the drafting took place uh, with the rounds 17 through 20. The first three rounds took place Sunday night. We, we’re going to go through some of the, the Guardian selections and, and you’re going to notice a pattern I guess in, in some of these, some of these picks and guys that, that look and stand about the Same height and size as O’ Neill Cruz. That big 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5, 6 foot 6. You know, big athletic frames, guys that can run, guys that can, can hit the ball a long way. It’s it a bit of a, a pattern for the, the Guardians that they, they sort of have taken ever since drafting Chase delaw back in what, 20, 20, 2022?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, 2022.

Joe Noga: You know, I guess they like a certain body type and a certain, you know, athletic profile and that certainly carried over into this year. The number one pick, first round pick for Cleveland, number 27 overall, Jace Laviolette, the left handed swinging outfielder from the Texas A and M. Just, you know, there’s a lot to like about this kid outside of the baseball field, particularly with his makeup.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, they, you know, he was projected to be first round pick Joe, you know, at least going the first round and you know, maybe a number one pick overall kind of struggled a little bit this this season, but overall just as mashed at his three years at Texas A and M for the Aggies. What 68 home runs total. This guy is what, 66230 like he said. And interesting, interesting choice. You know, for, for years and years all these guys did, the Guardians were draft middle infielders. Now they’re getting a little, you know, they’re looking for some pop on the corners.

Joe Noga: Yeah. For an organization that’s sort of in the last few years, in the last couple of playoff runs, has been sort of saddled with the, the tag of hey, they can’t hit the ball out of the ballpark. You know, light hitting. They’re certainly addressing that through the draft with these, these picks. But, but Hoyncy, I talk about La Violette’s character and his makeup and his build in, in the SEC tournament back in May, late May, he was hit on the hand with the pitch. Had to come out of the game after making it down to first. Went and had surgery that night and was in the lineup the next day after the Aggies beat Auburn. He, he was LSU later on that next day. That tells you something. You know, Cleveland fans are going to like this kid just for the toughness that he displays.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely. So that’s impressive, Joe. I wonder how much surgery did he need. They have to like is I like the bionic man and they replace his hand. That’s impressive, man. That’s, you know, you know, you got it. You got a gamer there.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And like you said, 68 home runs, I think 130 some walks. All time records for the Aggies so he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. He can control the strike zone and, and Hoyncy, he brings with him one of the greatest nicknames I think we’ve seen since Tugboat Wilkinson. You know, we’re going to have a lot of fun with Lord Tubbington. Uh, this is the nickname that Jace Laviolette brings with him, uh, to as he’s drafted at Cleveland. I guess a teammate who transferred in after his freshman year and was just sort of breaking guys down in the, in the locker room in the clubhouse started calling him Tubby, as, as in Teletubby because he says he looked like a Teletubby. And, and that eventually evolved to Lord Tubington. So I can’t wait till somebody has a Lord Tubbington jersey and they’re walking around Progressive Field. Give him a crown, give him a scepter, give him a, you know, a cape and let him, let him go crazy out there in right field for the Guardians.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely. That’s a good one, Joe. Coco Crisp. Is it a Cocoa Crisp? I’m not sure, but it’s right there. It’s, it’s, it’s really, it’s really close. They’re neck and neck.

Joe Noga: Yeah, it will eventually get up there and be one of the all time great guardians nicknames that we’ve seen go for. Actually four out of their first five picks go as college players. They select Dean Curley from Tennessee, a shortstop. Another guy, you know, a big long frame can generate some, some power. 6 foot 3, 218 pounds. He was their second round pick, number 64 overall. And Aaron Walton, another big bat, 6 foot 3, 219 pounds. He’s an outfielder from Arizona. So they look like early on they’re, they’re just trying to address that need for power.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely. Joe and you know, Curly and Walton, the right handed hitters, I believe La Valeta. Is he left handed? Is he left handed?

Joe Noga: Yeah. Lobby. That’s a left handed hitter. Yes.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, so, well, you know, that’s, that kind of, you know, they’ve got a lot. That lineup is left handed. It’s always been left handed. Heavy. It seems like Cleveland’s lineup the last three or four years. So they don’t depart from tradition there. But Curley and, and Walton, you know, are right handed hitters, which, you know, I think is encouraging. They need to balance that lineup. Of course these guys are two, three years away, but they’re on their college players so on. They’re on the fast track. They’re gonna so we could, we could see these guys in, you know, three years at the outside.

Joe Noga: Yeah, and they took, with their fifth pick on the first day, they took Nolan Schubart, an outfielder from Oklahoma State, another left handed, swinging tall. He’s 6 foot 5, 223, 59 home runs in his career with, with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. So you know, they took two left handed bats, two right handed bats, all of them over six foot three, all of them 200 and you know, 20 pounds plus. They definitely have a profile that they were trying to fill there. And then with their fourth pick on that first day, they did take a high school pitcher, Will Hines. And strangely enough, this is a kid out of, he’s a 6 foot 2 right hander out of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Home of the Naylor brothers.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, what are the odds on that, Joe? I mean Cleveland has become the, the collection point for, for Canadian players, you know, Cade Smith, the Naylor brothers. Now. Now, yeah, Sobrowski and Will Hines has joined them and I think there’s another Canadian, maybe one of the first basemen they drafted, Riley Nelson perhaps. I’m not sure, but I have to check that. But yeah, they’ve, they mined into Canada. I guess they don’t want, I don’t know if they wanted to become the first state or not, but you know, they’re using Canada, the Canadian baseball organization to bring some talent here.

Joe Noga: Well, and Will Hines, a kid who pitched on the Canadian junior national team, which the Naylor brothers both had a lot of experience and exposure with, as well as Cade Smith. So they played for Greg Hamilton who was the manager of that junior national team. That team always takes a trip to the Dominican Republic to play some games every year. And while down in the Dominican, the Guardians Dominican scouting complex and all that, got to, got to basically see these kids play and see Will Hines. So he really stood out to the Guardian scouts in the Dominican playing as a Canadian national player. And the one thing that sort of jumped off the page and sort of the metrics that, that are screaming at scouts with Will Hines was his spin rate. It’s, it’s up to, you know, elite levels for a high school kid and you know, something close to what you would want for professionals, for major leaguers, he’s somewhere in that 2700-2800 rotations per minute with his, yeah, so you’re talking about, you know, a kid who’s got elite spin rates for his, his age level and even into the pro ranks, they’re going to be able to do a Lot with him with his secondary stuff. Yeah.

Paul Hoynes: And he’s. Where’s he committed to, Joe? Wake Forest maybe.

Joe Noga: I think he’s Wake Forest commit. So taking him with that number five pick, it gets him a slot number and, you know, pretty much guarantees that he’s not going to go.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, his slot values like just over 1 million. So we’ll see how that, how that.

Joe Noga: Yeah. So, you know, that first day, that first night of the draft, clearly the Guardians had, you know, sort of a goal to sort of bring in more power to the organization. What did they do on the second day that just sort of stood out to you as a general philosophy?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, they, you know, they went, they stayed with the college player, you know, really heavy. This was just a college player draft. I think out of the what the 22 guys they took, they, you know, only three, three high school players. The first guy they, they, the first pick in the second day in the fourth round was a guy that was, you know, he kind of fits the Guardians playbook. Luke Hill from Mississippi, infielder that can plays all three different positions, you know, can bounce around the infield. He started at Arizona State, transferred to Mississippi. You know, good contact hitter, you know, not a lot of power, you know, high average hitter. So an interesting choice there, Joe.

Joe Noga: But some of those, some of those picks early on the second, second day were guys that could be developed and it looks like they can develop some of that raw power. What did the scouts are or what did Paul Gillespie, the director of scouting, I have to say about some of the potential for these guys?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, it was interesting in the, in the fifth round they took a first baseman, Riley Nelson from Vanderbilt. And in the eighth round, I’m sorry, yeah, in the eighth round they took another first baseman, Anthony Martinez from UC Irvine, both, you know, six three, 220 pounds, left handed hitters, you know, and usually, you know, the, you know, in the past they haven’t really doubled down on first baseman, especially that close together in the draft. But you know, Paul Gillespie felt that, you know, with a few tweaks here and there in both these guys, you know, swings, they could develop some power because they’re both high average hitters. Not a lot of, you know, power, but they’ve got raw power. So you know, the goal is to unlock that, to maybe tinker with their swings to see if they can get the most out of that raw power from Nelson and Martinez. So two interesting picks here.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And it’s not like a lot of these guys are going to be you know, up with the club immediately or anytime in the next couple of years. So there’s, there’s time for these, these players to develop. When is the deadline to sign these, all of these picks? Basically before, you know, they’re, they’re. They lose the rights to them.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah. July 28th. They’ve got to have them signed, Joe. And, you know, in the past, the Guardians, you know, they don’t draft them unless they know they’re going to sign. You know, they’ve got a pretty good, you know, a pretty solid idea that these guys want to come to. They want to turn pro, you know, the, the. Depending on the, you know, the slot value. But you. Usually they don’t get drafted unless they’re signed and unless they’re, they’re signable and they’ll take all these guys to Arizona in a couple of weeks, I would imagine, at the end of this week or next week, introduce them to the organization and then go from there. But, you know, that’s the plan right now.

Joe Noga: All right, so very interesting to see sort of the trends and just that, you know, the play to, to sort of bring in more power to the organization and go from there. You draft big boys, you expect big home runs and, and big, big offensive totals there at some point down the road. Shifting away from the draft, the. Once the All Star festivities are over, you know, we get back to the business of playing baseball. At the end of this week, the Guardians will be hosting the. The A’s in a series over the weekend at Progressive Field. We should find out or at least get an update on the investigation about Luis Ortiz and the potential gambling scandal that, you know, surrounds that. Just, you know, what can we expect on the Luis Ortiz investigation by the end of the week?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, when they put Ortiz on paid leave, you know, they said the investigation would run at least through the All Star break. That’s Friday. And we’ll find out if the, you know, investigation is extended or, you know, they’ve. Or what their ruling is. So, you know, next couple days is going to be very, very interesting with Ortiz and his future with the Guardians.

Joe Noga: Yeah, that should be interesting to find that out. Shane Bieber on schedule to make a rehab start tonight or today in Arizona. We could hear, hear back by Friday about the next step for Shane Bieber as well.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think if this goes well, this is A, you know, two innings, I think two, three innings, 30 to 40 pitches, I believe. So we’ll see how this goes. And if that, if it goes well, Joe, I would think he’s back, headed back toward Ohio and either for his next step would be a rehab at double Akron and then hopefully he progresses there from, you know, a couple more starts and that goes to Columbus and maybe we see him. Joe, what do you think? Mid, mid August, late August, if all goes well.

Joe Noga: Yeah, right around. Stays on track. Yeah, if he stays on track with no setbacks, you probably need three to four outings and then. And then you’re good to go, right?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I would think they’re going to be careful with them. You know, this the season, the sand is running out of the hourglass of the season here. So we’ll see. You know, I don’t think they’ll rush him, but, you know, I would think, you know, if he’s, if everything progresses well, we could see him late August sometime.

Joe Noga: And we don’t have any new information on Chase the Lauder as he’s dealing with a wrist injury.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, there’s still, they were still arranging when he would, you know, be examined and be, you know, the, the Cleveland doctors would get, get a look at him, you know, there, I guess when everybody at the All Star break, everybody’s on the break on break, so maybe they’re, they’re having some, you know, logistical problems, but I would think we’d have, you know, some kind of word by Friday on just his status and, and hopefully he’s, you know, he’s able to continue playing, Joe, because that’s another guy we’d like to see at some point in the last two months of the season.

Joe Noga: Yeah, definitely. All right. Going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. But Hoynsey, I got to mention, once again, finalist on the ballot for the Career Excellence Award for the BBW aaa. Congratulations on being a finalist two years in a row. Tom Verd and Scott Miller also on the ballot, of course. Verducci, a longtime writer with Sports Illustrated and the late Scott Miller recently passed. He had worked with the New York Times and Bleacher Report in his career. But, but my money, my votes are on Paul Hoynes, hall of Famer in every way. We will be pulling for you as the, the vote gets ready to be taken in November. There. Just what’s your reaction to being on the ballot again?

Paul Hoynes: Well, I didn’t know that, Joe. Now I’m nervous.

Joe Noga: No, very good.

Paul Hoynes: It’s, it’s a thrill to be on the honor on the, on the ballot. You know, I know Verducci. I know I knew Scott Miller. So real close with Scott Miller and He’s a great guy. You know, Rip, you know, really, really miss him. It’s. We’ll have to see how it works, man. But, you know, I’m excited to be on it. I’m honored to be on it.

Joe Noga: 9 votes away last year, I think. I think you got a real good chance this year. So we’re pulling for you, Hornsey. We talk about it more as we get closer to the end of the season, and that’ll wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. H. We’ll talk to you again tomorrow. Good deal.

Paul Hoynes: Thanks, man.

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