Prestigious baseball award goes to MLB slugger from Mississauga

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Published December 6, 2023 at 3:18 pm

Josh Naylor, of Mississauga, wins prestigious award.
Mississauga native Josh Naylor capped off a strong season with MLB's Cleveland Guardians by winning a prestigious award.

Mississauga native Josh Naylor took a big step forward this past Major League Baseball season as a key cog in the Cleveland Guardians’ lineup.

And the 26-year-old slugging first baseman capped off his successful campaign — in which he finished among the American League leaders in several offensive categories — by receiving a prestigious team award in November.

Naylor, who was joined in the Guardians’ everyday lineup this past season by his younger brother, Bo Naylor, a catcher, received the Bob Feller Man of the Year award as chosen by Cleveland’s chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Named for the Cleveland franchise’s all-time leader in pitching wins, the award is presented to the player or executive who consistently performs at the top of their game, both on and off the field.

Josh Naylor, a graduate of St. Joan of Arc Secondary School in Mississauga who was a first-round draft pick (12th overall) of the Miami Marlins in 2015, in 2023 enjoyed his best season yet in the Majors, statistically speaking and otherwise (his younger brother joined him on the team).

The 5-foot-11, 250-pound slugger finished an injury-shortened 2023 regular season with 17 home runs and 97 RBIs (tied for eighth in the AL) in 452 at-bats, while hitting .308.

If he had enough at-bats to qualify, Naylor would’ve placed third in AL hitting with his batting average.

The elder Naylor made his MLB debut on May 24, 2019 as a member of the National League’s San Diego Padres. He was then traded to Cleveland during the 2020 season and has since become a fixture in the Guardians’ lineup.

Despite his own successful season, Josh Naylor may very well choose a moment that wasn’t his own as his most cherished memory of the 2023 season — brother Bo’s first big-league home run.

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