Video: First Major League Baseball home run also gives Mississauga native quirky share of history

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Published June 29, 2023 at 10:30 am

Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor (left) is congratulated by big brother, Josh, as he arrives back at the dugout after slugging his first career MLB home run Wednesday night in Kansas City. (Photo/screen capture: Cleveland Guardians Twitter)

Bo Naylor does big things on Wednesdays.

If that wasn’t true of the Mississauga native’s tendencies earlier in his life, it is these days as the Cleveland Guardians’ rookie catcher hit his first Major League Baseball home run last night (June 28) in Kansas City, exactly one week after collecting his first big league hit.

In accomplishing that pair of firsts the last seven days, Naylor, 23, has also managed to do something else that isn’t too easy–stealing the spotlight, at least temporarily, from Guardians’ teammate and big brother Josh, a hulking first baseman in the midst of a stellar season in which he’s established himself as one of the best hitters and RBI men in the game.

Josh Naylor, 26, also happens to be, from all appearances, Bo’s biggest fan. You couldn’t find bigger smiles than those on the face of Josh both last week and again last night as he witnessed his brother’s memorable accomplishments.

Bo Naylor’s milestone round-tripper, a two-run shot the opposite way, came in the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s 14-1 trouncing of the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium (see video in tweet below). It helped the Guardians (39-40) jump back into first place in the American League’s Central Division, half-a-game ahead of the Minnesota Twins.

In limited action this season, Naylor, who made his MLB debut last September, is hitting .222 with a home run and two RBIs.

A first-round draft pick of the Guardians back in 2018, the athletic 6-foot, 205-pound St. Joan of Arc Secondary School (Mississauga) grad is one of MLB’s top prospects and was the only catcher in the minor leagues last year to smack 20 home runs and steal 20 bases.

Naylor’s homer on Wednesday night also added to a piece of quirky MLB history, according to Sports Illustrated.

The Mississauga native joined a pair of other Bo’s–Bo Jackson in 1986 and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Bo Bichette in 2019–in hitting their first career MLB homers at Kauffman Stadium.

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