Baseball's Canada All-Time Dream Team

Issue #199

I did a profile piece on Joey Votto soon after he announced his retirement in August. He was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1983. In looking at his career accomplishments, I consider him one of the three best MLB players born in Canada, but what about an overall Dream Team roster for Canadians? Here is what I came up with:

The top two position players are clearly RF Larry Walker and 1B Joey Votto. How you rank them could be debated: they played about the same number of games (Votto slightly more), and their OPS+ is very similar at 141 for Walker and 144 for Votto. Walker had 383 HR vs. Votto’s 356. Walker stole far more bases with 230 vs. only 80 for Votto, and he had nearly 200 more Runs and 200 more RBI. Yes, he played a lot of his career in Colorado, but Votto played his entire his career in Cincinnati—and while Great American is not Coors, it is a hitters' park nonetheless.

Votto's career OBP is higher as you might have guessed, but not by a huge amount at .409 vs. .400. Votto did walk a lot more, but Walker had a career .313 batting average vs. .294 for Votto. He was also hit by more pitches, 138 vs. 81. And lastly, they were both good defenders, with Votto taking home one Gold Glove Award at 1B, but Walker outshining him in that department with seven Gold Gloves in RF.

Either way, after those two super stars there is a big drop off amongst the position players—at least in terms of career numbers. Several others born in Canada had some great seasons though, such as:

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: AL All-Star in four of his first six seasons, and was AL MVP runner-up in 2021 when he led the AL with 48 HR, 123 Runs, .401 OBP, .601 SLG, and 167 OPS+.

• Justin Morneau: Four-time All-Star, AL MVP in 2006, and MVP runner-up in 2008.

• Jason Bay: NL ROY winner in 2004, three-time All-Star, and had four seasons with both 100+ Runs and 100+ RBI.

• Jeff Heath: played from 1936-49, two-time All-Star, with outstanding seasons in 1938 (.343 BA, 21 HR, 112 RBI, 18 triples) and 1941 (.340 BA, 24 HR, 123 RBI, 20 triples)

• Tip O'Neill: 19th century player (1883-1892) with a career slash line of .326/.392/.458 and a 144 OPS+. He led the American Association in 1887 in just about everything, include 225 hits, 167 Runs, 123 RBI, 52 doubles, 19 triples, 14 HR, .435 BA, .490 OBP, and .691 SLG.

Of course Vlad is still only 25 years old, so he could one day join the conversation with Walker and Votto as to who the greatest Canadian-born position players are.

I included Cleveland’s 1B Josh Naylor on the above depth chart, and with a little more playing time his brother Bo Naylor could be included at Catcher as well—especially given the relative lack of star talent there.

It was interesting to see how loaded this roster is at some positions such as 1B, RF, and LF, but how relatively thin it is at CF, 3B, SS, 2B, and C. The best at those positions include:

• C Russell Martin (2006-2019): four-time All-Star, Gold Glove winner in 2007, and a catcher with some pop as he hit 15+ HR six times, with three seasons of 20+ HR.

• RF/CF Terry Puhl (1977-1991): All-Star in 1978, 217 career SB with six seasons of 20+ SB, and a career .280/.349/.388 slash line and 112 OPS+.

• 3B Corey Koskie (1998-2006): had his career year in 2001 when he slashed .276/.362/.488 with a 121 OPS+, 26 HR, 37 doubles, 27 SB, 100 Runs, 103 RBI.

• 3B/OF Pete Ward (1962-1970): had his two best seasons early in 1963 (.295/.353/.482, 134 OPS+, 22 HR, 84 RBI) and 1964 (.282/.348/.473, 129 OPS+, 23 HR, 94 RBI)

Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:

Against RHP:

1. Terry Puhl CF (L)

2. Jeff Heath LF (L) - very strong splits

3. Joey Votto 1B (L)

4. Larry Walker RF (L)

5. Justin Morneau DH (L)

6. Corey Koskie 3B (L) / Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 3B (R)

7. Russell Martin C (R)

8. Brett Lawrie 2B (R)

9. Arthur Irwin SS (L)

Against LHP:

1. Tip O'Neill DH (R)

2. Jason Bay LF (R)

3. Larry Walker RF (L)

4. Joey Votto 1B (L)

5. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 3B (R)

6. Russell Martin C (R)

7. Brett Lawrie 2B (R)

8. Arthur Irwin SS (L)

9. Terry Puhl CF (L)

I of course leveraged Puhl in CF rather than his primary position of RF, but dropped him to ninth against LHP as he strong splits and hit RHP far better. This allows old-timer Tip O’Neill to hit leadoff as a DH against LHP, with slugger Justin Morneau slotting as DH against RHP.

LF Jeff Heath had even stronger splits than Puhl, so it made sense to platoon him with Jason Bay and bat them both second in these lineups. I had to get Vlad included somewhere, but with Votto (and others) also available at 1B, it wasn’t clear what to do. Vlad played 96 games at 3B as a rookie, and actually has played 3B in 12 games again in 2024, so that was the solution. I’ve also listed Corey Koskie at 3B against RHP, as like Puhl and Heath he hit them significantly better than LHP.

As for pitchers, clearly Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins is the ace of this dream team's staff. How he was an All-Star only three times in his 19 year career is an oddity that is hard to explain. (I checked his first half/second half splits, and that doesn’t seem to be a strong lead as he had a 3.37 ERA during the first half of seasons and a 3.30 ERA during the second half.)

Jenkins won the NL Cy Young Award in 1971, came in second in the vote twice, and third in the vote twice. He won 20+ games seven times and had 200+ strikeouts six times. A workhorse, Jenkins led his league in complete games four times, posted 20+ CG eight times, and pitched 300+ IP five times.

After Jenkins, you could certainly debate how to rank the remaining starting pitchers on this dream team. Ryan Dempster was a two-time All-Star who pitched in 16 seasons, including three with 15+ wins, and three others in the middle of his career with 20+ saves. Russ Ford had a much shorter career (1909-1915), winning 20+ games three times and posting a 2.59 ERA and 124 ERA+.

The top two relievers on this roster are clearly Eric Gagné and John Hiller. In his three All-Star seasons from 2002-2004, Gagne posted save totals of 52, 55, and 45, and ERA marks of 1.97, 1.20, and 2.19. He actually won the NL Cy Young Award in 2003 as he was overpowering with 137 K and only 20 BB in 82.1 IP.

John Hiller (1965-70, 72-80) had more consistent success over his career, posting a 2.83 ERA, 134 ERA+, and 125 saves. Like Gagne's three dominating seasons, Hiller also had an epic year in 1973 when he posted a 1.44 ERA with 124 K in 125.1 relief innings, recording an AL high 38 saves.

As with the starting pitchers listed above, you could debate how to rank the other relievers including Jordan Romano, Paul Quantrill, Jesse Crain, John Axford, and others. Romano in particular had three very strong seasons before an ineffective and abbreviated 2024 campaign. Crain was a solid non-closer during his 10 year career, posting a 3.05 ERA and 143 ERA+. Similarly, Paul Quantrill was a long-time reliever from 1992-2005, leading his league in pitching appearances each year from 2001-2004. He ultimately retired with a career 3.83 ERA and 118 ERA+. His son, Cal Quantrill, has pitched in the majors for parts of six seasons, and could one day crack this dream team roster as well.

Two other young relievers could one day soon make this dream team roster. Cleveland’s Cade Smith has had an outstanding 2024, posting a 1.94 ERA with 102 K in 74.1 IP going into the final weekend of the season. And the Mariners’ Matt Brash has missed the 2024 season due to injury, but he was solid in 2023 with a 3.06 ERA and 107 K in 70.2 IP.

What would change based on High School attendance location?

As I did with my series of posts on US State Dream Teams, I also took a look here at what MLB players went to high school in Canada (according to the data available at baseball-reference.com). What changes does this lead to for an All-Time Canada Dream Team?

I have to start by noting that Vlad Guerrero Jr. grew up in a mix of locations including Canada, the Dominican Republic, and the US since his dad was a great ballplayer himself. He was also drafted at a young age (16) so he is sort of a special case.

Players on the above roster who more definitively were born in Canada, but then went to High School elsewhere include:

• 3B Pete Ward – Oregon

• LF Jeff Heath – Washington

• SP Kirk McCaskill – New York

• RP Paul Quantrill – Michigan

• RP Jesse Crain – Colorado

There is enough LF depth on the roster to suffer the loss of Heath, and ditto for the losses of McCaskill as a starter and Quantrill and Crain as relievers. What about players who were born elsewhere, but went to High School in Canada? I found just two who could be candidates for the dream team:

• CF Nyjer Morgan – California

• SP Jean Duboc – Vermont

Morgan played seven years in the majors starting in 2007, stealing 42 bases in 2009 and 34 in 2010. And Duboc pitched in parts of nine seasons from 1908-1919, winning 15+ games three times and retiring with a 3.04 ERA and 96 ERA+.