BWDIK: Black, Brash, Dempster, Jenkins, Julien, Hicks, Lopez

Junior National Team alum and Miami Marlins infielder Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) is tied for the National League lead with 43.

May 3, 2026

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes:

Hicks clubs seventh home run

Miami Marlins catcher Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) belted his seventh home run of the season on Wednesday. With that, he set a new career-high in just 29 games.

Last season, he socked six home runs in 119 contests for the Marlins.

He also knocked in five more runs this week to give him 29 RBIs for the season. That ties him for second in the National League with Cincinnati Reds first baseman Sal Stewart and Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin. Braves first baseman Matt Olson leads with 30 RBIs.

A Toronto Mets alum, Hicks is in his second big league season.

Lopez also hot for Marlins

Like Hicks, fellow Canadian Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) has had an excellent start to the 2026 season with the Marlins.

Through 32 games, Lopez is tied for the National League lead with 43 hits. He leads the Marlins in hits and doubles (8) and is tied with Xavier Edwards for most runs (23) and highest batting average (.336). He also has five stolen bases, three home runs and 15 RBIs.

Lopez, who lived in Montreal for part of his youth and played for Canada at the last two World Baseball Classics, is in his second season as the Marlins’ everyday shortstop.

Brash placed on IL

The Seattle Mariners placed reliever Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) on the 15-day injured list on Friday with right lat inflammation.

The transaction is retroactive to Thursday, so he’ll be eligible to be activated on May 15.

The Canuck righty exited Wednesday’s contest against the Minnesota Twins after throwing just two pitches in the eighth inning.

Brash is 2-0 and has yet to allow an earned run in 14 appearances out of the M’s bullpen this season. Opponents are batting .091 off him.

The Mariners don’t believe Brash’s injury is serious but they are being cautious with the 27-year-old right-hander. Brash missed the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and he experienced some mild inflammation in his throwing arm during the past off-season.

A Kingston Thunder grad, Brash is in his fourth campaign with the Mariners.

Black performing well for Brewers

In six games since being called up by the Milwaukee Brewers, Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) has gone 9-for-21 (.429 batting average). He has four doubles and four multi-hit games.

Batting in the middle of the Brewers’ order and DHing, he also has two three-RBI games.

Prior to his call-up, Black was hitting .282 with a .378 on-base percentage in 10 games with the triple-A Nashville Sounds. He had two doubles, a home run and two stolen bases.

The Toronto Mets alum also spent the bulk of 2025 with the Sounds, where he had a .369 on-base percentage with four home runs and 22 stolen bases in 61 games. He also hit .250 with an RBI in five games with the big-league Brewers.

He made his MLB debut with the Brewers in 2024. In 18 games that season, he went 10-for-49 with two doubles, three stolen bases and seven walks.

Jenkins joined exclusive club 46 years ago

It was 46 years ago today that Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) won his 100th game as an American League pitcher when he hurled a complete game for the Texas Rangers in their 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Arlington Stadium.

With that, Jenkins became just the fifth major league pitcher to earn 100 wins in both the American and National Leagues, joining Al Orth, Gaylord Perry, Jim Bunning and Cy Young.

Five other pitchers have since joined that exclusive group: Dennis Martinez, Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez.

Thomson has highest winning percentage by Canadian manager

The Philadelphia Phillies fired manager Rob Thomson (Corunna, Ont.) on Tuesday. I wrote an article about it on the same day.

Shortly after Thomson’s firing, Canadian baseball statistician Neil Munro sent me the stats of all Canadian big league managers. His document indicated that Thomson’s 355-270 record as manager of the Phillies was good for a .568 winning percentage, which is the best among Canadian MLB skippers.

George Gibson, who was the dugout boss of the Pittsburgh Pirates (1920 to 1922, 1932 to 1934) and Chicago Cubs (1925), is second with a .545 career winning percentage.

Thomson’s 21 postseason wins are also, by far, the most among Canadian big league managers.

Happy Birthday Ryan Dempster!

Happy 49th Birthday to Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, B.C.)!

Selected in the third round of the 1995 MLB draft by the Texas Rangers, he was dealt to the Marlins on August 8, 1996. He proceeded to pitch parts of five seasons with the Marlins. In 2000, he posted a 14-10 record and a 3.66 ERA in 226 1/3 innings in 33 starts and was selected to the National League All-Star team and named the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award winner.

He collected 15 more wins the ensuing campaign before he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds. He’d spend parts of two seasons with the Reds prior to being signed by the Cubs in January 2004.

In his first four seasons at Wrigley, Dempster was employed as a reliever and from 2005 to 2007 he registered 33, 24 and 28 saves respectively. The Cubs converted him into a starter in 2008 and he rewarded them by delivering his best major league season, going 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA in 206 2/3 innings in 33 starts. For his efforts, he was named to his second National League All-Star team. He followed that up with three more campaigns in which he logged at least 200 innings for the Cubs before he was swapped back to the Rangers at the 2012 trade deadline.

He capped off his major league career by winning a World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox in 2013. Dempster finished his 16-year major league career near the top of most all-time Canadian pitching categories, including second in wins (132) and strikeouts (2,075). He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Clarke on IL

Athletics outfielder Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) has been on the 10-day injured list since April 22 with a deep bone bruise on his right foot.

According to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com on Tuesday, Clarke had been wearing a walking boot, but he was expected to start some running drills this week. There’s no set timeline for Clarke’s return.

Prior to the injury, Clarke was 9-for-53 (.170 batting average) with six RBIs in 22 games in his second MLB season with the Athletics.

In 47 contests with the A’s in 2025, the Toronto Mets alum batted .230 with three home runs, eight doubles and two triples.

Remembering Bill Slack

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Bill Slack would’ve turned 93 today.

During his parts of six decades in professional baseball as a player, coach and manager, Slack (Petrolia, Ont.) developed into one of the most respected and influential Canadians in the game.

Signed by the Red Sox as a left-handed pitcher in 1951, he’d toe the rubber for 10 minor league seasons before turning to coaching. Beginning as a manager in the Red Sox organization in 1961, Slack settled in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he would lead the Red Sox Class-A team for parts of 13 seasons. During that time, his teams captured four Carolina League titles.

Slack finished his career with more wins than any other manager in Carolina League history. He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Slack passed away on November 9, 2025.

Naylor heating up for Mariners

After a slow start to the season, Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) has had a productive couple of weeks for the Mariners. In his last 15 games, he is 18-for-58 (.310 batting average) with two home runs, nine RBIs and four stolen bases.

This hot stretch has boosted batting average from .127 to .215.

Happy Birthday Kellin Deglan!

Happy 34th Birthday to national team alum and longtime pro catcher Kellin Deglan (Langley, B.C.)!

Selected in the first round (22nd overall) by the Texas Rangers in the 2010 MLB draft, Deglan was the highest Canadian chosen that year.

He played 11 pro seasons in the Rangers, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays organizations. In total, he belted 84 home runs in 738 games in the affiliated minor league ranks.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound backstop played for the Junior National Team in 2009 and 2010 and then suited up for the senior squad on multiple occasions, including on the 2015 Pan Am Games gold medal-winning squad and on the 2023 World Baseball Classic team.

He also served as a bullpen coach for Canada at the 2026 WBC.

Julien rejuvenated with Rockies

After two down seasons with the Twins, Edouard Julien (Quebec City, Que.) seems rejuvenated with the Colorado Rockies.

In 28 games this season, he is batting. 289 and owns a .385 on-base percentage. He has two home runs, two stolen bases, 12 walks and 12 RBIs while playing regularly at second base for the Rockies.

Julien was acquired by the Rockies from the Twins on January 28.

Selected in the 18th round of the 2019 MLB draft by the Twins, Julien finished seventh in American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2023.

Anniversary of Cort’s first MLB start

Forty-nine years ago today, Toronto native Barry Cort made his first MLB start and tossed a complete game for the Brewers in their 6-2 win over the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium.

Cort scattered nine hits and struck out five in the contest.

It would be the only win and complete game of his MLB career.