Junior National Team alum and former Seattle Mariners left-hander James Paxton (Ladner, B.C.) will become the 14th inductee onto Baseball Canada’s Wall of Excellence on January 10.

November 30, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes:

Paxton to be inducted onto Baseball Canada’s Wall of Excellence

Junior National Team alum and longtime big league pitcher James Paxton (Ladner, B.C.) will be inducted onto Baseball Canada’s Wall of Excellence at the National Teams Awards Banquet at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel inside Rogers Centre on January 10.

The 6-foot-4 lefty, who retired after the 2024 season, will become Baseball Canada’s 14th inductee and the third left-handed pitcher, joining Jeff Francis (North Delta, B.C.) and Adam Loewen (Surrey, B.C.).

Born in Ladner, B.C., Paxton competed for the Junior National Team at the 2006 World Junior Baseball Championship in Cuba before moving on to the University of Kentucky.

After being selected in the fourth round by the Seattle Mariners in 2010, Paxton spent the first six seasons of his MLB career with the M’s. Two of his most memorable starts came within six days of each other in May 2018. On May 2, 2018, he threw seven scoreless innings and fanned 16 Oakland A’s batters to set a record for most strikeouts in a major league game by a Canadian pitcher.

For an encore, six days later, he became the second Canadian to throw a big-league no-hitter – and the first to do so on Canadian soil – when he accomplished the feat in a 5-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

During his 11-season big league career, Paxton also pitched for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, finishing with a 73-41 record and a 3.77 ERA in 177 starts.

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame to announce award winners

It’s awards week for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. On Wednesday, the ball shrine will announce its 2025 Jack Graney Award winner. This award is handed out annually to “a representative of the media who has made a significant contribution to the game of baseball in Canada through their life’s work, or for a singular outstanding achievement.” Born in St. Thomas, Ont., Graney was a scrappy leadoff hitter in the big leagues for Cleveland. His major league resume boasts a number of firsts. When he walked to the plate in a game against the Red Sox on July 11, 1914, he became the first batter to face Babe Ruth. Almost two years later, on June 26, 1916, he was the first major leaguer to bat wearing a number on his uniform. After hanging up his spikes, Graney became the first ex-player to make the transition to the broadcast booth, performing radio play-by-play for Cleveland from 1932 to 1953. You can read a full list of the past Graney Award winners here.

Tip O’Neill Award

On Thursday, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame will unveil the winner of its 2025 Tip O’Neill Award, which is handed out annually “to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.” There were several excellent candidates this year. Woodstock, Ont., native James “Tip” O’Neill was one of Major League Baseball’s first legitimate stars. With the American Association’s St. Louis Browns in 1887, O’Neill set big league records in hits, doubles, slugging percentage and total bases, while compiling a major league record .492 batting average. Walks were counted as hits in 1887, but if O’Neill’s average was calculated by today’s standards, it would be .435. Here’s a list of past Tip O’Neill Award winners.

Clapp, Pogue to return to St. Louis Cardinals staff in 2026

Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.) and Jamie Pogue (Guelph, Ont.) will return to the St. Louis Cardinals’ big league coaching staff in 2026.

Clapp is entering his eighth season as the Cardinals’ first base coach. Over the years, Clapp has appeared in a Canadian national team uniform more than a dozen times, which has earned him the nickname “Captain Canada.” He is the only person to have been in the dugout for all three of Canada’s international gold medals. He played for the junior team that won the World Youth Baseball Championship in Brandon, Man., in 1991 and was a coach on Canada’s gold medal-winning squads at the 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games.

Clapp also enjoyed a successful professional playing career in the Cardinals’ organization that included 23 games with the big league club in 2001. After he hung up his playing spikes, Clapp entered the pro coaching ranks and worked his way up to his current position.

Pogue will again join Clapp on the Cards’ staff as assistant coach/bullpen coach. It will be Pogue’s 15th season with the club. Like Clapp, Pogue played for the national team and in the Cardinals’ minor league system. He also suited up for six seasons in the independent pro ranks.

He began his coaching career as a bullpen catcher for Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic then coached for the Ontario Blue Jays before joining the Cardinals as a bullpen catcher in 2012.

Shawn Bowman (New Westminster, B.C.) compiled a .587 winning percentage in 109 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ triple-A Indianapolis Indians after taking over as manager last season. Photo: Indianapolis Indians

Next Canadian big league manager?

Who do you think will be the next Canadian big league manager?

While Clapp certainly deserves an opportunity, the answer just might be Shawn Bowman (New Westminster, B.C.) who guided the Pittsburgh Pirates’ triple-A Indianapolis Indians to a 64-45 record (.587 winning percentage) after taking over as the club’s bench boss in mid-May.

Bowman had been serving as the Pirates’ minor league field coordinator and assistant director of coaching when he got the skipper’s job in Indianapolis.

The 40-year-old Bowman just completed his seventh year in the Pirates’ organization. In 2019, he was named the Dominican Summer League Manager of the Year after leading the DSL Pirates 2 to a 56-16 record, which was the best in the circuit.

Prior to joining the Pirates, Bowman helped coach the Junior National team (2013 to 2017) and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (2015 to 2017).

He was selected by Mets in the 12th round of the 2002 MLB draft and spent 10 seasons as an infielder in the affiliated minor league ranks. He also played for the Canadian national team from 2009 to 2012 and was a part of the team that captured gold at the 2011 Pan Am Games.

Happy 44th Birthday to Rich Harden!

Former big league pitcher Rich Harden was born in Victoria, B.C. on this date in 1981.

After being selected in the 17th round of the 2000 MLB draft by the Oakland A’s, Harden began his professional career close to home with the Class-A Short-Season Vancouver Canadians, posting a 3.39 ERA in 18 games in 2001.

Following parts of two more seasons in the minors, he’d make his major league debut on July 21, 2003. From there, Harden became a mainstay in the A’s rotation for the next two seasons. After setting career-highs with 31 starts and 189 2/3 innings in 2004, he went 10-5 with a 2.53 ERA and struck out 121 batters in 128 innings in 2005.

He then endured two injury shortened campaigns prior to putting up ace-like numbers with the A’s in 2008, going 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts. On July 8 that year, he was dealt to the Chicago Cubs where he continued his dominance, going 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 12 starts down the stretch. Harden returned to the Cubs in 2009 prior to finishing his major league career with single seasons with the Texas Rangers (2010) and the A’s (2011).

In all, in parts of nine major league campaigns, Harden had a 59-38 record and a 3.76 ERA in 170 appearances. For his efforts, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023.

Blue Jays’ new right-hander Cease a strikeout machine

As you have heard, the Blue Jays are in agreement on a seven-year, $210-million contract with veteran right-hander Dylan Cease.

One of the most prized free agents available, Cease is the only major league pitcher to have made at least 30 starts and struck out 200 or more batters in the past five seasons. The durable right-hander has not finished lower than third in the league in strikeouts per nine innings (K/9) in any of the last five campaigns, including topping the American League in 2021 (12.3 K/9) and the National League in 2025 (11.5 K/9).

The Milton, Ga., native is coming off a season with the San Diego Padres in which he went 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA and a 3.56 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) in 32 starts. He fanned 215 batters in 168 innings. That represented his second season with the Padres after he was traded to them by the Chicago White Sox on March 13, 2024.

Just Baseball shared this graphic on X on Wednesday illustrating that Cease has more strikeouts than any other major league pitcher this decade. You will also recognize the pitcher who is second (second graphic below).

Ex-Jay Towers to join Kelowna Falcons as pitching coach

Former Blue Jays pitcher Josh Towers has been hired as the new pitching coach of the West Coast League’s Kelowna Falcons.

The West Coast League is a summer collegiate circuit.

Ex-Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun was named manager of the Falcons in October.

Towers pitched five of his eight big league seasons with the Blue Jays from 2003 to 2007. His best season was in 2005 when he had 13 wins and a 3.71 ERA in 33 starts in a team-leading 208 2/3 innings. He also toed the rubber for the Baltimore Orioles and Yankees.

Bodig examines Delgado’s National Baseball Hall of Fame case

Carlos Delgado is on the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era ballot for the first time. The Blue Jays legend is a finalist alongside Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela. There are 16 members on the Contemporary Era committee who will vote on December 7. Delgado will have to be named on 12 of the 16 ballots to be elected.

Chris Bodig, who does an excellent job with his Cooperstown Cred blog, recently provided a detailed analysis of Delgado’s Hall of Fame chances that you can read here.

Here’s some compelling evidence from Bodig that Delgado is worthy of a plaque in Cooperstown:

-Delgado’s 473 home runs are the 34th most in MLB history. “Of the 33 players with more home runs than Delgado, all but nine are in the Hall of Fame,” writes Bodig. “Two of those nine are not yet eligible (Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera) but are locks as future first-ballot inductees. The other seven (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, and Sheffield) are connected to PEDs.”

-Delgado finished with a .929 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). “Let’s go beyond home runs and RBI. Carlos Delgado also hit a lot of doubles and drew a lot of walks, giving him a high career on-base percentage (.383) and slugging percentage (.546). If you combine the two metrics, Delgado’s career OPS is .929,” writes Bodig. “For the 295 players in baseball history with at least 8,000 career plate appearances, his .929 OPS puts him in 24th place all-time. He’s behind 20 Hall of Famers, plus Bonds, A-Rod, and Manny, who would be inner circle Hall of Famers if not for their PED links. Delgado’s .929 OPS is ahead of luminaries such as Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Ken Griffey Jr., and many others.”

Yes, Bodig also offers evidence that Delgado should not be in the Hall of Fame, but I’m admittedly biased. I want to see Delgado honoured. You can read Bodig’s full analysis here.

Support the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Holiday Silent Auction

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s annual Holiday Silent Auction has started.

You can bid on items ranging from signed balls to bobbleheads to a Toronto Maple Leafs ticket package.

You can view the auction items here.

BWDIK: Bowman, Clapp, Delgado, Harden, Paxton, Towers