DUNEDIN, FLA.—Dalton Pompey understands how important this spring is for his major-league future.
Four years ago, Michael Saunders was a 26-year-old Canadian outfielder with one respectable big-league season on his resume. Then he hit .727 at the World Baseball Classic, with a 2.042 on base-plus-slugging percentage, forcing teams across baseball to take notice. That eventually led to a trade to Toronto, and an all-star appearance last year.
Pompey, now 24, will be Canada’s starting centre fielder in Miami next month and has his own chance to shine. He might need to.
“A hundred per cent,” Pompey agreed. “Just the competition that we’re playing against — Colombia, Dominican (Republic) and the U.S.A. They’re going to have all their best players playing. I think it’s kind of a confidence boost for me to go out there and compete with those guys and realize I’m on the same field as them.
“I can do all the same things as them and I can do it just as well as them. I think it’s going to be good not only for myself (and) Baseball Canada but also the Blue Jays, because I feel like I can really contribute this year.”
Pompey has fallen into a rut within the Jays organization and if he does not stand out this spring training — if ends up back in Buffalo again — that may become his unacceptable lot in life: a Triple-A centre fielder and major-league pinch-runner down the stretch and in the post-season.
“It is tough,” the Mississauga native admitted. “I view myself as more than just a pinch-runner. Obviously, any opportunity I get I’m going to try and make the most of it. Even if I am pinch-running, I just try to excel at it. But I feel like I have a lot more to offer.
“I’m wearing the Blue Jays stuff right now, but there’s also 29 other teams, so (I will) just focus on what I need to do and I have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to be there and I’m going to be a major-league player — just for who and when. I hope it’s going to be Toronto, though.”
Pompey is not the same skinny kid drafted by the Jays in the 16th round in 2010. The six-foot-two outfielder reported to camp this year weighing 210 pounds, up 40 pounds from when he originally signed. He already had one big chance with the Jays, opening the 2015 season as their centre fielder, but the spotlight shone too brightly and he was optioned to the minors on May 1. That failure is how the Jays organization seems to define him, but he knows he has changed.
“Last year was tough for me, just overall, mentally, with what was going on emotionally,” Pompey said. “Sometimes I would take a step back and I just thought, ‘OK, off the field, what can I change? What can I change about the perception that people have of me?’
“I think that’s really big in this game, more so than sometimes what you do on the field. If you put in the work off the field and you prepare yourself every day, nobody can really say anything to you, and you feel good going into games. That’s all they want. They just want guys that are ready.”
There doesn’t seem to be anybody in charge, in the Jays’ front office or coaching staff, that is pushing for Pompey to succeed, but teammate Devon Travis sat him down before camp started this year and gave him a much-needed kick in the butt.
“He’s just so talented, man,” Travis said. “Sometimes guys are so talented they kind of need a little pep talk sometimes. I’m always getting it from these (veteran) guys. They’re always on my back, so I figured I’ve known Dalton a long time and how good he could be, so, yeah, I just wanted to give him a little fire under his butt because he can really help this team win.”
Pompey doesn’t know if anyone in charge has noticed his changes, but he has taken it upon himself to alter some of his habits for the better.
“When I was younger I would just go out there and play,” Pompey said. “I’d shag a little bit, do my (batting practice), but there was no real purpose to it. I would just go and I would just play and that got me pretty far, until I got to the big leagues and Triple-A.
“It’s more so about preparing yourself, whether it’s watching video, whether it’s knowing who you’re facing, what they’ve done in the past, your routine, getting yourself ready to play the game. I feel like sometimes we overlook that stuff and I think it’s super-important to go back, kind of, to the basics.”
It has been two years since Pompey was the opening-day centre fielder, with Kevin Pillar over in left field. And while spring training statistics rarely can break preconceived notions that organizations have about a young player trying to bounce back, the World Baseball Classic can do that. Pompey needs to take advantage.
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
