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Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor isnahving a breakthrough year for the AL Central winners. The 27-year-old has continued his impressive form in October.
Naylor was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 2015 draft. However, he did not see any major league action for the Marlins and was traded to the San Diego Padres in 2016.
He was traded to the Guardians in 2020 following his MLB debut with the Padres in 2019. The Canadian slugger has rose to prominence in Cleveland in the last two years.
Naylor signed a one-year, $6,500,000 contract with rh Guardians in January to avoid arbitration. He is currently on a $14,200,000 base salary according to Spotrac.
Although he signed a one year deal, he has been coy about an extension as he is expected to hit free agency after next season with rumors of a potential trade in the coming offseason.
Amid the rumors around his future, Josh Naylor has blown hot and cold for the Guardians in the postseason. Coming off a career-high 31-homerun season with 108 RBI, Naylor has five RBI in nine postseason games and is yet to go deep in October.
He has been unable to replicate his regular season form, especially during the division series against the Detroit Tigers, where he went 4-20 with just one RBI in five games.
Josh Naylor's multi-hit game goes in vain in NLCS Game 5
The 27-year-old first baseman shown signs of life in an intense fifth game of the championship series against the New York Yankees on Friday. He went 2-5 on the night and led the fightback for the Guardians at Progressive Field.
His RBI single in the third inning cut the Yankees' lead to one run. With the hosts 6-2 down after the sixth inning, Jose Ramirez brought in a run with a double in the seventh. Josh Naylor followed up with a two-run double to make it 6-5 and last game's walk-off hero David Fry tied the game an inning later.
Hiowever, the Yankees fought back in the ninth against Emmanuel Clase to retake the lead and held onto a 8-6 win to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
