Daniel Pinero Looks Forward To Making An Impact For Canada

SEE ALSO: World Baseball Classic Schedule

Daniel Pinero is looking to make a difference.

As a part of Baseball Canada’s roster for the first time at the World Baseball Classic he is of course hoping to make an impact as he represents his country. But beyond the event, the 22-year-old is hoping to defy the odds as a shortstop hailing from north of the border.

Historically, breeding shortstops hasn’t exactly been Canada’s forte.

In the live ball era, just four Canadians have made starts at the position in the major leagues—Kevin Nicholson, Dave McKay, Pete Orr and Danny Klassen—combining for 50 starts over 38 years among them.

Without any real explanation why his home and native land hasn’t found success at his position, Pinero points to a lack of opportunity, knowing that he’s been fortunate to stay at the position from his days with the Ontario Blue Jays and the Canadian Junior National Team, to his time at Virginia—where he won the College World Series in 2015—to his first season of pro baseball with the Tigers last year.

“There’s no real reason,” Pinero said. “Canada obviously has a lot of talent when it comes to baseball. But it is definitely hard to go to the States and get a scholarship, or play for a big team coming from Canada, because you don’t get as much exposure to those teams up there. When it comes to shortstops, teams are kind of taking a knee for a whole batch of them from our country.”

At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, Pinero isn’t the archetypal size of a shortstop, and he’s been told by many people on numerous occasions that he will eventually need to move, but the Toronto native is confident in his abilities and encouraged by the fact that he hasn’t had to move yet.

“I’ve played that position all my life,” Pinero said. “Continuing to stay flexible, taking ground balls—a lot of ground balls—and doing the things that a shortstop needs to do has allowed me to stay there. I know I’m definitely not the prototypical height and weight for a shortstop but I’m still there so I must be doing something right.”

Selected in the ninth round of last year’s draft by the Tigers, Pinero’s pro career began in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, where he hit .333/.448/.667 with his first two professional home runs. From there, he moved up to Connecticut in the short-season New York-Penn League and batted .261/.371/.317 with 16 RBIs in 43 games.

His pro performance, along with his time with the Cavaliers and his history with Canada’s junior team, were enough for Pinero to earn his shot with the senior squad when it encountered shortstop troubles.

“Greg (Hamilton, Baseball Canada’s director of national teams) called me about (a couple weeks ago) and he told me about the opportunity to play on the WBC team and I was pretty ecstatic about that,” Pinero said. “It’s just an honor to play for Team Canada and to wear that jersey again. It’s been a few years since I’ve put that jersey back on, but it’s always a good feeling.”

After Canada’s Pan Am Games and Premier 12 starting shortstop Sean Jamieson had offseason surgery on his shoulder and was out of the equation, there was talk of Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin playing shortstop for the national team with fellow Quebec native Jonathan Malo as his backup. When Martin was ruled ineligible to be insured for the tournament, the young Tigers farmhand got the call.

“I wasn’t following (what was happening with the team),” Pinero said. “I did hear that Russ wanted to play shortstop and that’s different, but it’s pretty cool that he wanted to do that. But I wasn’t really in the loop of it until Greg called me. I was pretty shocked because I thought the team was already set. I really wasn’t paying attention to it that much. But then Greg called me and I thought wow, OK this is cool . . . it’s just an honor to be a part of the team.”

With fond memories of his team with the junior squad, Pinero is most looking forward to the level of play and passion that international baseball brings, and spending time with a team made up of his fellow countrymen.

“Our pool is pretty tough—we’re going to be playing against guys like Jose Reyes and Robinson Cano and all those guys,” he said. “The level of competition is always good when we play different countries, and they’re all trying to win so it’s definitely exciting.

“And I haven’t been around a group of Canadian baseball players since the last time I put on the Canada uniform. It’s going to be nice to have that again. We can relate to so many things up in Canada. I’m living in (Charlotte, N.C.) right now and it’s a little different, so I’m looking forward to the Canadian things and the way we get along and all that stuff.”

Looking forward to meeting former American League MVP Justin Morneau, and excited to once again play on the same team as Padres prospect Josh Naylor, Pinero couldn’t be more eager to join the squad and wear the red and white another time.

“The most exciting thing is just putting that uniform back on and knowing that I’m representing my country, and I’m with other players who are representing our country, and playing against the best competition in the world,” Pinero said. “It doesn’t get any better than that. And in Miami, San Diego, LA, they’re great places to play at, and just having this opportunity to play with these amazing players is going to be a lot of fun.”