Jays’ Pompey eyeing 2017 breakthrough
•A couple of days ago, Blue Jays outfielder Dalton Pompey was walking around Florida Auto Exchange Stadium when a couple of kids stopped him for an autograph.
“They said, ‘ Mr. Bautista, could you sign our ball?’ ” Pompey said with a laugh. “And I’m like, ‘ I’m not Jose, look at my number.’”
Pompey, one of two Canadians on the Jays’ 40- man roster ( along with Russell Martin), grew a beard in the off- season and admits that, when it’s shorter like Bautista’s, there is some resemblance. Pompey said Bautista gave him the gears when he heard about his encounter with the kids.
“He was like, ‘ Man, stop trying to steal my style,’ ” Pompey said, laughing.
Pompey wouldn’t mind if his numbers get mistaken for Bautista’s in the future. Drafted by the Jays in 2010, t he Mississauga native said it’s getting to the point where he wants to take that final step forward and establish himself as an everyday outfielder with the Jays.
“I just want to see him have a good spring,” said manager John Gibbons. “We think he’s part of the future, left field or whatever, in this organization. He got there quick two years ago and he made the team the following year. Then he struggled and it’s been a battle for him. But, really, he’s going through what most young guys do.”
There are few players in the Jays’ system with the raw ability and athleticism that Pompey possesses, but establishing himself as an every day big leaguer has been a struggle. Last year he played 93 games in Triple-A Buffalo and only eight with the Jays after playing 34 with the big team in 2015. He was the opening day centre- fielder two years ago. In the off- season the Jays picked up yet another outfielder in Steve Pearce, so it’s not getting any easier to crack the lineup.
“We gave him an opportunity so quickly and he had a tough time with it,” said Gibbons. “( But) we think he’s going to have a great career. He just needs to go out there and play and not worry about anything else. Because he’s got a ton of talent. He’s really got everything he needs to be really, really good.”
Gibbons believes t hat playing for the hometown team amps up the pressure for Pompey, who calls playing at home both a blessing and a curse.
“I mean I love it, I grew up watching the team. I went to games as a kid, never thinking I would be there, and now I get to play for my hometown team,” said the 24-year-old.
“I remember my first year I was driving back and forth from Milton where my parents lived thinking, ‘ This is just crazy’. Everybody looks up to me because I’m from there, and they can definitely relate to me. And I never take that for granted.
“But it also a curse because sometimes I feel like I can never get away from all that,” Pompey continued. “Everybody’s always watching whatever I do, whether it’s good, bad, it doesn’t mat- ter. There’s always friends and families there. Sometimes it’s a distraction I wish I didn’t have. But I’ve kind of got used to it. This will be my fourth year with the (big) team, so it’s just something you become accustomed to and I’ve learned to deal with.”
Pompey, who hit .270 with a .349 OBP, four home runs and 18 stolen bases in Buffalo last year, said it depends on the day whether being the hometown guy is good or bad.
“One day I could be like, ‘ Man, this is amazing and I’m getting so much love from people’. And other days it’s, ‘ Man, I wish I played for another team because there’s just so much attention brought to myself.’
“But I feel like I’m ready ( to step up),” he continued. “I’m going to be ready and that’s what I’ ve been preparing myself for, preparing myself for that moment and just take a hold of it. All I can control is getting myself ready, sticking to my routine, sticking to the stuff that makes me successful and just going out there and competing and that’s what I plan on doing.”
Pompey is hoping that playing for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic will give his season a jump start. Canada opens t he tournament on March 9 in Miami against the Dominican Republic.
“The experience is going to be great for me,” said Pompey. “I competed for Team Canada when I was a junior. I remember going to the WBC in ’ 09 and thinking, ‘ Man, this is something I want to play in some day.’ And now I get the opportunity to do that. To get that energy early ( in the season) I definitely think is going to be a key for me throughout the whole year.”