Marlins draft pick Pompey ‘pumped’

Six years ago, Tristan Pompey tweeted that Marlins Park was a stadium on his must-see list.

He might be able to check that one off soon enough.

The 21-year-old outfielder from Mississauga was drafted by the Marlins Tuesday in the third round of the MLB draft. And while Pompey doesn’t remember what prompted that tweet from his 15-year-old self in the first place, it made him chuckle as he retweeted it hours after he was drafted.

“That was six years ago, I honestly have no clue why I wrote it,” Pompey said with a laugh in a phone interview with The Canadian Press.

“Someone had brought it up from my archives and I thought, ‘that’s funny.’ It’s funny to think about that now.”

Pompey was the second Canadian chosen in this year’s draft after 18-year-old catcher Noah Naylor, also from Mississauga, went in the first round (29th overall) to the Cleveland Indians Monday night. Nineteen Canadians were chosen over three days, including two Wednesday to the Blue Jays — right-handed pitcher Will McAffer of Vancouver in the 25th round and third baseman Damiano Palmegiani of Surrey, B.C., in the 35th. Pompey was home with his parents and older brother Dalton — a Toronto Blue Jays outfielder who tore a ligament in his thumb during a triple-A game earlier this week — when he got the Tuesday afternoon phone call from the Marlins.

“I wasn’t paying much attention, just waiting for the call, and then I got it and I was pumped,” Pompey said.

“I was just excited that they believed in me and wanted to pick me.”

As for having his brother there eight years after watching Dalton go to the Blue Jays in the 16th round, the younger Pompey said that was special, too.

“It was pretty unique because I was there when he got drafted and he was there when I got drafted so it’s a pretty cool experience,” he said.