The new Jays
Canadian Dalton Pompey and Floridian Devon Travis have much to celebrate as they make it to the bigs
At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dalton Pompey was sitting in an empty locker, resting his butt on the bottom shelf as he talked quietly with Devon Travis at the adjacent cubicle. It was crunch time. Each was waiting for a summons to the manager’s office.
Pompey, the Canadian, and Travis, the Floridian, had formed a fast friendship when they met in June 2013 as teammates at the Midwest League All-Star Game in Dayton, Ohio.
“I just liked him a lot,” Travis recalled. “I thought he was going to be a really good player. He was really young then. I kept in touch with him ever since. Whenever he’d struggle or something was going on, I’d always shoot him a text and say, ‘Hey, keep going. You’re gonna be all right.’ ”
Over the past few weeks, Pompey returned the favour. Both are still really young – Pompey is 22, Travis 24 – but in relative terms, Pompey is the major-league veteran. The native of Mississauga, Ont., has played in all of 17 games with the Toronto Blue Jays. Travis has never played a game above Double-A.
In that context, it figured that Travis was the one who was sick to his stomach at 5 a.m., which is the time his nervous metabolism and anxious mind had awakened him for the past week as cutdown day approached.
Pompey often uses “self-talk” to calm his own anxieties, and on Monday night, he was at it again.
“I was just telling myself just to relax,” he said. “This stuff is out of my control. I did everything that I could to prove to the team that I belong here. Whatever decision they made, I have to honour it and then just go do my thing. I think that helped me rest a little bit easier. But I know it wasn’t the same for Devon.”
Shortly after their sotto voce chat, it was the same for both of them. Congratulations, said Alex Anthopoulos and John Gibbons. You’ve made the team.
“This is the best day of my life,” said Travis, his eyes moist. “It’s pretty incredible.”
In exhibition games this spring, Pompey is batting .333 (18-for-54) and Travis .351 (20-for-57). Their selection as the Jays’ starting centrefielder and second baseman came as no surprise, although each refused to make assumptions.
Travis entered camp without a guaranteed roster spot. The centrefield job was Pompey’s to lose.
“I felt like I did what I needed to do to show them that I was ready,” said Pompey, who shot through three minor-league levels last season and started the Jays’ final 10 games in centre field. “But at the end of the day, it’s about them telling me and me being able to hear that. I think that went a long way for me. It’s kind of like a deep breath. I can kind of relax a little bit, move forward and get ready for the season, and know that I’m going to be there.”
Where Pompey, seasoned veteran that he is, seemed almost placid about it all, Travis was overwhelmed. An affable, unpretentious young man with a quick smile, he left the manager’s office in a state of giddy relief.
“All my feelings beforehand all just left me,” he said. “It was really the greatest news I could ever hear.”
Travis is the rare baseball player who uses “shucks” in an interview. As in, when he was asked whether he would have a lower number on opening day after wearing 77 all spring.
“I hope I don’t have to be a left tackle any more, but … I don’t know what number,” he said. “I haven’t got that far yet. Shucks, whatever number they want to give me, I’m good with it.”
On Nov. 13, the Jays announced they had acquired Travis in a trade for Anthony Gose. Shortly thereafter, Pompey called Travis from a bus in Arizona. Pompey and his teammates were on their way back from a fall league game.
“He’s a great kid,” Travis said. “As soon as I got traded, he was one of my first phone calls welcoming me to the team. Told me how excited he was.”
Told him too that they should share accommodation in spring training and promised to introduce Travis around and help him adjust to his new environs.
“It’s always helpful when you have somebody who’s been around this environment, knows all the people,” Travis said. “Definitely helped me a lot.”
Travis often refers to Pompey as a kid, but also as a guidance counselor of sorts. To a couple of youngsters in their first major-league camp, having just made their first majorleague roster, these things are relative.
Each has much to prove in the big leagues — everything, in fact. But Pompey says he feels grounded as he starts the season because he got his feet wet last September on the big stage in his hometown.
“I think it helped tremendously,” he said. “I’m really grateful for that opportunity, not only to get called up, but to play last year. I’m obviously going to be nervous for opening day and to get the season going. But there’s no stress. I know what to expect. “
When Travis was asked about playing his first big-league game in Yankee Stadium next Monday afternoon, it was clear he had not even thought about it.
“Shucks,” he said, “I don’t know. My brain’s been spinning ever since I was told.”
He stopped for a moment to laugh at himself.
“I don’t know if I really completely grasp the fact that I have the opportunity to play in New York City on opening day. What a dream come true. I don’t know if you could script it any better.”
Travis settled himself sufficiently to contribute a single and sacrifice bunt in Tuesday’s 10-6 win over the Phillies. Pompey hit a single. On Tuesday night, they planned to go out to dinner with Travis’s dad.
“It’ll be a good night to celebrate,” Pompey said.
I did everything that I could to prove to the team that I belong here