Josh Naylor

Ever since I was a little kid, this has been like a goal for all three of us as brothers, and then my parents, my aunt, my grandma,

like the support is just, it was incredible from the beginning of our time playing baseball to now, and it continues to be great, and they just want us to succeed as much as we can in whatever we decide to do, and I got to give them all the thanks, them and God, because without them, again, I'm nothing, and I would not be in this seat right now.

I mean, brought back a lot of memories as a kid.

My dad coached us when we were younger, so brought back those memories of playing on a field in our hometown and, you know, trying to win a ballgame with your little 10-year-old friends around the corner and...

Then it brought back some memories of playing amateur baseball with the Ontario Blue Jays, who I was fortunate to play with and the national team.

I got to travel around the world with them before, you know, I entered Pro Bowl.

So just a lot of nostalgia, kind of a lot of those little young memories.

And to get me to this point today, I always tell

players or even like little kids I work with in the off season sometimes like play for the kid inside you you know play for that little 10 12 11 year old whoever like however old you want to set that number at but play for that kid and always remind that kid that you know it's just a game and you're here to have fun you're here to play hard and here to compete but it's just a game it's that little kid's game at the end of the day so I always try to

talk to like my inner kid in me and remind myself that it is just a game and I'm here to have fun, work hard, be a great teammate.

God willing, win the game at the end of the day, knowing sometimes you're going to lose.

But it's all about that little kid inside you.

So signing that contract really brought me back to those days where my dad coached me, where me and my brothers would train at a facility together and then playing with some friends I had back in the day who are still my friends now.

And it's just, yeah, brought back a lot of cool memories.

I mean...

I really enjoyed every single moment I was here from the players to the head office, to the coaching staff, to the rest of the, you know, the staff, the kitchen crew, the clubhouse managers.

And it was just everything was so awesome.

I had such a blast being a part of everything, getting to know players on and off the field and just competing with them.

Obviously, we fell a little bit short, but, you know, I can't wait to run it back with them because they deserve this.

The city deserves it.