Vladimir Guerrero Jr. up for prestigious award from Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

Every year, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame hands out the Tip O'Neill Award, which essentially goes to the game's best player from Canada. The official description for the award is that it goes to the player who "is judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to the highest ideals of the game of baseball."

This year, the class of players up for the award is just about as stacked as it's ever been. The Toronto Blue Jays have a few players of their own featured, and it's not going to be a shock as to who the top candidate to win the award is.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. just finished putting together one of the best seasons of his career. The Montreal native recorded a career-high 44 doubles while hitting 30 home runs and driving in over 100 runs for the second time in his six-year career. He also hit .323 with a .940 OPS and 166 OPS+ that comes just short of his MVP-worthy showing in 2021.

Guerrero, the 2021 winner of the Tip O'Neill Award, was easily the best player on the Blue Jays this past season and should be viewed as a legitimate threat to take home the trophy this time around. His second-half showing alone should be enough to catapult him up the list.

Other highlights in the field include Josh Naylor, Cade Smith and Tyler O'Neill. Both Jordan Romano, who the Blue Jays recently non-tendered, and Zach Pop, who the Blue Jays elected to keep around, also made the cut.

Naylor, 27, won the award last year and had an outstanding offensive season in 2024. The Mississauga native set career-highs in home runs (31), RBI (108) and runs scored (84) while making the first All-Star Game of his career in the process.

Smith, 25, is a native of Abbotsford and just finished putting together one of the best rookie showings we've seen in quite some time from a reliever. The right-hander posted a miniscule 1.91 ERA and 1.40 FIP while striking out 103 batters across just 75.1 innings. This earned him a fifth-place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year race and a ninth-place finish in the AL Cy Young voting.

Then there's O'Neill, a native of Burnaby who is now a free agent. The 29-year-old hit 31 home runs for the Red Sox in just 113 games this past season and proved once again that he's a serious power threat when he's healthy.

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame will select this year's winner on December 5.

Here's the rest of the field from Major League Baseball:

• Tyler Black, INF, Brewers
• Owen Caissie, OF, Cubs
• Edouard Julien, INF, Twins
• Charles Leblanc, INF, Braves
• Bo Naylor, C, Guardians
• James Paxton, LHP, Retired (2018 Tip O'Neill winner)
• Nick Pivetta, RHP, Free Agent
• Zach Pop, RHP, Blue Jays
• Cal Quantrill, RHP, Free Agent
• Jordan Romano, RHP, Free Agent (2022 Tip O'Neill winner)
• Erik Sabrowski, RHP, Guardians
• Michael Soroka, RHP, Free Agent (2019 Tip O'Neill winner)
• Jonah Tong, RHP, Mets
• Abraham Toro, INF, Free Agent
• Matt Wilkinson, LHP, Guardians
• Jared Young, INF, Doosan Bears in the KBO
• Rob Zastryzny, LHP, Cubs