Matt Johnson
Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor has become a fan favorite since he landed with the club ahead of the MLB trade deadline last summer. Based on his recent incident with Cleveland Guardians catcher Austin Hedges and comments from a former teammate, that sentiment is not shared by his peers around baseball.
During Sunday’s Mariners vs Guardians game, Naylor seemed to stick his elbow out on a pitch slightly inside by reliever Tim Herrin to draw the hit by pitch. Hedges, Naylor’s former teammate in Cleveland (2024) and with the San Diego Padres (2019-2020), got into it with Seattle’s first baseman. After a brief back-and-forth, Hedges blurted out “No one likes you”.
“No one likes you. Literally nobody likes you.”
Cleveland Guardians C Austin Hedges on Sunday to Seattle Mariners 1B Josh Naylor
Naylor already had a bit of a reputation around the league for having the kind of personality that opponents and fans of other teams hate. However, Hedges seemed to shed light on the fact that his former teammate isn’t even well-liked by those he shares a clubhouse with.
Soon after, former MLB player Stone Garrett weighed in on Instagram with his own experience with Naylor. In a comment on Instagram, later shared on Reddit, Garrett shared how he was once minor league roommates and next-door neighbors with Naylor, and he detailed a knife prank that resulted in a serious hand injury.
“Josh Naylor liked to play stupid games. Dude would come into our apartment (we were neighbors) with aerosol and lighters multiple times, that wasn’t his first time in our apartment with a butchers knife, the guy hid in my closet waiting for me to get home, when I went to hang my shirt up he jumped out with a knife pointed at me. It caught my thumb, sliced it wide open, I went to the ER (he waits for me when I get back, first question is “are you gonna press charges?”) next day coach holds team meeting saying front office wants to keep it hush hush Imao!!! I get surgery (he cut my nerve, still can’t feel my right thumb), he got suspended for one game lol, two weeks later he goes to the futures game and gets traded. He is the most psychotic person I’ve ever met in my life.”
Former MLB player Stone Garrett on his experiences with Josh Naylor in the minor leagues
The alleged incident of Naylor injuring Garrett with a knife doesn’t seem to be made up. On June 5, 2016, Daren Smith of MiLB.com published a story about the Class-A Greensboro Grasshoppers suspending Naylor for a game for injuring Garrett in a prank. At the time, Miami Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill told the Sun-Sentinel that Naylor did a prank that “went a little too far” and required an IL stint for Garrett.
The laceration to Garrett’s thumb required three stitches, and he needed to see a hand specialist. In the team’s announcement, Hill told the Sun-Sentinel that Naylor was “torn up about it” and it was simply a joke with “a good friend” that went too far.
Evidently it wasn’t Garrett’s only negative experience with Naylor, and, at the time, the organization seemed to be quite protective of one of its top prospects. While it’s certainly possible that Naylor has matured exactly a decade later, his on-field antics and the way his peers around the league seem to view him would suggest that not much has changed.
