Canadian Born MLB Players: Who Are The Best Canadians Ahead of 2025 MLB Season?

With a single MLB franchise located north of the border, it’s fair to assume that the Great White North is in a bit of a diamond slumber. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, with several MVP-caliber players hailing from the country in The Show today.

Four-time All-Star infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill, Cleveland Guardians pitcher Cade Smith and fellow hurler Nick Pivetta of the San Diego Padres show that Canada has its fair share of MLB stars on the fields of the 30-team league.

With that in mind, BetCanada.com, as part of our Canada sports betting coverage, broke down which Canadian-born MLB players are the best at their respective trades, with “Vladito” and O’Neill looking like the closest thing to a sure thing in 2025.

Best Canadian Born MLB Players (Active)

Rank	Player	Current Team	Birthplace	2024 WAR
1	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Toronto Blue Jays	Montreal, QC	6.2
2	Tyler O’Neill	Baltimore Orioles	Maple Ridge, BC	2.6
3	Cade Smith	Cleveland Guardians	Abbotsford, BC	2.4
4	Nick Pivetta	San Diego Padres	Victoria, BC	1.8
5	Cal Quantrill	Miami Marlins	Port Hope, ONT	1.6
6	Josh Naylor	Arizona Diamondbacks	Mississauga, ONT	1.5
7	Bo Naylor	Cleveland Guardians	Mississauga, ONT	0.7
T8	Michael Soroka	Washington Nationals	Calgary, AB	0.6
T8	Abraham Toro	Boston Red Sox	Longueuil, QC	0.6
T8	Erik Dabrowski	Cleveland Guardians	Edmonton, AB	0.6

Which Canadian-Born MLB Player Is ‘Best’?

Of the 10 Canadian-born players that posted the highest year-end WAR totals in 2024, “Vladito” had the best season in 2024. Guerrero posted a 6.2 WAR total in 159 games with the Toronto Blue Jays. That WAR total was his second-highest to date, behind the 6.7 figure he put up in 2021, when he was the MVP runner-up in the American League.

Guerrero also has the highest career WAR total (21.5) of any Canadian-born player on the scene today, with Vladito ranking 14th all time among players born in Canada. He’s between No. 13 George Selkirk (23.5 WAR) and No. 15 Pete Ward (20.3).

Pitcher James Paxton is the next closest active player from Canada in career WAR at 13.7, followed by O’Neill (12.6) and Pivetta (9.8) in line. That tracks with the 2024 WAR leaders from Canada, as O’Neill’s total of 2.6 ranked second overall while Pivetta’s 1.8 WAR figure was fourth overall behind Cade Smith of the Cleveland Guardians, who had a 2.4 WAR season in 2024.

Given that Smith’s 2.4 WAR figure came in his rookie season, there’s a decent chance that the 25-year-old from Abbotsford climbs the Canadian all-time list in the years to come, though the second-year pitcher currently is already 64th on the Canadian all-time WAR list, per Baseball-Reference.com.

After Pivetta, the other Canadian-born baseball stars that had the best 2024 seasons according to the WAR stat were Josh Naylor of the Arizona Diamondbacks (1.5 WAR) and Bo Naylor of the Guardians (0.7). A three-way tie rounds out the top 10, with Michael Soroka of the Washington Nationals, Abraham Toro of the Boston Red Sox and Guardians’ pitcher Erik Sabrowski all posting 0.6 WAR seasons in 2024.

At day’s end, though, no current MLB player has the type of MVP credentials that the younger Vlad Guerrero does. The Blue Jays’ star infielder ranks eighth on the AL MVP board at DraftKings Sportsbook, at +1700. The stars ahead of him are Aaron Judge (+300), Bobby Witt Jr. (+450), Yordan Alvarez (+600), Gunnar Henderson (+750), Jose Ramirez (+1500), Corey Seager and Mike Trout (+1600 each).

The Pinnacle Sportsbook in Canada has +1540 American odds (16.4 decimal odds) on the Blue Jays to rise from their last-place finishing last year and win the AL East division in 2025.

USA Today photo by Dan Hamilton

Author

Christopher Boan

iGaming Reporter

Christopher Boan is a reporter and writer with BetCanada.com. He's covered the gambling industry for nearly a decade, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly, and the Green Valley News.