Marlins make Naylor the highest Canadian position player ever selected with 12th overall pick

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The Miami Marlins traveled north of the border Monday for a three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays. They'll leave Canada later this week with the top prospect in the country.

The Marlins shocked experts and prognosticators alike with the most surprising first-round selection of the 2015 MLB Draft, making high school first baseman Josh Naylor the highest Canadian position player ever taken by securing him with the 12th overall pick.

"So honored and proud to be selected 12th overall to the Miami Marlins," Naylor tweeted after the announcement.

The hulking 6-foot-1, 225-pound power-hitter possesses tremendous raw strength, which grades 65 on the power scale according to MLB.com, though his lack of speed and defensive abilities had him considered as an unlikely first-round selection.

Canadian national head coach Greg Hamilton spoke with MLB.com about Naylor's projectability last fall:

I think with a lot of young high school hitters that have power or plus-power potential, one of the greatest concerns you always have is whether they will get to the power enough. Will they make enough contact for that to come into play as they move up? He gets to his power consistently because he doesn't have trouble making contact. His hands are great and he sees the ball really well. It's a tool that I think that will carry all the way through.

The 17-year-old product out of Mississauga, Ont. is considered an advanced hitter for his age with good hands and simple mechanics. Just moments after Naylor's selection, Marlins scouting director Stan Meek offered a lofty pro comparison.

"There's some Prince Fielder in this guy," Meek told Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.