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Former Jays GM Anthopoulos still proud of Toronto's success in 2015

TORONTO — Alex Anthopoulos sat in the visiting dugout at Rogers Centre and glanced up at the banners hanging in centre-field.

Three years removed from his role as general manager of the Blue Jays, the current Atlanta Braves GM still takes pride in winning the AL East title with Toronto in 2015 — his last season at the helm of the team.

"I remember Howie Starkman (a former Blue Jays public relations official) told me it's harder to win a division than it is to win a World Series," Anthopoulos said Tuesday afternoon, hours before his Braves opened a two-game series against Toronto. "That said I'd take a World Series any day of the week.

"And don't get me wrong, I would have been very happy with a wild card and getting into the playoffs, but winning the division felt like a greater accomplishment for the time that we had spent trying to grind."

Anthopoulos was with the Blue Jays from 2003 to 2015, serving as GM from 2009. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as vice-president of baseball operations from 2016-17 and was named GM of the Braves last November.

The Montreal native now leads a young Atlanta team that's in first place in the NL East with a 42-29 record heading into Tuesday night's game. The Braves finished third in their division (72-90) in 2017 and last (68-93) in 2016.

Anthopoulos wouldn't say he was surprised by the Braves' turnaround.

"We didn't know what to expect, we knew there was a lot of talent here," Anthopoulos said. "All the GM's before me, these guys did an amazing job, scouting department, development department, those guys deserve all the credit to begin with.

"We knew there was a lot of talent. The plan was to just sit back and watch them play, maybe add some things, bring in some information. ... But if they had good seasons we wouldn't be surprised and if we were competitive we wouldn't be surprised. You just don't know with a young team when they'll emerge."

One of the youngsters to emerge has been 20-year-old Calgary right-hander Mike Soroka, who started against the Blue Jays Tuesday night, becoming the youngest Canadian-born pitcher to start a MLB game north of the border.

Soroka, listed as the Braves No. 3 prospect before the season, spent a month on the disabled list with a shoulder injury from May 17 to June 13 and was making his second appearance since his return. His start before Toronto was a stellar one — he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in a win over the New York Mets.

Anthopoulos had a chance to select Soroka in his last draft as GM of the Blue Jays in 2015. But Atlanta snatched him up instead with the 28th overall pick, right before Toronto went on the clock.

"I can say from talking to people in Atlanta they were concerned about the Jays selecting him," Anthopoulos said. "I can't tell you he would have been (Toronto's) pick, but the Braves were concerned because they were the next pick and the Canadian component there.

"The amateur department in Atlanta did a great job with him."

Anthopoulos said he had talked to Soroka before the Braves set out for Toronto, asking the rookie how he felt about pitching in his home country for the first time in his professional career.

"He said: 'It's going to be fun, it's going to mean something to me, it's pretty important,'" Anthopoulos said. "I don't know how much he'll express that in some media interviews but I know that being Canadian and being here is very important to him."

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press


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