Josh Naylor’s name popped back into the spotlight after a tense moment with the Guardians, and an old teammate has now dragged a long-buried story back into the open.
Naylor, now the Mariners’ first baseman and a former All-Star, former first-round pick and fan favorite in Seattle, has been traded four times in the last decade, an unusual path for a player with his résumé. His reputation came under fresh scrutiny during a June 28 game against Cleveland, when he and Guardians catcher Austin Hedges - teammates from 2019-24 after being traded together from San Diego to Cleveland in 2020 - got into a shouting match in the sixth inning of the Guardians’ 6-5 win. The exchange came after Naylor appeared to lean into a pitch to get hit on the arm.
The exact words Hedges said remain part of the debate. Did he tell Naylor “nobody asked you” or “nobody likes you?” Plenty of people assumed it was the latter, and Mariners fans quickly rushed to Naylor’s defense online.
But former teammate Stone Garrett was not among them.
On June 29, Garrett used his Instagram account to revisit an incident from their days in the Miami Marlins’ minor league system 10 years ago. Garrett, now retired, wrote: “Josh Naylor liked to play stupid games,” Garrett wrote. “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 lmao!!!
“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.”
Garrett’s account adds a new layer to what had already been reported about the 2016 incident. At the time, Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “I don’t think you’ll see Josh Naylor goofing around with knives anymore.”
For now, that’s where the story stands.
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