Video: Braden Halladay Makes Debut Against Dad's Former Team Toronto Blue Jays, Retires the Side

Braden Halladay's debut for the Canadian National Junior Team was a highly emotional moment as it came against the Toronto Blue Jays, one of his late father's former teams.

The 17-year-old pitched a three-up, three-down eighth inning against the Blue Jays and received a standing ovation as he walked off the pitch at the Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, Florida.

Halladay junior said his late father still played a very big role in his life, both personally and professionally.

"At least from my perspective he knows everything about everything as far as pitching goes," Halladay told the Toronto Sun. "From a pitching standpoint it was everything I could have asked for and more.

"Especially now, every time I make mistakes, I still hear him drilling me about them in my head just because he's done it so many times before. From a mindset standpoint, I don't think with any bias that I could have had a better teacher. To get it passed down to me, I couldn't have asked for better."

Roy Halladay was 40 years old when he died in November last year, after his plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the western coast of Florida. The eight-time MLB All Star, who won two Cy Young Awards during his 16-year career, spent 12 seasons with the Blue Jays. Last month Toronto announced that it will retire his number 32 shirt on Opening Day.

Braden was born in Toronto during his father's spell in Canada, which makes him available for selection in the Baseball Canada program, and Canadian coach Greg Hamilton was full of praise for Halladay, who in December committed to Penn State University.

"You can certainly see a semblance of his dad in terms of the future," he said, as reported by Sportsnet. "Obviously that's a standard that we're not going to say he's going to replicate because that's an incredible standard for anybody to try to replicate but his arm works, he's got some size and he's still a young man growing into his frame. He's got a chance to be a pretty decent pitcher."