Happy Vladdy

 Simon B

2 years ago this month, Valdimir Guerrero Jr. made his highly-anticipated MLB debut for the Blue Jays against Oakland. It was a Friday and I remember the buzz in Toronto was incredible. Guerrero was at the time MLB pipeline's top-rated prospect and he has some of the biggest expectations ever for a 20-year-old. He was to be the next big power hitter of the generation and people were hoping to see him hit 400 ft. bombs every other game. Valddy is the son of former Expo and Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr. so that alone comes with high expectations as well.


I've never seen a player get the ovation that he did on that night in April 2019. The stadium was opened an hour early so that fans could watch their young prodigy hit in batting practice. When it was his turn, the batting cage was surrounded and every eye in the ballpark was focused on this 20-year-old kid with his signature bleached dreads who was hitting bomb after bomb. During that game, he got a standing ovation for picking up a foul ball and grounding out to first. His first hit was a double down the right-field line and it turned out to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth. His career was off to a crazy start

Cooldown

Since then, he really never was the hitter he was expected to be. He only hit 8 home runs in 2019 and struggled a lot defensively as well. Guerrero was developed in the minors as a third baseman. The only issue with that is that he is a lot bigger than your average third baseman and he wasn't moving to balls hit to the hot corner very quickly. 

In May of 2019, the Jays called up Cavan Biggio, another son of a Hall-of-Famer (Craig Biggio) than in July they called up their third second-generation prospect Bo Bichette (son of Hall-of-Famer Dante). Biggio and Bichette were outstanding and really put all the hype surrounding, Guerrero, on the backburner. 

When spring training 2020 rolled around, Guerrero was started to get reps at first base. That's a position that requires a lot less movement and it, in my opinion, suits Valddy much better than third. The only issue was that Guerrero still had his mindset on playing third in the regular season. But clearly, the coaching staff and the team thought it would be best if he played at first.

The pandemic hit and baseball was halted until July. When he reported to "Summer Camp" (which was the mini pre-season to the shorted 60-game campaign) Valddy was overweight and didn't look in shape at all. Any hope of putting him back at third was gone and the focus was now on developing him as a big-league first baseman. He struggled at first and with the bat for most of 2020 and he knew it. Usually, he is always smiling and upbeat in the dugout. Fooling around with teammates and "photobombing" his teammate's interviews. But there was much less of that last year. Vladdy wasn't Vladdy.

A changed man

In the last offseason, Guerrero was committed to getting into better shape and becoming a better hitter, and honing in on his craft at first base. The results were astonishing! He reported to spring training a whole 42 lbs lighter and was swinging the bat with more purpose than ever. Before during batting practice, Guerrero would just play "home run derby" and try to hit as many balls into the seats as he could. But this year he's focusing on aiming line drives and adapting to pitches to poke singles to the opposite field or stay back on breaking balls and smoke doubles to the left-field wall. 

That's an image Guerrero put up on his Instagram back in February. You can clearly see how much better he looks and it translated onto the field.

Guerrero looks great a first too. Because he is slimmer, he can stretch to make some great picks out of the dirt and a lot of the time he's going the extra mile to get guys out. I think he's finally come to terms with the fact that he won't play at third anymore so his sole focus is at first now.

Lastly, Guerrero is smiling again. He's been the Jays best hitter through 13 games (they're 6-7) and he's been reliable in the field too. His interviews are lively, he's having fun and really making the most out of his time. That's the Vladdy that can become the best in the business. If he stays grounded and doesn't try to crush the baseball on every swing, his natural power and talent will work a lot smoother and in time, he'll be hopefully hitting 35 round-trippers a season.

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#Jays #WeAreBlueJays #GuerreroJr #VladdyJr #BlueJays #MLB #2021baseball

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