Major League Baseball's next phenom is coming and his name sounds eerily familiar, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Yes the next phenom has a famous Hall-of-Fame father in Vlad Guerrero Sr. Baby Vlad is the number one ranked prospect in all of baseball by many sites like Baseball America and MLB.com. There are many reasons why fans around the game cannot wait for a talent like Guerrero Jr. to play for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Why are people anxiously waiting Guerrero Jr's arrival? Well, let me tell you.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was born in the Great White North in Montreal while his father was starring for the Montreal Expos. Not much is known about Guerrero Jr's upbringing until he turned pro at the age of 16.
Baseball America ranked Vladimir the number one international free agent and was thus signed by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015 and inked a contract for a cool $3.9 million. Vlad Sr. tweeted this out when his son officially signed with the Jays.
The Jays sent Baby Vlad to extended spring training where many young prospects go to get at-bats when there is not room on the other minor league squads. After some time there, Guerrero Jr. was sent to rookie ball with the Bluefield Blue Jays.
In 62 games, it really did not matter what his numbers were, he just needed to be able to show the front office that he was getting acclimated to professional baseball. Still he hit .271 with 8 HRs and 46 RBIs. Vladimir just spent those 62 games in rookie ball and after the season he was named MLB's top prospect at 3B.
For the 2017 season, Guerrero Jr. was sent to low-A ball with the Lansing Lugnuts where he raked like Bryce Harper and Paul Goldschmidt did, who I wrote about previously, Vlad finished with a .312 average, 7 HRs, and 45 RBIs. Guerrero Jr. was selected to the MLB All-Star Futures Game where the games top prospects from the United States and the rest of the world play each other on the Sunday before the MLB All-Star Game.
He showed encouraging signs with the increase in batting average and showed the Jays's front office he deserved a promotion. Well, a promotion, he received.
Guerrero Jr. was called up to the High-A team in the Dunedin Blue Jays and finished out the 2017 campaign in Dunedin hitting .333. He also tallied more walks than strikeouts with 76 BBs and 62 K's. With that performance, Guerrero Jr. was named ESPN's top prospect.
After a strong start to his professional career, that is when Baseball America named him the top prospect in all of baseball. Guerrero kept moving up the ladder and was sent to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Vladimir started out the 2018 season en fuego. Through the first month of the season, Guerrero had a .398 batting average, he was almost unstoppable.
Leading into the month of June of 2018, Vlad was still hovering around the .400 batting average mark. The pitchers in the Eastern League may have not been able to stop Guerrero Jr., but his body did. After a game on June 6th, the Jays announced that Guerrero suffered a strained patellar ligament in his left knee. This injury would sideline him for four weeks. It seemed that Vlad had done all that he could in Double-A. That he has proven himself in that level of the organization.
Well as it turns out he did. After Vlad was fully healthy from his injury, Guerrero Jr. was instantly promoted to the AAA Buffalo Bison. This promotion coincided with his father, Vlad Guerrero, Sr., getting inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Well what do you know, Guerrero Jr. kept doing what he was doing in the other levels of the Blue Jays' organization, he hit. In 60 games, here was his stat line: .404 BA, 14 HRs, 60 RBIs, and a 1.130 OPS (on-base % plus slugging %).
It would seem to the average baseball consumer, that Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. had proven everything and has passed every possible test in the minor leagues. Will Vlad finally be able to get promoted to the big league club?
Leading into Toronto Blue Jays's spring training, that was the main question in Blue Jay camp. The Jays are not expected to contend this year in a tough and improved American League East Division that has the former World Champs, the Bronx Bombers, and the surprise of the 2019 season in the Tampa Bay Rays.
Oh and also the Baltimore Orioles are there too, although they are a major non-factor.
Guerrero, Jr. is also not the only high level prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system who has a famous father. Shortstop Bo Bichette is the team's number two ranked prospect according to the MLB Top 30 Prospect List. His father, Dante Bichette, played 14 years in The Show.
Cavan Biggio is a top infield prospect, and his father is Craig Biggio, who played 20 years in The Show. Craig was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Now back to Baby Vlad. Guerrero Jr., during spring training, sustained an oblique strain that sidelined him for three weeks. However, as I stated before, Guerrero Jr has nothing left to prove in the minors. Well, let me introduce you to service time manipulation.
According to the MLB, a season is 187 days long and players who spend more than 172 on the 25-man roster, get a full year of service time. The number to focus on is 15 days, 187 minus 172. Every year a player spends those 172 days on a MLB roster, players get even closer to free agency.
When clubs hold their player in the minors for 15 days, clubs receive that extra year of service time, thus delaying the player's free agency. We have seen this before. It happened to Bryce Harper, George Springer, and most notably Kris Bryant. Clubs have ignored that rule like the San Diego Padres just did when they started their star player, Fernando Tatis, Jr in The Show to start the 2019 campaign.
So, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. has played nine games in the minor leagues and Blue Jays President, Mark Shapiro, has said that he expects Guerrero Jr. up with the big club very soon. He should, as he hit this moonshot a few weeks ago
Guerrero, Jr. has already been a victim of service time manipulation because he has spent the right amount of time in the minors this year. So Vlad should be hitting bombs in MLB parks in the near future.
Baseball's next phenom is coming, and he is coming soon. Everyone better watch out for Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., and he is ready to take the league by storm.
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The Athlete Staff
Sources:
MiLB.com
MLB.com
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