Vlad ready to step up to plate

Coach says Home Run Derby tailor-made for young Jays slugger, Rob Longley writes.

By definition, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. steps into the batter’s box tonight to lead off the Home Run Derby, he’ll be swinging for the fences.

For a guy who has hit just one homer in his last 27 games, is it possible that the slugfest might not be the best exercise for the celebrated 20-year-old Blue Jays rookie?

Not a chance, said the baseball man who knows him perhaps better than anyone in the game. In fact, the Jays’ major-league coach John Schneider is of the belief that the big bomber show on the eve of the MLB All-Star Game may actually help Guerrero going forward.

Simply put, Guerrero doesn’t have to swing for the fences to hit a ball out. Because he’s so strong, merely getting the barrel of the bat on the ball is often plenty, even with the high wall in left at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.

“He doesn’t have to try to hit it out because he hits the ball so hard, harder than most people in baseball,” said Schneider, who will pitch and serve up tasty offerings to Guerrero in tonight’s pre-Midsummer Classic fixture.

“He doesn’t have to pump it up and try to hit it hard and he doesn’t have to overdo it. If he puts a good healthy swing on it, the baseball’s going to go out.

“(The derby) will be good for him exposure-wise and he’ll put on a good show. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does well and kind of keeps that rolling when he comes back after the break.”

Guerrero will be the first to hit in the bracket-style event featuring eight big-league sluggers chasing a hefty first-place cheque of US$1 million.

In his first round, the highly touted prospect will face A’s third baseman Matt Chapman, a last-minute replacement for 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich, who withdrew Sunday due to back issues.

Though Guerrero has just eight home runs on the season, he’s far from a slouch at the plate. On Sunday, he hit his 13th double and in his 61 games and 225 at-bats he has a credible .249 batting average.

“He’s doing great,” Schneider said. “He’s the same guy who hit .400 in the minors over the past couple of years, but like anything else when you face something new there’s going to be an adjustment period.

“He’s been figuring it out. People want to ask about him scuffling? Well, he’s hitting .250 in the majors and he’s 20 years old. What he’s doing is right on pace for young power hitters.”

And in batting practice, he can routinely be a beast. That’s why, at 5-1, Guerrero has the thirdbest odds of winning in many betting venues even though he is listed as the eight seed.

Guerrero will be the youngest player in history to participate in the derby — and the first rookie since the Yankees’ Aaron Judge in 2017 — but that isn’t something that is expected to phase him.

Nor will the money, the crowd nor the attention.

With his laid-back personality and a lifetime exposed to such events through his Hall of Fame father Vlad Sr., the winner of the 2007 Home Run Derby, expect Guerrero to be chill, even with all of the baseball world watching.

“As long as I’ve known him, he’s been a guy where the bigger the stage is the better he’s done,” Schneider said. “He’s been hyped

People want to ask about him scuffling? Well, he’s hitting .250 in the majors and he’s 20 years old. What he’s doing is right on pace for young power hitters.

his whole life, arguably the mosthyped prospect ever. He’s one of the few guys where this type of thing will help him.”

Schneider certainly knows Guerrero well. He first managed him in 2017 with the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays and threw batting practice to him for 40 games, adding 60 more BP sessions last summer with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats and some 60 more with the Jays this season.

“I’m comfortable with it and he’s comfortable with it,” Schneider said. “Together, we’ve done thousands of reps.”

With that in mind, Schneider knows exactly what he’ll feed Guerrero on Monday night — “belt high, middle in.”

As Schneider puts it, his pitch location naturally moves in, essentially a magnet to the meat of Guerrero’s.

In two full-on simulations for the derby this week at the Rogers Centre, Guerrero was crushing balls out like a machine. Schneider said that in the first session, he hit 17 homers in the four-minute time frame to mirror what he will see on Monday. In the second time frame, he hit 24 with a 30-second bonus period added on.

Most importantly, Schneider said the derby is suited to Guerrero’s best swing style.

“Knowing his swing, when he’s going really good, when he’s short to the ball, he’s hitting it as good as anyone,” Schneider said. “When he does that, he’s not trying to hit it too hard and compromising his mechanics. He’s more direct to the ball. When he’s trying to hit the ball over the fence over and over again, he’s really just trying to make good contact.

“Vlad is pumped. The whole thing is cool for him. His dad won it once and he’s just really excited.”