JAYS PUMPING THE BRAKES ON GUERRERO’S HOT START
Front office believes prospect is best served in double-A for now, writes Rob Longley
Safe to say that Ben Cherington loves New Hampshire.
The Blue Jays vice-president of baseball operations was born in the Granite State and was a pitcher at Lebanon High School, so he’s well-versed in the New England charm that abounds.
These days, however, Cherington is rather fond of what is going on in his home state for another reason. In Manchester, N.H., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the most exciting Jays prospect in decades, is paving his path to the big leagues.
In due time, Guerrero will leave New Hampshire, where he’s a slugging machine for the double-A Fisher Cats, but Cherington and Jays management are in no rush.
Yes, they hear the hype and can read the box scores. But most importantly for the long-term game, they appreciate what the fresh air and environment is doing for the development of baseball’s top-rated prospect in the minor leagues.
“He’s getting such good work done in New Hampshire with that particular group of players and staff,” Cherington said at Citizens Bank Park. “Though his offensive performance has been exceptional, obviously we feel like there’s benefit to him being there for a little longer because he’s getting really great work in every day.
“The coaches there and our manager John Schneider have just developed an excellent collaborative environment and a lot of that is because Vladdy himself has been so collaborative. That’s an important factor in the development of any player.”
It’s not a question of if Guerrero leaves double-A, merely when, but the reasons for the Jays being measured in that advancement are plentiful. Obviously the glare from his performance at the plate is blinding and justifiably so. There is work to be done on defence, however, and scouts who have popped in at various points of the season have noticed marked improvement in that area already this season.
Eventually this summer, it’s expected Guerrero will get a chance to show his stuff in Buffalo, N.Y., with the triple-A Bisons and perhaps with the big team.
But for the immediate future, the Jays are quite content to keep him where he is for an unspecified period.
“For right now, we’re not going to put any timelines on it,” Cherington said. “But he’s a really good player and performing really well and players like that eventually move up. We just don’t know when.
“We feel like he’s still getting a lot out of being there. At some point it will be time to go somewhere else and we have no doubt he’ll handle that as well.”
The baseball world is well aware of where Guerrero is and what he’s doing. But like he has in every stop of his career, the Montreal-born 19-year-old is taking it in stride. That, too, makes New Hampshire a nice fit.
There is heightened interest in him and there has been a spike in attendance, but it has been in moderation and certainly not a distraction to his development.
“He seems certainly respectful of the attention he gets and is accommodating, but he’s not allowing that to change his view on who he is and what he is there to do,” said Cherington, who makes regular stops at all of the Jays’ minor-league hubs. “That’s been really encouraging.”
In his 17 years as a scout and executive with the Boston Red Sox, Cherington saw phenoms of varying degrees of promise in the minors follow it through to the big leagues. He can’t recall any of those stars having the same amount of attention that Guerrero is getting.
“The interesting thing is when I was with the Red Sox, we had good players come through the minor leagues and do really well in the big leagues,” Cherington said. “All those things are similar in this case, but the level of attention that Vladdy gets is more than what I have seen in the past.”
Everything may be big about Guerrero at this point. But Cherington said the notable element of Guerrero that has not become oversized is his head.
“What’s been most impressive to me in being around him is that he seems to care only about getting better, performing and being a good teammate,” Cherington said.