There’s more to Guerrero than his wealth of talent

Coach says Blue Jays prospect is a great teammate as well, writes Rob Longley.

He is the six-footone, 200-pound (or thereabouts) baseball monster in the room. And as the Toronto Blue Jays this week officially launch what by any measure will be as thorough a reboot as possible in the sport, rare will be a conversation surrounding the team that doesn’t include Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Still only 19, he is universally rated as the top prospect in all of baseball and his likely big-league debut in mid-April will unquestionably be the most anticipated in franchise history.

Quite appropriately, Guerrero comes up often in first-year manager Charlie Montoyo’s planning with his revamped coaching staff and in dealings with general manager Ross Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro.

For as much as the new era of Blue Jays baseball is about developing a deep and fruitful farm system, right now it is so much about the big young man named Vlad. “It’s exciting, it really is,” said John Schneider, who managed Guerrero in New Hampshire in 2018, plus Dunedin in 2017, and has been promoted to the big team for 2019 as a coach. “It’s exciting because the hype is real, he’s that good. He’s really, really talented. But as good as he is on the field, he’s that much better in the clubhouse.

“He’s a leader who leads by example. He goes out of his way to be a good teammate. He goes out of his way to talk to all of his guys, all of his buddies. Whenever your best player is your best worker and your best teammate, it really rubs off on the guys who are around him.”

Though it’s unlikely he will break camp with the big club so his employers can buy another year before free agency, so much of the Jays’ near- and long-term planning revolves around the big teenager from the Dominican Republic.

Pitchers and catchers report here on Wednesday for physicals with the first official workouts scheduled for Thursday. Position players are due to report early next week, but several are already here and a Guerrero sighting is likely over the next couple of days.

There was plenty of unofficial activity taking place Tuesday, with a couple dozen players eager to impress Montoyo and the coaches.

Starting pitchers Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, the would-be cornerstones of the team’s rotation, looked strong and fit while long tossing. Rowdy Tellez, the September sensation from 2018, looked trim and in form as he was launching home runs over the centre field wall at Dunedin Stadium. There was not, however, a single player named Donaldson or Bautista, Martin, Happ or Encarnacion, the guts of those teams that went to the playoffs in 2015 and 2016.

Montoyo told Postmedia recently that Guerrero and the other cabal of young Jays prospects such as Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and others will see plenty

Whenever your best player is your best worker and your best teammate, it really rubs off on the guys who are around him.

of playing time this pre-season. “We’re going to give them an opportunity, that’s the plan,” first-year bench coach Dave Hudgens said on Tuesday. “Give them a chance to play and a chance to work on what they need to work on and create a good positive environment.” Hudgens, who will be Montoyo’s right-hand man in the dugout, was witness to what he believes to be an applicable comparable situation a few years back. While he was the hitting coach with the Houston Astros, Hudgens was involved with young prospects Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman fast-tracking into big leaguers, and then onto a 2017 World Series title.

“I can relate to Vlad by looking at what we did with those good young players in Houston,” Hudgens said.

“You just let them play, let their talent carry them and then encourage them to get better and to have fun. With Vlad, it’s important to let him come in and play and be himself. He’s obviously a great talent. You just don’t want to put more pressure on him than he already has.” By all accounts, Guerrero has much more going for him than his bloodlines and wealth of talent. “When people talk about Vladdy the player, I always divert it to talk about Vladdy the guy because he is always happy, always ready to work,” Schneider said. “He’s an infectious personality to the point where when he’s out working you see this superstar prospect grinding and it’s easy for other guys to say that’s what it’s supposed to be like. “People see the numbers and the exit velocity and the OPS, but in the clubhouse he makes just as much of an impact as on the field. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of it. I’ve been thankful for the last few years.” Schneider also believes Montoyo is the perfect fit to be Guerrero’s first big-league manager. The story is well told that he was a teammate and mentor to Vlad’s Hall of Fame father back in the Montreal Expos organization, a family tie that can’t hurt. It also helps that Montoyo, who recently visited Guerrero in the Dominican, can converse in the same language.

“Charlie will handle all of that,” Schneider said.

“They’ve already got a good working relationship. They are off to a good start. I think he’s the perfect guy to be here when he does play.”