Guerrero’s time to shine has arrived
When the bank-busting news boomed out of San diego earlier this week that Fernando Tatis Jr. had signed a 14-year, us$340-million contract with the Padres, we’re betting Vlad Guerrero Jr. had one of his best workout days of the off-season.
It matters not where Guerrero acquired his motivation to become fit and thus more equipped to resume his ascent to potential superstardom, the Toronto blue Jays are just pleased to see it.
but it’s certainly not a stretch to surmise that the prodigious success of Tatis, the brilliant Padres shortstop and one of the most charismatic players in the game, bumped up the fuel gauge in Vladdy’s tank a bar or two.
The two have been linked in many ways on their projected path to baseball stardom. They made their Major League debuts a little more than a month apart in 2019, both are from the dominican republic, and both have fathers who were teammates on the Montreal expos.
The fact that one has blasted to the moon and the other is waiting to live up to his advance billing isn’t lost on those who follow the sport, but it certainly hasn’t altered the Jays’ belief in the upside of Guerrero, either.
“It’s so cool to think about (Guerrero’s) career to date, and how much he loves the game, how much he can impact the game and how young he is,” Jays general manager ross Atkins said during a Friday Zoom call. “For a 21-year-old to have already been talked about as much as he has, to now have a good season-and-ahalf under him in the major leagues ... it’s incredible to see the smile on his face, the shape he’s in, how his routine is developed and how it’s become his own.”
Left unsaid is what took so long for Guerrero to seize that ownership. Part of it is youth, to be sure, but not long after getting promoted to the Jays, Guerrero’s fitness became an issue. It surfaced toward the end of his rookie season and again last July, when during the pandemic-induced break, he ballooned to a reported 285 pounds and was promptly pulled from third base duties. by trimming some 40 pounds since, the Jays are already seeing a different young man. Though position players aren’t required to report to dunedin until Monday, Guerrero has been on site and turning heads.
“My first impression when I saw him is that he looks good,” manager Charlie Montoyo said on Friday. “I saw him in the cage and he looks really loose. He did a lot in the off season.”
Atkins spoke at length about how those physical changes can project Guerrero toward the lofty initial expectations, especially at the plate. So much of what a hitter does is repetition, and being in better shape should lead to less fatigue and ultimately a truer, more consistent swing trajectory.
“So much of it is about the athleticism that you can repeat,” Atkins said. “So the better shape that you’re in, the more repeatable things are going to be because you’re going to be able to repeat it in your practice.
“So one factor is just the fatigue level that occurs over the course of practice, if you’re taking 100 swings a day, and what that means and what (happens) when you’re facing Gerrit Cole.
“Vlad is special, and that’s not just my opinion. What he’s able to do with his athleticism when he’s maximizing it ... his swing is really fun to watch.”
So much of the attention surrounding Guerrero’s weight gain focused on his (in)ability to play credible defence. buried in the discussion, however, was how the bulk affected the hand and bat speed that made him such a dynamic hitter throughout his career.
We saw some improvement in that area last September while in buffalo when Guerrero’s committed fitness regimen was already yielding results. He was certainly getting around on balls with more authority and driving the ball the way he can when he’s at his best.
The benefits of extending that workout regimen into the off-season — one split between his home in the dominican republic and dunedin — will be apparent soon enough, especially when Grapefruit League action gets underway on Feb. 28.